swva-newsletter – issue 342 – 2019-Aug

A few Courses Coming up

International beach player and former Southwest junior Sam Dunbavin will be running some junior events at Cardiff Beach Volleyball from August 22nd-24th this year. He will be holding a camp along with top Polish coach Marcin on August 22nd, followed by a U14 and U18 competition on August 23rd and a U16 competition on the 24th. The tournaments will all be UKBT-affiliated.

The event is part of Sam’s End-of-Summer Extravaganza, which features an advanced adult camp from August 22nd-23rd, and then adult UKBT 1*, 3* and 4* tournaments from Saturday 24th-Monday 26th, so all the children that take part will get the chance to watch some of the UK’s top players!

• Sign-up for the camp is available here: https://bit.ly/2Y5eXaZ
• Sign-up for the junior tournaments is here: https://bit.ly/2LIX76Z
• Sign-up for the adult tournaments is here: https://bit.ly/2OiYjA8
• Sign-up for the adult camp is here: https://bit.ly/2YjZoax

Description

Bring your child to Cardiff Beach Volleyball Centre on the 22nd August for a brilliant day’s coaching with me and top Polish coach Marcin Szczechowicz. It’s the perfect lead-in to the weekend’s UKBT events, and a chance to work with senior international players.

We have two age groups, U14 and U18. They will be training in alternating times. The final schedule will be sent out in the week before the camp.
Coaches

Sam: I am a professional beach volleyball player and coach based in London. My volleyball journey started in North Devon when I was 11, and I have been playing ever since. I made my England debut 3 years ago and haven’t looked back since. I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and have made it my mission since graduating university to do it. I now play on the World Tour for England and around the UK on the UK Beach Tour. I have worked as Assistant Coach for the England Junior Beach programme in the past and absolutely love working with junior players.

Marcin: Marcin has coached all over the world, and is one of the top coaches in Poland. As a junior player he trained with the Polish national squad and is a rapid defender and right-side player. He brings energy and a depth of knowledge to his coaching that is unrivalled. I’m hugely excited to have him here! Marcin will be playing with his partner in the 4* tournament over the weekend, so you will get to see the master in action…

CSSC Volleyball – Indoor event, 4 & 5 September

The Inter Regional Championships is a great annual event to be involved in, from back ground admin staff, sponsors, coaches, parents and the players themselves. When it all comes together and you end up on the winning side, it’s time to celibate all the hard work.

This years it was the SW who were crowned U17 Girls National Champions and leading the teams celebrations above is team captain Kaja Jankowska (no. 3), we caught up with her and asked about the experience:

My Interregional Experience

For me the journey started the moment I got onto the minibus. With everyone excited it was very loud, partly also due to the music and singing. The journey to our hotel went really fast and when we arrived I was in high spirts as we settled into our rooms and then decided to all gather in Catherine and Kate’s room (or the hub), as we had a small rave, testing the speakers for the competition tomorrow. Following this, we had a team meeting where we discussed our aims, goals and values.

We then did a team bonding activity which was entertaining where we had to find a different person for each trait that we shared, for example height, favourite music and dream job. However, this didn’t go as planned as not many people shared the same job or same holiday destination so everyone ended up making it up which actually made it more funny and from that moment, I felt like our team had really got to know each other and no matter what would happen tomorrow, we would still have fun and enjoy the experience.

Saturday morning started with an early breakfast and a lot of tired faces. Many people rested on the 15-minute drive to the sports hall, despite the music being played from the speaker. Finding the sports hall was our first challenge as we went around in circles trying to find it and asking people along the way. Eventually we made it and as we walked in, I immediately loved it as the courts were modern with a fantastic wooden sprung floor.

At this point, I felt nervous as it had finally hit me that today we were going to play 3 pool matches and then a quarter-final – this was going to be a long and tough day. This was my last year and I wanted to play the best I possibly could and with the squad we had I knew we could go far.

See the rest of the report at: https://www.swva.org.uk/news/inter-regional-champion-2019-kaja-jankowska

Another successful tournament!

After long periods of hot dry weather in the southern half of England we approached the Whitefield weekend at South Bristol Sports Centre in July with a dreadful weather forecast for our setting up day on the Friday, which turned out to be a very wet day. Thankfully Saturday and Sunday were dry, though it was rather windy on the Saturday.

We had hoped to have our indoor social facilities available again after the serious fire at the venue in 2018, but their refurbishment was delayed and so the bar, refreshments and disco had to take place in the marquee.

The tournament attracted 118 teams, playing across 9 divisions on 26 courts. The pattern of entries from recent years continued and we had an increase in the number of mixed teams, with a reduction in the number of men’s and women’s teams.

The standards in the top divisions continue to be strong and there were some very exciting, high quality and close matches in the Mixed Division One – with Checkmate the winners.

As usual, the tournament was played in a great spirit. Many of the teams have been coming for many years, but the newcomers also get into the spirit very quickly. We do not get the teams from outside the UK that we used to get, but the event has an international flavour with so many players from different countries now playing for teams from within the UK.

On the Sunday all teams are still playing for a trophy as we split into different divisions or organise plate competitions – so it is very competitive to the end – but generally in a very friendly way.

Feedback from our teams is always very positive with these comments being typical:

“Thank you all for your very hard work in organising this amazing tournament! As usual our volleyball club enjoyed a fab fun weekend!!”

“Massive thank you from all of us for the organisers of Whitefield Volleyball tournament this weekend! Supreme organisation as ever and great food and bar from Bigpanparties! We appreciate all the effort and hard work and our teams had another great weekend! Thank you!!”

“Super grateful to all the Whitefield volunteers who do such a superb job to make it such a top weekend for all, thank you !!”

Ron Richards

Tournament Director

Whitefield Volleyball Tournament 2019 – Results

Weymouth 2019

Last weekend saw the second instalment of the UKBT Grand Slam Series held on the prestigious Weymouth Beach. The sun was shining and the action did not disappoint with thousands of spectators passing by over the two days.

The women’s final saw England internationals Vicky Palmer and Jess Grimson overcome their opponents Aga Adamek, from Poland, and Italian Giulia Rastelli in an an epic three-set thriller.

Palmer and Grimson got off to a slow start losing the first set 21-17 and then they were 15-10 behind in the second and looking defeated but a couple of strong serves from Grimson saw them regain confidence and they stormed back to take the set 21-19.

The final set went point for point until Palmer and Grimson were just able to edge ahead to take the match 15-13 and collect their second Weymouth title having previously triumphed in 2015.

The men’s final saw Issa Batrane from Bournemouth going for his third consecutive title with his new partner Phil Smith. Their opponents were first-time finalists Ivan Vatolik and his partner Piotr Kazik.

Batrane and Smith established an early lead and Vatolik and Kazik were never really able to pull the match back and lost 21-14, 21-15.

More than 100 players from all over the UK and Europe took part over the three days of competition. The two finals were played in front of packed crowds on the beach who had enjoyed an afternoon of great entertainment and were amazed by the power hitting of the men and the speed of the women around the court.

The women’s player of the tournament award went to Rastelli who particularly showed her incredible ball recovery skills.

The men’s accolade was awarded to Batrane who created history by winning the title three years in a row.

UKBT director Jake Sheaf said: “The weekend was a great success and the tour loves coming to Weymouth to play in front of such large crowds and to have such a well-organised and exceptional local organising team. A big thanks to all the staff, volunteers, players, spectators and our tour sponsors Wilson, Itsu and Aloha”.

Weymouth co-event director Pete Bennett said: “We are delighted how the weekend has gone and to see such great crowds for the final particularly after the dreadful weather we experienced last year. We would like to thank everyone who supported us putting on this great event, particularly Weymouth Town Council.”

The next and final stop on the Grand Slam Series calendar will see Bournemouth beach host the UKBT Championships. A huge festival of beach volleyball which includes the 5 star Grand Slam Championships event, the 4 star Plate Championships and a 1 and 2 star. As well as the UKBT awards night. For more info please check: www.deepdishbeach.com/summer-slamdown.