Work is about to get underway on our new beach court at the Village Green, in Croyde, but we still need your help! We have so far managed to secure funding of £5,500 towards a total target of £12,000 to fully fund the build. If you have ever played at Croyde, benefitted from the facilities or if you would like to invest in some awesome facilities for use by future generation,s please be kind enough to donate using the button below. Thank you!

 

Hosted By Wessex Volleyball Club in association with the Academy of Beach Sports and the SWVA.

Event date: Friday 4th July 11:00-4:00-Please note all schools will be required to be in attendance from 10:15 to help set up the volleyball courts with Wessex Volleyball Club

Age groups: U12/U14/U16 2v2 age groups in School Years-players may play up in age groups-please note a team may have a substitute but can only play for a whole match not change during a game

Registration will begin at: 10:15a.m. Play begins at 11:00 a.m.
Format on the day to be decided but ideally pool play in the early round, with either semi finals/finals or double elimination format. Where possible we will run separate age groups but the tournament organiser’s decision is final on the day.

ENTRIES

• Entry fee is £5 per team.
• Closing date for entry no later than Monday 30th June 5:00pm 2013
• For late entries please contact the organiser; a late entry fee of £5 (£10 total) will be applicable.
• Entries will be on a first come first served basis so please enter early. See note below.
• Entry Form: South West Schools Junior Beach Championships 2014

PLEASE NOTE each county is initially allowed 4 teams in each age group/gender e.g four girls U12 teams and 4 boys U12 teams. e.g Devon has their Devon schools event on the 23rd June in Croyde and the top four will qualify to represent Devon. However any county not holding any qualifying round the entry of the teams will be agreed with the Tournament director/County SGO organiser for volleyball/Local Volleyball Association as entries come in.

• One entry form for each school entered is required.
• Please make cheques payable to: Academy of Beach Sports
• Post cheques & entry forms to the following address: SW Schools Denise Austin, Seabirds, Withywell Lane, Croyde, Devon EX33 1PX

CONTACTS

Any questions please contact: Denise Austin
Email: denise@beachvolleyballinc.com     Tel: 07773382305

All,

Entries for the 2014 Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival are now OPEN !
The entry forms to junior and adult competitions can be found at

http://www.wessexvolleyball.com/entrylist.asp

Early entry is recommended to avoid disappointment.
We look forward to welcoming you on the sand soon.
Please feel free to share with your friends and family !

Kind regards

Vicky
On behalf of the 2014 Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival Crew

I am pleased to confirm that the UKCC Level 1 Volleyball Course is going ahead in Cardiff on the following dates;

UKCC 1 – 31st May, 1st and 7th June 2104

Please can you share this information with anyone that you think may be interested in attending this course.

I have attached an application and registration form. Please can you complete both of these, and return them to me with a cheque for £180. If you cannot pay by cheque, then we can take credit card payments over the phone but I will need your application form first. Volleyball booking form Volleyball application 2014

Details will be sent to you once we have received your application form but in the meantime, should you have any queries, please feel free to contact me on the details below

Best wishes

Yvonne Saker
Email: saker@cardiffmet.ac.uky

Volleyball England is very pleased to announce that LeAF Academy in Bournemouth will host the first round of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.

The first qualification route to the Olympics in Rio will take place in Bournemouth on the 21st and 22nd of June 2014. The event will feature men’s and women’s teams from England, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden.

Wayne Coyle, President Volleyball England, said “We are really looking forward to hosting this event in England. It will be the first time a major international beach volleyball competition will take place on home soil since London 2012. We are very pleased to be working in partnership with the Leaf Academy and look forward to an exciting Championship.”

Dr. Anetta Minnard, Executive Principle at LeAF Academy added “We are delighted to be hosting such a prestigious event at LeAF Campus. This is a wonderful opportunity to involve the local community in high performance beach volleyball and we look forward to welcoming the players, officials and spectators to Bournemouth.”

The full draw and information can be found on the CEV website

For further details on the event, please contact Sanjib Sahota, Major Events and Commercial Manager.

Well done to everyone who took part in this years Exeter Men’s Challenge event. It was a full house of twelve teams who took up this years challenge. Over all the results for the top half of the table were very much the same as in 2013.

The home team of Torexe Hunter’s finished in 5th place (same as last year), Exeter Storm once again took the runners up spot but last years winners and third place teams of the South West U17 Squad and Kernow swapped places with the SW U17 team taking their first ever event title by one point.

Results Table:

No.	Club & Team Name…	No.	Club & Team Name…
1st	SWVA U17	7th	Arrows
2nd	Exeter Storm	8th	Poole Panthers
3rd	Kernow Maw	9th	SWVA U15
4th	Kernow	10th	Torexe
5th	Torexe Hunters	11th	Bristol Uni
6th	Taunton	12th	Plymouth Marjon

 

England’s top beach volleyball talent take to the sand!

The Volleyball England Beach Tour (VEBT) returns in June this year with Skegness playing host to the first event of the Tour on 15th-16th June. We then head south east to Great Yarmouth two weeks later on 28th-29th June before visting the sands of Weston-super-Mare on 12th-13th July. A short break follows before Weymouth host the penultimate leg of the Tour over the first weekend of August (1st-3rd), with the Finals in Margate on the 16th-17th August.

The VEBT provides an opportunity to watch top class volleyball players battle it out to become the National Beach Volleyball Champions of 2014. Lisa Wainwright, Chief Executive of Volleyball England, said: “We are committed to raising the profile of volleyball through events such as the Beach Tour and hope to inspire and encourage more people to play, watch and take part in the sport. We would also like to welome and thank itsu, our official partner of the Volleyball England Beach Tour. We would like to thank them for their support in helping us to promote beach volleyball and inspire more people to get invovled.”

Tour dates:

• Skegness; 14th-15th June 2014
• Great Yarmouth; 28th-29th June 2014
• Weston-super-Mare; 12th-13th July 2014
• Weymouth; 1st-3rd August 2014
• Margate VEBT Finals; 16th-17th August 2014

Players for the senior and junior tour will be able to enter from the 16th April 2014 via the Volleyball England website.

The VEBT is a great day out for everyone and it’s free to come and watch. Make sure you come along to see the action and if you’re feeling inspired to get involved, visit Volleyball England’s ‘Go Spike’ website to find out details on where you can get involved.

For more information about itsu, please visit their website or follow them on twitter @itsuofficial.

For further information about the VEBT, please contact Sanjib Sahota, Major Events & Commercial Manager.

This weekend at the National Volleyball Centre in Kettering, Plymouth Marjon Volleyball Club took part in the National Cup Finals Weekend.

For those that are unfamiliar with this event, the National Cup Finals weekend is the showcase event for Volleyball England.  Over 200 teams compete in various cup competitions throughout the season, all vying for the chance to play in the most prestigious event in the Volleyball calendar. The atmosphere and buzz is second to none and in most cases is the rare occasion where teams can play in front a grandstand full of supporters, with music and match commentary as well as the whole weekend being live streamed so supporters all around the world who can watch the action unfold as it happens.

The National Cup Finals weekend comprises of Mens and Ladies teams that have progressed from the National Cup, the National Shield, as well as Junior U16 and U18 competition finals too.

PMVC Ladies were competing in the National Cup for the first time this season. Their Cup run saw them knocked out of the Cup competition in the Second Round against NVL Div 1 side Bristol 1 in a close match. This saw them automatically entered into the Shield where they enjoyed success against NVL teams - Div 3 South’s New Forest Ladies in Round 2 and Bristol 2 in the Quarter Finals. They then faced their stiffest test in the Semi Final against current Div 2 South Champions and National Shield champions in 2013, Tendring. They pulled off the biggest upset in the competition by beating them 3-1 and sealing their place in the Final.

Plymouth Marjon Volleyball Club (PMVC) are the first ever non NVL team to compete in the National Cup Finals Weekend from the Southwest of England. That itself is an achievement and tagged them as the underdog in every round of the competition. In terms of their form this season, they are currently unbeaten in the Southwest League with 2 games remaining and are on course to win the League for the second successive season. Their only defeat was against Bristol 1 in the National Cup.

When looking at the squads for every other team in the National Finals, all teams had a full squad of 12 including Libero/s. PMVC were the only team not utilising a Libero and were only able to field 7 players out of their squad of 8. 4 of their squad are 16 years old or younger. This further emphasises how impressive their route to the finals has been against well established and successful National Clubs.

Their opponents in the Final were last years Shield Runners up Loughborough Students (LBS). With a full squad to hand and in the top half of NVL Division 2 North, they were a strong and well established squad and they were unlucky is the National Shield Final in 2013 as they lost to Tendring in 5 sets. With this in mind they were determined to avoid the runners up spot again.

The early afternoon match was the 3rd Final on Saturday’s programme and with both the previous games being one sided 3-0 games, this match provided the crowd with its first compelling battle for supremacy. The first set was all about momentum, Loughborough started brightly and were looking comfortable on the big stage. PMVC on the other hand looked nervous and were behind going into both Technical Time Outs (TTOs) 8-4 and then 16-5. PMVC then started to find their rhythm and started to assert themselves in the match. With outside hitter Megan Leeds finding gaps in their backcourt and clever hitting by Ellie Cranch and Caprtain Liene Knupke, the southwest side clawed the score back to 10-17. The teams traded points and eventually LBS won the set 25-19. However PMVC had the momentum winning 14 points to Loughborough’s 8 in the last passage in Set 1.

Set 2 saw Plymouth take the early advantage with some service aces from Knupke and a killer bock from Ellie Cranch to go into the first TTO 8-6 up. After the break PMVC continued their new found confidence and the crowd were entertained with some long absorbing rallies. PMVC defended well enough to go into the 2nd TTO 16-10 in the lead. When play continued, Marjon were cruising to victory in the set at 20-14 but LBS tunred the tide with some excellent attacking play to force PMVC coach Steve Allen to use both his timeouts to stop their momentum. with LBS taking the lead 22-21 and then level to 23-23 it became a straight shootout for the set with both teams aiming to go two points clear. LBS had the first match point at 24-23 but Setter Marina Baker quickly snuffed out a second ball hit to draw level. PMVC then had set point at 25-24 and despite great defending LBS drew the score level again. LBS then had set point again but again PMVC saved it and then outside hitter Katrina Kozuleva hit a beautiful crosscourt hit to get their second set point. The set was sealed with an ace and PMVC drew the game level at 1 set all (28-26).

In the 3rd set, LBS put the SW Champions under pressure early and led in the first TTO 8-4. With some back court spiking from their captain and excellent serving from Cranch, PMVC drew the scores level at 12-12. With some excellent court coverage by Kate Wilkins, PMVC took the lead for the first time at 14-13 but LBS crept into the lead at the 2nd TTO 16-15. With all to play for, Loughbrough were able to convert defence into attack and started to pull away with the lead. At 21-17, PMVC weren’t having much luck as the referee changed his decision due to a line judge’s call at a pivotal point. With the disruption, Plymouth lost their focus and the set 25-20.

The 4th set started much the same as the others with Loughborough dominant again and leading 8-3. PMVC staged a mini revival at 12-8 down but LBS kept pushing hard with the finish line in sight and went into the second TTO 16-9. PMVC weren’t going down without a fight as they provided some hope with more effective hitting from Knupke as Victoria Wilkins took charge of the setting duties whilst also making vital defensive pickups. They were back in the game at 20-15. LBS snuffed out their late charge though and eventually won the set 25-19 and were crowned Shield Champions 2014 with a 3-1 win over Plymouth Marjon.

After being presented with their runners up medals, emotions ran high for the Plymouth team. Their amazing run in their first year in the competition had come to an end on the biggest stage. Coach Steve Allen had this to say about his team “The team are just emotionally wiped out. Our whole journey to Kettering has been such an emotional roller coaster. All I can say is Wow! Whatever the result, our little family team made it all the way to the National Finals.”

He went on to thank each and every one of his players including Valeria Minaeva who was unable to make the Finals but had played in every other round en route to the Final and his Assistant Coach Matthew Rhymer who took charge in his absence for the Semi Final win over Tendring.

Having played in the biggest match in PMVC’s short history, Club Chairperson, Kate Wilkins added ”It was great to have such positive support from the crowd especially those that travelled up with the team and also having everyone else at the club following the live stream at home. It has been a true fairy tale that we will never forget”.