swva-newsletter–issue_ 313–2017-Jan

A quick update on where we are as we start 2017….

In the Ladies league, Torexe find themselves one win ahead of Wiltshire Mavericks and Yeovil. Just behind are Kernow (4th) and Cheltenham & Gloster (5th) who are also on 16 points.

In the Men’s league, City of Bristol currently have a one match advantage over Cardiff Wildcats with Yeovil in third. Beach Academy & Torexe are just behind, also on 14 points.

In the Play of the Match Award, Magda Morgan (Kernow) has a clear lead with seven nominations so far and hence tops the Ladies Table. Likewise Tim Latcham (Beach Academy) currently head the Men’s POM table by one.

http://swva.volleyballmatches.co.uk/showtables.asp

I hope that everyone has had a good Christmas and a happy new year. Just another reminder that the first Junior-Volleyball Grand Prix of 2017 takes place on Saturday 14 January 2017 at Calne Leisure Centre, White Horse Way, Calne SN11 0SP. 1 p.m.. to 5 p.m.

You can enter using the link https://www.swva.org.uk/junior-grand-prix-entry-form and the cost of entering is £15 per team. Teams are generally made up with three players, but two can play together or you can have a team of four where players rotate in. It is also allowed to include one younger boy in a girls team or one girl up to one year older in a boys team. The weight of balls should be appropriate to the age group playing and the team with the youngest player will always select the weight of the lightweight balls if there is a dispute.

I would like to make the closing date for entries Saturday 7^th January at 6 p.m. All players must be registered to take part in the Junior Grand Prix. Player registration can be done by clubs by logging into the SWVA web site with your club login details (available from your club sec or coach) and fill in the Player Registration Form (Name & email address required). Print off your Team Sheets and hand them into the event organiser. Direct registration to the SW Junior club is only for players who turn up from non VE clubs.

• The following show the future dates of the series:-
• Saturday 25th Feb 2017 at Wellsway Keynesham, 2pm-6pm (TBC)
• SW Junior Volleyball Championships Saturday 1^st April Plymstock School (TBC)

I hope everyone will enjoy the season of Volleyball ahead.

David Walrond dc.walrond@ntlworld.com

Copy of event Notes:

Photos: Please can you put that we are planning to have a photographer at the event who will provide the photographs free of charge to clubs/parents as she is developing her skills/portfolio. If there are any participants for whom there is no consent to take photos then please make the organisers aware on arrival.

Entry Fee: All teams need to pay on the day (Cash or Cheque), the organisers may or may not accept other arrangements.

Neil Bentley neil.bentley@derryhill.me.uk

I note that the rule defining when a ball is ‘in’ changed in 2015-6. The rule now states “The ball is “in” if at any moment of its contact with the floor, some part of the ball touches the court, including the boundary lines.” I didn’t find that totally clear, so I looked at the French, as the official language of the FIVB is French.

In French it says “Le ballon est «DEDANS » (IN) si, à tout moment de son contact avec le sol, une partie du ballon touche le terrain de jeu, y compris les lignes de délimitation.”

This makes clear that the ball must be touching the court, including the lines, at every instant that it is touching the floor. If the centre of the ball is outside the line, you may judge that, as in tennis, it will squash so that it touches the line at its lowest point. Unlike tennis, this is not now sufficient for the ball to be ‘in’.
Well, that’s how I read it. Other opinions welcome.

Chris Lusby Taylor
Volleyball England Referees Facebook Group

In October, I went to India with 13 other students from my school (Kings School Ottery St Mary). We spent 5 days in an orphanage in the mountains in Tamil Nadu (in the south of India).

With me, I took some volleyball equipment that had been bought with money donated by the Exeter Challenge fund. I took out 7 balls, 2 nets and 2 pumps, as the plan was to take the equipment to two different places.

The first place where we donated equipment was the orphanage where we were staying, which was home to 100 girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 10.

We put the net up between 2 trees, as there were no posts there, and nowhere really to put posts up. We tied the net pretty low, as the kids were young so as to make it easier for them.

To start with, it was mainly the boys playing, as there seems to be a pretty big split between girls and boys, but we managed to get the girls playing after some coaxing, and ended up with a girls against boys game.

It was pretty hard to explain anything to them because of the language barrier (they spoke almost no English and we spoke no Tamil!), so it ended up just being a knock the ball around with little technique game. They did seem to get the basic of what to do though which was good, and so we ended up playing quite a bit with them.

Secondary School

The second place where we played quite a bit was at a secondary school supported by the same charity that supported the orphanage. They had posts and a dusty area that seemed to suggest a volleyball court, but no ball or net.

We put up the net, and then the children came out for what I guess was a break time. I didn’t really expect them to have much idea of how to play, but I was pleasantly surprised!

They split themselves into 2 teams, both of which had at least 12 people, so there was little rotation – they all just stood and took the ball if it was near them!

Some of them had surprisingly good skills, particularly in terms of volleying and hitting, although digging was much more swinging arms wildly at the ball and hoping it went up somewhere, and so we managed to get a decent game going.

They also seemed to have a good idea of the rules with more than three touches definitely not being allowed. If that did happen, the other team would immediately grab the ball and serve to start a new point (although little scoring went on). They were also very strict about net touches, with any net touches being immediately penalized!

As well as playing, they were all very keen to show us their hitting and blocking skills, with people running up to the net and jumping (often fairly well). This also happened a lot when there was a ball involved, with everyone wanting to hit, although it generally seemed to work and the ball would get over the net!

I would not have been able to do this without the money donated and so I am very grateful for the equipment that I was able to take out and donate.

Eleanor Sheridan

More about the Goodwill’s Project at: http://www.goodwillhomes.org.uk

SWVA marked the 40th Anniversary of the Wessex Volleyball Club by awarding a Commemorative Plaque to the Club, Geoff Allen and presenting flowers to Lynn Allen.

Some achievements over 40 Years: National Champions, International players developed from youngsters in local Primary Schools, players earning a living playing in Europe, many parents involved and lots of youngsters playing. We would all like to achieve that !

The photograph features, Geoff Allen with Andy Dayus from the County Sports Partnership Active Dorset who offers considerable support to the Wessex Club and to the VE Investment Zone.

Roy Pankhurst
roy@annepankhurst.co.uk