Shane Purvis
Managing Director

Shane began playing volleyball at the age of 15...in a squash court. Now that's what we call desperate for a game. Not much has changed since then. Pretty much any time, any place if there is a game on he'll be in it. What has changed is he's lost 90% of his jump and his body hurts like it's been abused on a volleyball court for 50 years.

By day Shane used to be a Graphic Designer/Production Manager. He was responsible for the original AVW website designs that served the company for over 20 years. These days he focuses more on new product sourcing/development and generally keeping the entire operation running.

With 28 years of state league indoor at premier level and a similar run of beach under his belt it's no wonder his body is feeling worn out. These days volleyball is no longer a competitive sport for Shane. It's purely a social thing.

Shane also coached at state, club and school level for well over 20 years winning various medals and titles along the way.

Shane is married with 2 children a dog and a racecar. Cool story, he actually asked his wife to marry him during a time out at the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton Canada. She said yes and they made the front page of the Edmonton paper.

When staff tell you Shane is busy in a meeting and it just happens to be a Friday...chances are he is actually doing this.

Jonny Knight
Customer Service Manager

Jonny is our Customer Service Manager, essentially he runs the front half of the place. You won't always get to speak to him if you call up about swapping a shoe size or checking a ball price. But if you're a school looking to place a bulk order or a club wanting to join our club shop program he's your man.

Jonny pretty much runs the joint in co-operation with James...we will get to James later. He looks after all the online orders, retail sales in the showroom, club shops, state team programs, stock ordering, website updates, social media, co-ordinates the courier and postal deliveries...and makes a mean ham and cheese toastie.

Jonny is still actively playing volleyball at state league level. Like most of the staff at AVW he's coached state junior teams, club teams and school teams for most of his life. He's had his fair share of success over the years with many of todays superstars having the benefit of his wizdom along the way.

James Gia
Production Manager & Graphic Designer

James is our Production Manager and lead Graphic Designer. Essentially he runs the back half of the place where volleyball uniforms and merchandise get pumped out in large volumes on a daily basis. His creativity as a designer and attention to detail are why our custom uniforms are a cut above all others in the Australian volleyball market.

James came to us as a fresh faced kid ready to take on the world. He joined our design team right out of art school and has worked tirelessly to improve our product and service every day since. The fact he now runs the entire production area and has built an amazing team around him comes as no surprise.

James doesn't play volleyball. Look...we tried to teach him...and it's a mistake we won't make again. Some people just aren't as athletically gifted as others. Now before you judge, ask yourself this. Can you play multiple musical instruments? Have you studied music production at Abbey Road Studios? Have you released your own original music on an international music label? James has done all that...and more.

Andy
Graphic Designer

Andy is the fresh new face in the AVW design team. Basically when things got too busy for James we went searching for someone just like him. We got very lucky. We found an Andy. He's different to James but equally as awesome.

Andy has a particular flair for taking a customers ideas and cultivating them into something that's exactly what they never knew they wanted.

Volleyball wise Andy kinda follows in James' footsteps. We believe there might have been some school volleyball somewhere in his past but he's doing his best to hide it. At some point we will put him to the test. After which time we may have to update his work profile.

Lindi
Saturday Specialist

Lindi embodies the heart and soul of Australian Volleyball Warehouse. You won't find a nicer person or a harder worker. Everything she does from the time she walks through the door is about making our customers feel cared for and satisfied.

Rumor has it Lindi once retired from working at AVW. By our calculations that retirement must have been at least 10 years ago. We remember a party...but only just. The reality is she's been fitting shoes, ankle braces, knee pads and uniforms on a Saturday in our retail store for longer than most people have been playing our sport. Quite simply, you won't find anyone better to fit you up for a new pair of kicks. She's forgotten more about volleyball shoes than most people will ever know.

If you've never had the pleasure of seeing Lindi's smiling face in our store we highly recommend you drop in. You won't regret it.

Lindi loves her beach volleyball!! She regularly gets on the sand and attends as many masters tournaments around Australia as she possibly can. On the indoor front she's more of a manager than a player. Lindi has been a long time supporter of the Vic state teams having donated countless hours over many many years going back to the 90's with her husband Steve.

Lachy
Customer Service

Lachy currently fills our role in customer service...and elite athlete. Well he works in customer service and if you're training full time you've got to be an elite athlete right??

Lachy came to us via the GMVA Centre Of Excellence Program. Basically he was training full time and needed a job to put food on the table while he trained and studied. We needed someone with volleyball knowledge to sell stuff and talk to people. It was a match made in heaven. Lachy has outstanding product knowledge and is literally the politest bloke we've ever seen come out of the East Gippsland area.

Lachy is one of the lucky few at AVW who have their best volleyball still to come. He began playing club level ball in the country, moved to the city for full time training with GMVA and has played state league for a few years now. He's represented Victoria at junior level and seems to be enjoying every minute of his volleyball. On the beach we still consider him a newbie but the way he's adapting it looks like he will be embarrassing a few guys at AVW before long.

He still has a bit to learn though when it comes to sport. Mate....ya can't just throw your Swans membership sticker on the back of your car a week before the grand final and claim to be a diehard fan. It doesn't work that way!!

Andrew "Fish" Fisher
Canberra Sales Specialist

Mr Andrew used to be one of the guys you get to chat with when you ring the warehouse. Everyone knows him as Fish, but apparently he's also called Andrew, well at least that's how he answers the phone...

Fish retired from AVW after long history that dates back to when the business was just getting going. These days he lives in the country with his young family and wife. Once or twice a year we send a callout for help. Fish is always happy to put the band back together. Fishy has been doing sales at the Good Neighbour Tournament in Canberra for as long as we can remember. There's literally no better combination than Fish and Jonny when it comes to event set-ups and tournament merchandise.

Fish has been a long time player, coach, official and administrator at Bairnsdale Volleyball Association. For those who have never heard of Bairnsdale...it's a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere on the way to nowhere. Let's face it Fish is lucky we rescued him from that place and bought him to the big smoke.He's also very lucky to have found his way back there now.

Fishy is still a regular player at country tournaments, state league and his all time favourite, Good Neighbour. He was also an enthusiastic state coach who dedicated many years to state team coaching.

Big Al
Internet Nerd.

Al keeps our site on the interweb accurate and up to date. So if you see a stuff up, it's all his fault.

Big Al is yet another former Team Australia athlete to retire and find a happy home at AVW. This one's our beach boy!! Big Al travelled the world for about 6 years living up the endless summer that is the FIVB Swatch World Tour.

If you have questions or need advice on beach equipment you'll stuggle to find anyone better qualified to dish out the good oil.

For anyone that cares...you're right...that photo is Sam Bohem acting as Big Al's personal mascot at the 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Tour. Doesn't Sam look great in pink!!

This is the unofficial player profile of Big Al from the staff of Australian Volleyball Warehouse.

Sport: Beach volleyball
Position: Left Side
Height: 6'8"
Spike reach: too high for most but not Ricardo
Indoor grading: prefers to watch
Beach grading: Not what it used to be. (Insert violin's here)
Memorable moment:
Sporting goal: World Masters Gold Medal
Inspiration and hero: Probably his big brother Chris. (Insert vomit here!)
Hobbies: Computer stuff, rave parties, Shane's Formula Vee