The Australian Volleyball Federation was founded in 1963, and the sport of volleyball has rapidly increased in popularity since then, particularly in schools and recreational centers.  Volleyball Team Australia Men (VTAM) has been supported by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) since 1990 and has been based in Canberra at the main AIS campus since 1997.  The Australian Institute of Sport based program operates year round, with increasing numbers of players competing in European professional leagues.

The team entered the new century with an appearance in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where they placed 8^th, beating Spain in the process and taking a set from World Champions, Italy.

Having participated in the Sydney Olympics as the host nation, VTAM set out to qualify for Athens, in its own right (for the first time).  At the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo, Australia achieved this historic goal becoming the Asian Volleyball Confederation’s representative in Athens as the highest ranked Asian team, when it defeated traditional Asian powers Japan, Korea and China for the first time in a single International tournament.

At the Athens Olympics, in 2004, VTAM eventually finished 11^th while taking set off the USA and World and Olympic Champions Brazil

A new look VTAM competed in its 4^th World Championships in 2006, to follow up its appearance in the 1982, 1998, 2002 editions of the tournament.

In 2007, VTAM returned to Fukuoka (a host city of the 2006 World Championships) to win the Asia Pacific Cup for the first time. 

Following on from their success at the Asia Pacific Cup, VTAM traveled to India for the 2^nd Commonwealth Championships for Men and won their second successive tournament in the space of two months as preparation for the 14^th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship in Indonesia.

At the 14^th Asian Senior Men’s Volleyball Championship VTAM created Asian volleyball history by winning the championship after playing ten games in ten days with only one loss.  This was the first time in which a country other than China, Japan or Korea had won the Continental Championship and as such qualified Australia to its first Volleyball World Cup.