Whew! How about them 2024 Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals, huh? A solid month of non-stop volleyball action, 4 cities, 1,500+ teams, and over 20,000 of the most excited young volleyball athletes, coaches, and supporters we’ve ever seen. We at Volleyball Stuff and vbs apparel had so much fun chasing volleyball athletes across the country, from Ottawa and Fredericton, to Richmond and Edmonton, helping to make this year’s Nationals an event to be remembered.

While hundreds of you were playing on the courts, we were just outside the gymnasiums (or just inside, as we were in Ottawa!) running our legs off to keep up with the demand for shirts, sweaters, accessories, and hype! It takes a lot of work and a lot of energy to keep up with your excitement during Nationals, but it’s all worth it to see young volleyball athletes achieving their goals, making memories, and pushing the sport forward in Canada.

We started the month in Fredericton and Ottawa, where the Under 14 Girls and Boys got the month’s tournaments started. Our booth staff might still have their ears ringing from being stationed inside the gymnasium in Ottawa, but we’d never dream of asking you to quiet down the excitement. Congratulations to the medalists of the Fredericton and Ottawa events!

Next up was Richmond, BC, where the Under 14 Girls took to the west coast courts. It was especially rewarding for us to see so many teams and supporters there who we’ve been privileged to build relationships with over many years. Congratulations to the medalists!

Richmond

Photo credit: Ottawa Sports Photography

And finally, the biggest event of the year, the festival event in Edmonton! From May 15 to 26, the volleyball action was non-stop as the teams of the 14UB, 15U, 16U, 17U, and 18U categories battled it out in three tournaments, 6 halls, and up to a mind-boggling 56 courts at a time. You might have only been in Edmonton for one of the three tournaments, but we were there for two weeks, from start to finish, taking over the Edmonton Expo Centre with you. It was real party atmosphere! In between heat-pressing new merch, restocking, and slinging shirts to you (with additional thanks to Pepper the Polar Bear for helping us keep up with the demand!), we loved to see you bringing the heat. Theme days, jump contests, and the highs and lows of the most important competition of the year—we’re still trying to come down from the excitement.

Edmonton

Photo credit: Ottawa Sports Photography

Photo credit: Ottawa Sports Photography

We loved seeing you and your families, fans, and supporters at this year’s Nationals events. Did you have loved ones watching via the livestreams who still want a way to participate in the fun? Or maybe you were so busy killing it on the courts that you didn’t get a chance to swing by the merch booth to grab something to commemorate your achievements? Don’t worry, you still have a chance!

**The Nationals Merchandise Post Sale is now live, running from May 26 to June 19** We put a lot of thought and love into our Nationals merchandise design each year, and we don’t want anyone who wants a piece of the action to miss out. So click the link below and act now to secure your memories of this year’s Nationals. Congratulations and well done to all the 2024 Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals athletes!

*** The 2024 Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals may be over, but you still have a chance to grab this year’s merch! The Post Sale is live, running from May 26 to June 19 at 2:00 PM MDT. Click here to order your gear! ***

Have you checked out the new Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals merch yet? Or maybe you’ve already received your presale order, and now you’re wondering about how we do it? For all you volleyball enthusiasts out there, here’s a look behind the scenes of how we design the Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals merchandise every year.

We’ve been at this since 2018, when Volleyball Stuff became the official merchandise provider for Volleyball Canada and we set up our first booth at Youth Nationals, the largest youth sporting event in Canada, with over 1,500 teams and 20,000+ athletes competing across the nation. Each year, we start the design process for Nationals as early as 6 months in advance of the May tournaments, to make sure that each year’s design is trendy, relevant, attractive, and something the youth will actually want to wear. We make sure the most popular apparel colours from previous years are on offer again—last year’s best-selling Sandstone crewneck sweater becomes this year’s Sandstone hoodie, for example—and our goal is that each year’s designs flow into the next’s in one cohesive style.

That doesn’t mean we don’t like shaking things up! At vbs apparel and our sister company Lubdub Apparel, we’ve taken on a trio of talented graphic designers in the past couple years, and we wanted to use their talents to push in a new, more illustrative direction. So Sarah, Melody, and Maria set out on their initial sketches with the inspiration of a vintage concert t-shirt—large, minimalist graphics on the back, and calling back to the foundation of the Canadian Volleyball Association in 1953 on the front chest logo. We always want to be sure there’s a link between Canada’s elite national teams and the young athletes who look up to them as well, so we’ve made sure that the typeface and graphic style of the Youth Nationals merch flow into the style you see on the uniforms of Canada’s national team. We want to foster the talent of Canada’s future top athletes—and this is just a small detail that helps you dream big!

And as you can see, they look great! We’re so proud of the work we put into these designs each year, and we’re so excited to share them with you. The presale period for the 2024 Volleyball Canada Youth Nationals merchandise may be over, but you still have the chance to pick up your piece of the excitement at each of the Nationals events in Ottawa (May 2-5), Fredricton (May 2-5), Richmond (May 9-12), and the festival event in Edmonton (May 15-26). We’ll be there slinging shirts at a booth at each event, taking in all the action with you. Good luck to all the competitors at this year’s nationals! We can’t wait to cheer you on!