Athletes

Below is a list of the athletes that have received funding or support from the BVF.

Senior Men

Joaquin Bello

DOB: 20/07/2000
Hometown: Richmond
Height: 186 cm

Represeting England at the Commonwealth Games 2022
NEVZA Zonal Tour - Oddanesand 2022- 1st place
World Tour 1* - Nijmegen 2021 - 3rd place
World Tour 1* - Cortegaca 2021 - 1st place
Commonwealth Youth Games 2017: 1st place

Joaquin’s beach partner is his twin brother Javier. His ambition is to achieve new heights for British volleyball, having already won gold at the Youth Commonwealth Games in 2017.

Joaquin is currently studying medicine at the Imperial College London School of Medicine.

The Bello twins have come through the Volleyball England pathway playing both indoor and beach volleyball. They have competed on the UK Beach Tour and FIVB World tour, as well as Under 20 CEV European Championship and Under 19 FIVB World championship. They won gold at the Youth Commonwealth Games in 2017 and finished 5th in the the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018. They are now competing predominantly in the FIVB Pro Tour and are representing Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Bimringham 2022.

Javier Bello

DOB: 20/07/2000
Hometown: Richmond
Height: 180cm

Javier hails from a volleyball family. His father is a former professional player, and both of his cousins compete at elite level.

Javier has recently concluded his studies in Philosphy, Politics and Economics at the Royal Holloway university.

Freddie Bialokoz

DOB: 23/07/2000
Hometown: London
Height: 204 cm

Pro Tour Futures - Ios - 3rd place
NEVZA Zonal Tour - Oddanesand 2022- 2nd place
Pro Tour Futures - Klaipeda - 5th place
World Tour 1* - Cortegaca - 5th place

Having grown up around volleyball it took Freddie until he was 14 to properly start playing volleyball.

He then started playing both indoor at Malory Eagles and beach at Deep Dish in Crystal Palace. At the time being the only junior at the club in Crystal Palace. He then played for the Cadets and Juniors respectively indoors representing England at multiple NEVZA age group competitions. At 17 he made his senior debut on the beach and made his first main draw on the world tour at 18.

His studies took him to Berlin where he carried on playing indoors in the 3rd Bundesliga and beach during the summer. Injuries as well as the opportunity to take beach volleyball more seriously lead to him stop playing indoors. Nowadays he’s still studying physics and also playing full time with aspirations to climb the ladder of international beach volleyball and push the envelope for English beach volleyball.

Senior Women

Daisy Mumby

DOB: 16/01/1992
Hometown: London
Height:

NEVZA Zonal Tour - Oddanesand - 1st place
Representing Team England at the Commonwelath Games 2022

Jess played every sport possible when she was in school, including volleyball. She did not start playing competitively until university where she played indoor volleyball for Sussex University. in her finl years of studies, she discovered beach volleyball and has been playing ever since. When she partnered with Jessica she started playing beach volleyball at a higher and consistent competitive level.

Daisy, outside of her playing time, is a freelance video editor and she works in the sports media industry.

Daisy will be representing Team England at the commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022 with her partner Jessica Grimson.

She recently won the gold medal at the Zonal Tour event in Oddanesand in Norway.

Issa Batrane

DOB: 09/04/1996
Hometown: London
Height: 176cm

Pro Tour Futures - Ios - 3rd place
NEVZA Zonal Tour - Oddanesand 2022- 2nd place
Pro Tour Futures - Klaipeda - 5th place
World Tour 1* - Cortegaca - 5th place

Born and raised in London where he started playing volleyball for local club of Richmond Volleyball Club around the age of 13. From there Issa went through the representing the junior and senior mens teams.

At 17 hemoved to the LeAF Elite Athlete academy in Bournemouth and captained my England regional team to a gold medal at the 2013 Sainsbury’s UK School Games along with beginning the beach volleyball journey and joining the England Talent pathway on both the beach and indoors.

Issa competed at BUCS level while studying computing at the university, wining multiple BUCS titles on the beach as well as the indoor student cup whilst winning MVP awards along the way.

Issa was on TASS all my years at university and appointed to be one of 9 athletes in the UK on the TAAG (Talented Athletes Advisory Group) to help athletes across the UK have a voice when it comes to all things TASS.

Today Issa trains and competes full time, while coaching for the local club Deep Dish Beach Volleyball and working on other projects around web development and digital media.

Other fields of interest for Issa include climate change and sustainability as well as social issues based around equality which he actively have roles in trying to impact positively via different sponsors and partners for his team.

Jessica Grimson

DOB: 16/03/1991
Hometown: Leeds
Height: 176cm

NEVZA Zonal Tour - Oddanesand - 1st place
Representing Team England at the Commonwelath Games 2022
Commonwealth Games 2018: 5th place

Jessica started playing volleyball when she was only thirteen years old in high school. her PE teacher asked her to give it a go and she never left the sport since.

When not playing, she is a sport therapist. She represented Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Goald Coast, Australia in 2018, securing a 5th place with her former partner Victoria Palmer.

she is an experienced player, with past presences on the FIVB World Tour. Jessica is playing with Daisy Mumby and they are competing on the FIVB Pro Tour. She will be representing Team England again at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022.

Ellie Austin

DOB: 15/07/2001
Hometown: Croyde
Height: 178cm

NEVZA U19 Tysoland: 1st place
Ios Island 2019 (WT1*): 3rd place
Vaduz 2019 (WT1*): 13th place
CEV Continental Cup 2019, Round 1: 3rd place
Commonwealth Youth Games 2017: 5th place

The youngest player pushing for senior selection, Ellie has made her way through the England Talent Pathway and is also still eligible for junior selection. She hails from a volleyball family.

In 2019, partnering with Katie Keefe, she brought home gold from the NEVZA U19 Tysoland tournament. She has represented England multiple times in both indoor and beach volleyball and plays her club volleyball with Beach Academy in Womens Division 2 South. She has also been a regular on both the JVEBT and VEBT circuits for several years. Ellie has previously competed at FIVB U21 2016, CEV U18 and U20 2016.

Anaya Evans

DOB: 10/13/1998
Hometown: Croyde
Height: 173cm

Ios Island 2019 (WT1*): 3rd place
CEV Continental Cup 2019, Round 1: 3rd place
VEBT 2016: 20th place
CEV Continental Cup 2015, Round 4: 4th place
VEBT 2014: 18th place

Having made her way through the England Talent Pathway, representing her country in both indoor and beach volleyball, Anaya is now moving into senior selection. At youth level, she captained England numerous times.

In 2019, Ellie Austin and Anaya made the podium in a World Tour tournament. She is the first British beach volleyball athlete to take up a beach volleyball scholarship in the USA. Anaya has previously competed at CEV Youth Continental Cup 2013, CEV U17 World Championships Qualification event 2014, FIVB U19 2014, CEV U18 2014 and 2015, FIVB U21 and U20 2016, CEV U20 and U22 2016.