We have a good number of clubs already in this years competition, to find the best club team in the region. Although the closing date has passed, if you don’t mind paying the late entry fee, we may be able to fit one or two in. See entry form for details.

South Bristol Sports Centre – Time to Listen Training for Club Welfare Officers

Time to Listen Course –Eastleigh College

And if your are in the East of the region, the next courses in your area will be held on  Monday 23^rd May 2016 (18:30-21:30) at Eastleigh College, SO50 5FS

Few heading to the National Championships in April will be able to match the experience of Petroc’s volleyball squads.

Both the boys and girls have qualified – yet again – to represent the South West in Tyne & Wear, making it their seventh and eighth successive years respectively.

But the college’s experience of the National Championships doesn’t stop there, as coach and former student Denise Austin won back-to-back gold medals in 1986 and 1987, so knows exactly what it will take for her girls’ team – who are defending champions – to achieve the same.

Denise Austin (No.5, centre of pic)

“I know what it is to have focus and develop goals, and also once you have won it’s almost easier to win again, as you know you can. The belief is there and they love a fight,” she said.

“I think we are tough to beat and we will have a target on our backs. But I think the girls are getting used to that. They have played National Volleyball League division three this year and have gone unbeaten all season. Many are also in the club team who are in the Volleyball England U18 Cup finals in April. ”

Full item see: https://www.swva.org.uk/news/petroc-aiming-for-back-to-back-titles

On city streets all around North America, you’ll find athletes playing a game with a net and a ball. No, it’s not basketball, and although this dynamic, aggressive, and attention-grabbing game looks a lot like its sibling sport volleyball, 9-man has more than enough of its own history, culture, and rules to distinguish itself from the six-person game.

Immigrants from Toisan, China, began playing this volleyball-like game in the 1930s to find release and create a place of community. These men would string up a piece of rope across the street or in a parking lot and make a ball out of a tied up towel, and they would spend the days they had off from their grueling restaurant and laundry jobs playing the game that came to be known as 9-man, which is still played in Chinatowns all over North America.

Ursula Liang—a sports journalist, filmmaker, and longtime volleyball player—first encountered 9-man when someone invited her to play in one of the women’s six-person volleyball tournaments often played alongside men’s 9-man competitions.

“As a volleyball player, I was curious about the game because it’s very different,” Liang explained. “It’s very dynamic.”

In 9-man, the ball-handling rules are much less strict than in traditional volleyball. The net is lower, the court larger, jump serving is not allowed, and if the ball is passed into the net, an extra contact is earned. When blocking, players cannot penetrate the plane of the net—referred to as “piking.” And, of course, there are nine players per side.

“You sort of describe [9-man] as a sport that looks like volleyball, but it’s faster and a little bit more chaotic,” said Liang. “Things are happening in a different rhythm, and the rules are a little kooky.”

You can see the full Volleyballmag.com article at: http://volleyballmag.com/articles/43780-chinatown-s-no-1-game