A central point of the partnership will be the delivery of Volley2s, an adapted two versus two version of volleyball, designed for children aged seven to 11.

Earlier this month, volleyball coach Nick Shaffery delivered the first session to 15 of the Aston Villa Foundation's community coaches.

Since it was launched in 2021, a free guide to teaching and coaching Volley2s has been downloaded more than 700 times, predominantly by those teaching sport in schools.

"Thank you to everyone at Aston Villa for their support and for helping us to introduce volleyball to the young people of Birmingham," said Simone Turner, chair of the Volleyball England Foundation.

"We look forward to seeing the outcome of this project and seeing whether we can replicate this elsewhere."

Volley2s aims to slowly develop volleyball fundamentals for new players by gradually introducing them to a full version of the game.

It is designed to provide versatility, accessibility, emphasis on fun, and low equipment and space requirements to make it a stepping stone for introducing youngsters to volleyball, but an ideal game for introducing children to sport.

"Congratulations to both charitable organisations for getting this project off the ground, and a huge thank you to Sport England for their support," said Clare Francis, vice-chair of Volleyball England.

"This project is a key component of our Birmingham 2022 legacy work.

"We look forward to seeing many new youngsters playing volleyball for the first time and, who knows, one day we may even see Aston Villa in our Super League!"

The initiative is mainly set to target schools and community groups in local areas of high social deprivation in Birmingham.