Aug 2016 / Issue: 309 / SWVA Membership: 1,800
Hi all,
More news from around the region, plus its an Olympic year.
This time four years ago we were preparing to host the largest volleyball event ever staged in the UK with well over 1 million spectators across the six disciplines of our sport, second only to athletics in the main Olympic stadium.
Myself and others had arrived days before to finish setting up and to practice, in the photo above London Malory & London Polonia were the two guinea pig teams providing the entertainment.
Across town we had an enormous amount of scaffolding erected in Horse Guards Parade for the beach court. Not as many seats as Earls Court but only an overhead shot on the big screen showed you the full size.
Anyway, that was four years ago in a country where volleyball is a minority sport, now it’s Brazil’s turn, where volleyball is the number one sport.
Dave Reece
Plymouth Go Spike!
After a long day at the Big Screen in Plymouth City Centre, showcasing the sport I was overwhelmed by how positive the day was. The new equipment was brilliant, the slides in the big screen were brilliant too! It was just so professional and slick! Over 200 people had a go either on the cage or on the courts from ages 1 to 61. Some potential new members, a lot of positive reflection on our club and its values and wonderful to have so many of the club come to support, say hello or play along too!
Special thanks to our young leaders Sophie & Emmeline, Luis taking the under 10s under his wing, Ridvan Anil (Rudy), Daniel and Milosz all showing people the ropes too. And of course Louise from Plymouth Councils SDU and her daughter Leah who was amazing (not just at the volleyball but as an advocate for sport too and only 11 years old!) Keep your eyes peeled for our next community engagement event! Andrew Potter |
VEBT Weymouth Results |
Beach Tennis arrives at Exmouth
Beach Tennis is a cross between tennis, beach volleyball and badminton. It’s a fun sport suitable for all ages and abilities, ideal for families, groups of friends, leisure as well as professional players. More details and rules at: beach-tennis-arrives-at-exmouth |
Come and join the Team
The 2016/17 Program… The 2016/17 SW Inter Regional Championship training program will be a little different to previous years, Girls and Boys sessions will both take place on the same day but with staggered sessions during the day (allowing coaches to get fully involved) and also we have the use of the Mezzanine area for off court warm up, warm down and team talks etc. We have appointed a Director of Coaching, Jurek Jankowski who will oversee the coaching program and our Head Coaches, Ros Sutherland is our coach mentor and will be working with our younger coaches do develop their coaching skills. Dave Reece will be leading the off court admin team. In addition to this we have a number of positions available for Head and Assistant coaches and Squad Team Managers (a non coaching role) for our 2016/17 South West Junior Squad Inter Regional Championships program. CLOSING DATE THIS WEEKEND Details and application form at: https://www.swva.org.uk/join-the-team |
Britain’s most experienced Beach Team Call it a Day
The SSAFA Beach Volleyball team of Jim Gilbert (69) and Alan Conquest MBE (78) has just played it’s last match. We managed to loose all 5 games at this years Perranport tournament but enjoyed it, we only raise some £100 this year but over the last 15 years we have raised through Volleyball some £15,000. We will miss the games but oldal’s wife not at all well and needs husband at home. We thank all who have supported us over the years Alan. |
SW Kit Design Winner
Back in September we asked if you could design a new kit for the SW U17 Squad, thank you all for the various designs. We have selected a winner and Ryan Mundell from North Devon will be receiving a new volleyball (£50) for his design. Well done to everyone who took part. |
My World U21 Experience – Anaya EvansThe North Devon’s pairing of Anaya Evans and Ellie Austin took on the world earlier this summer in a sponsored trip to Lucerne for the FIVB’s World U21 competition. We caught up with Anaya (No 1) and asked her about her experience.
I first started playing beach volleyball with Ellie 11 years ago and have grown up with her ever since. So it was great to be selected to compete in the world u21’s with her as I knew it would be like stepping on to court with my ‘younger sister’. After a very long car journey we arrived in Lucerne, Switzerland on the 9th of May.
On arrival I was stunned by the beautiful scenery that surrounded the competition area. I was so grateful to be doing something I love in such an amazing and unique place. Before the competition we trained hard to adjust to the environment, get used to the conditions and to get the journey out of our bodies. We also scrimmaged against a Turkish team, in which we executed are game plan in well, giving us a confidence boost before the game the next day.
I didn’t feel very nervous when we entered the draw as I’ve been through the process before. I was more excited to see who our opposition would be. When we heard England will play USA my nerves picked up a bit but my excitement for the challenger ahead outweighed them. Once we knew who we were playing against our teams talks became more structured on how we were going to beat team USA. For game day we prepped like most other days trying to keep it as relaxed and as comfortable as we could. This helped settle nerves whilst preparing and amping us up for the match ahead. We got to the court early and began our usual court warm up. When the other team arrived, it was our first chance to see them play and to understand what they did. We knew our game plan it was time to execute it. We started poorly to begin with as the nerves took over and they consistently picked on Ellie, making it harder for us.
However we fought back and turned our game around meaning that after losing the first set, we lead the second 16,14. This was a great turn around and we were beginning to prove what we could do. However we couldn’t fight for long enough and the American team re structured their game plan and fought back to win the second set and the game.
Although we did not win the game, we learnt a lot about ourselves and each other which is key when playing in a new partnership. Since Switzerland we have continued to compete and progress and build what is going to be a strong team. The event format for a world age group qualifier is single elimination, meaning if you lose a game you are out. It’s very brutal but this is what it’s like on the world tour and learning to win games in this environment is essential. Anaya Evans (Photos from FIVB) |
Wessex Volleyball 40th Anniversary
So, here it is – please spread the word … What? WESSEX VOLLEYBALL CLUB 40th ANNIVERSARY SOCIAL EVENT When? FROM 7:30pm, SATURDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2016 Where? DYLAN’S BARS, BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY (TALBOT CAMPUS) Who? EVERYONE (YOUNG AND NOT-AS-YOUNG-AS-YOU-USED-TO-BE) WHO HAS HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO BE INVOLVED WITH WESSEX VOLLEYBALL CLUB ANY TIME OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS:
How? SPENDING AN EVENING CATCHING UP WITH OLD AND NEW FRIENDS, RAFFLE, MUSIC, BUFFET, BAR , ETC. Why? CELEBRATE THE 4OTH BIRTHDAY OF ONE OF THE OLDEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL VOLLEYBALL CLUBS IN THE UK Look out for more details in the next couple of weeks! |
My IRC Experience – Toby Tapp
Following each Inter Regional Championships event, we ask a number of our representatives about their experience, today we focus on Toby Tapp (SW No. 1) from our U17 Boys Squad. “This years Inter-regional volleyball competition was at the National Volleyball centre in Kettering, it was a great place for the tournament to be held as there was 4 courts with lots of space for serving compared to last year where the serving area was tiny. I played as one of two main setters for our South West team, I felt a lot of pressure in the games as I was playing with people who play at a higher standard. It was a very good opportunity for me to show my team-mates and coaches what else I could do other than defend. After the two days of playing a round-robin tournament, South West came out second after only losing to the winners, London. I would also say that I am very glad for the sponsoring from Torexe Volleyball Club and I am looking forward to playing in the tournament next year.” Toby [Toby also took part in a similar item following the 2015 IRC, while in the SW U15 squad, available at: www.swva.org.uk/news/my-irc-experience-toby-tapp ]
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Rio 2016 Beach Volleyball ScheduleThe first six days of the beach volleyball schedule at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games were confirmed here Friday by the FIVB after consultation with the Rio 2016 Olympic Organizing Committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Services, working together to provide maximum exposure for the sport around the world. The schedule is announced just days after the men’s and women’s pools were determined at a drawing of lots ceremony on July 9 in Gstaad, Switzerland. Please note that the eligibility of a small number of teams included in the schedule is still being reviewed, and that as a result the match schedule will be updated next week. The Canadian men’s team will be known after the play-off in Canada on Saturday July 16 between Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter and Sam Pedlow/Grant O’Gorman. Rio 2016 Olympic beach volleyball schedule Whether the first serve is a skyball from Italian Adrian Carambula or a rocket launched by veteran Summer Games participant Clemens Doppler of Austria will be answered at 10:00 (Rio local time) on Saturday August 6 when Carambula and Italian partner Alex Ranghieri challenge Doppler and Austrian teammate Alexander Horst in the first beach volleyball match for the 2016 Summer Games on iconic Copacabana. First match on Copacabana The opening match in men’s Pool A will feature Olympic veterans in Doppler and Horst, who competed together in the London 2012 Olympic Games while participating with different partners in the Beijing 2008 Summer Games. Carambula, the FIVB’s top first-year player in 2015, and Ranghieri are currently the No. 2 team on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranking list.
Men’s world champions up next More world champions in action
Second day’s play Midnight matches to be extra special The first “Midnight Magic” match on August 6 will feature Olympic medallists April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States being challenged by Asian Continental Cup winners and 2014 FIVB under-23 world champions Mariafe Artacho and Nicole Laird of Austria in a Pool C contest.
Walsh Jennings is a three-time Olympic champion with Missy May-Treanor at the Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games. Ross and Jen Kessy won the silver medal in London after losing the Olympic finale to their American rivals. Walsh Jennings will enter Rio with a 21-match winning streak as she and May-Treanor dropped only one set in three Olympics. The other three “Midnight Magic” matches will feature Ross/Walsh Jennings versus Fan/Yue on August 8, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada meeting Joana Heidrich/Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland on August 9 in a Pool E and Doppler/Horst playing a Canadian pair* on August 10. The final pool “Midnight Magic” match will be a “lucky loser” contest on August 11 to determine the last remaining spots in one of the gender’s elimination brackets. The top two men’s and women’s teams from each of the six pools advance directly to each gender’s knockout matches along with the top two third-place teams based on match points and point ratios. The last four third-place teams will playoff for the last two berths in the 16-team elimination brackets. Action-packed, non-stop from August 6-18 The preliminary phase will then be followed by the knock out final phase, starting with two days of round of 16 matches August 12 and 13 followed by the quarterfinals August 14 for women and August 15 for men and then the semifinals on August 16 and the medal matches on August 17 and 18 for women and men respectively. A total of 96 players from 24 countries will form 48 men’s and women teams for the sixth edition of Olympics beach volleyball competition that started in 1996 at the Atlanta Summer Games. *Olympic trials will be held in North Bay on July 16 between Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter and Sam Pedlow/Grant O’Gorman to determine who fills the Canada vacancy. |
