Former international beach volleyball player Kirk Pitman has been appointed as head coach of the Bournemouth University beach volleyball programme.

Kirk, who played top level beach volleyball for New Zealand, will be joining the programme in September alongside Andy Jones, to deliver year round beach and indoor volleyball.

He said: “This is a fantastic opportunity and I’m excited to be part of this great organisation.

“Andy and I will be looking to establish a new strategy and are looking forward to further building the programme. There are already some talented players at the university so we’ve got a great starting point.

“I will now be working across the whole talent pathway from the youngsters at LeAF Academy, the university players and also coaching the top men’s beach pair. It’s an exciting time.”

Martin Wells, sport performance manager at Bournemouth University was delighted with the appointment and said the programme was already starting to receive overseas interest.

“Kirk will be joining our already well-established coaching programme with Andy Jones so that we can deliver Volleyball all year round with an indoor and beach programme,” he said. “The two coaches have already a well-established working relationship and together will create a formidable team in supporting each other to deliver the programme to give the best experience to the athlete’s.

“We are very excited with this new appointment which will create a clear and consistent pathway for the gifted volleyball athletes in the area and will help continue to attract top athletes from around the country and world to be part of our Beach & Indoor programme

“We are already seeing athletes making enquiries from around the globe to gain the support and direction from our coaching team.”

Kirk is a former world class athlete and has represented New Zealand for 10 years and competed in more than 300 international events and tours around the world. In more recent years he has turned his skills and knowledge into becoming a professional volleyball coach.

A director of volleyball at the LeAF Studio School, a volleyball England national volleyball academy, Kirk also coaches top ranked GB beach volleyball players Chris Gregory and Jake Sheaf. 

For more information about the Bournemouth University programmes, please contact Martin on mwells@bournemouth.ac.uk