‘Castle News Numbers 68-69I April-May 2012

Contents: 3 – Let’s Play Volleyball 2012

4-11 – Castle News updates

12-15 – 2012 School Games

16 – Social Volleyball

17 – Sportset

18-19 – ‘Castle Prepares...

20-21 – u18 girls Cup Final

22-23 – u18 boys Cup Final

24 – Castle Shop

25– u15 boys National Finals Submit your own content (please!) to willroberts1981@hotmail.com by the end of each month.

Castle News, no.68-69 April/May 2012

Welcome from the Chair The challenge of running a club the size, and with the ambition and professionalism of ours is a significant challenge – one which we are very lucky to have many volunteers dedicated to supporting. Many hands make light work though, and in the next month we have events where everyone can help out and Get Involved! Check out the new feature in the ‘Castle Updates pages – and once you’ve read it – do something about it and Get Involved! Colin Roberts Club Chair

GB’s opponents confirmed for Olympic Games... Well, for the

indoor women anyway! The May Olympic Qualification tournament in Japan completed the line-up for the Women’s Volleyball competition at the Olympic Games this summer! It was not without controversy though... going into the final match of the tournament Thailand were set to qualify having played superbly and upset a number of the ‘major’ teams. The only way they could miss out was if Japan lost 3-2 to Serbia in the last match... and the score in the last match was.... yep, you’ve got it, 3-2 to Serbia! This led to accusations of match fixing by the Thai contingent but an immediate FIVB investigation very swiftly stated this was unfounded. So, the line-up is set and the action is only 2 months away! Go GB!!... and fingers crossed for a certain 18 year old setter!

Country FIVB Continent World Ranking

Qualification Route

Great Britain Europe 69 Host

Italy Europe 4 FIVB World Cup 2011 - 1st place

USA North & Central America 1 FIVB World Cup 2011 - 2nd place

China Asia 5 FIVB World Cup 2011 - 3rd place

Turkey Europe 11 European Continental OQT - Winners

Dominican Republic North & Central America 9 North & Central American OQT - Winners

Algeria Africa 16 African Continental OQT - Winners

Brazil South America 2 South American Continental OQT - Winners

Korea Asia 13 Asian Continental OQT - Winners

Russia Europe 7 World OQT - 1st Place

Serbia Europe 6 World OQT - 2nd place

Japan Asia 3 World OQT - 3rd place

‘Castle kids, Stoke City and GB Women’s

Volleyball... All together on Match of the Day!!

In April the Match of the Day TV cameras visited the Stoke City FC training ground in Trent Vale for a special feature piece on the club’s Premier League 4 Sport programme – which for the Volleyball strand is linked to NSVC! Joining a couple of Stoke players on the day (including England international Matt Upson) were 5 members of the GB Women’s Volleyball team. Young players from the NSVC/PL4Sport satellite club at St John Fisher were shown playing games with the GB and Stoke City players, with ‘Castle coach Ant Viggars on patrol leading the coaching sessions. Some of the young players through this PL4Sport Satellite Club have progressed to join ‘Castle and two of these players who played in our u15 and u16 teams are shown (left) in screen grabs from the TV coverage... Along with coach Viggars in the bottom photo! It was a great piece for Volleyball with great profile – and for those of us in the know – for ‘Castle!

NSVC Schools u14 3v3 Tournament Due there being no U14 West Midlands Championships this season it was decided that the club would run our own North Staffs Tournament at Madeley for school teams.

With the weather being extremely unsettled on the day (16th May) it was decided that the girls event would run indoors and the boys outdoors. This proved a wise decision as late on in the competition the heavens opened and the boys final was able to be played indoors. 7 schools competed with nearly 70 players amongst the 21 teams.

The girls section ended with the much anticipated final between Madeley‘A’ and St John Fisher. SJF started much the stronger which caused the Madeley players to lose their composure . Despite a recovery mid set SJF battled on to keep their lead and take the winners trophy. A promising year 8 team from Painsley beat off the rest of the opposition to take 3rdspot.

The boys section proved to be extremely competitive with everyone winning at least one game. This would lead to the organisers (Madeley/NSVC year 10 & 11s) having to get out their calculators to decide play-off places. The two strong favourites though would progress to the final where a large crowd watched Madeley ‘A’ narrowly beat a battling Clayton team led by NSVC’s Matt Smith and Tom Arme.

Congratulations to all players who took part and to the Young Leaders who made the event happen.

We’ve got loads going on you know, so... Get involved!! • The AGM highlighted the importance of fund-raising for the club to secure our future. If you have time and energy to help raise funds please let Club Chair Colin Roberts know colinroberts1@hotmail.com ... Get Involved!

•We are working with Stoke City FC through Premier League 4 Sport the club will be putting on a Level 1 coaching award.. we always need more coaches so that the load is properly spread and people don’t end up having to do too much. We’ll let you know the details when the course is set-up! Get involved!

• Will Roberts is carrying the Olympic Torch on 30th June in Wolverhampton – he was nominated by Volleyball England for his coaching of young players. The time and exact location are not yet known, but for full details follow Will on Twitter @WillRoberts11 and go to support ... Get Involved!

• Thanks to our sponsor Ed Seekings the club will purchase £500 worth of new volleyballs... Great news for training as this means about 15 new ball... Get Involved!

• Club Chair Colin Roberts has met with Keele and secured all 7 home fixtures for the Super 8 matches next season... a small sub-group will be set-up to assist in the management of the special fixtures to run the PA, shop, raffle and potentially web-streaming of the matches... Get involved!

•The LPV takes place on the 16th June at Madeley – we need plenty pairs of hands to help out – give some of your time to support your club. Email Ant Viggars if you can anthonyviggars@ntlworld.com ... Get Involved!

Castle Satellite Manchester LPV Tournament The 4 Stoke City Premier League 4Sport volleyball clubs attached to NSVC sent 8 teams to compete at the Manchester LPV. The young players, from Madeley, Painsley, St John Fisher and Trentham and joined another 118 sides, playing in 4 divisions, from across the north west of England. Despite coming away without any trophies there was many fine performances from our teams, with all but 2 competing a year below their age group. Most notably Performance was perhaps Madeley year 7s who won 3 from their 4 games but still failed to qualify for the knock-out stages!?! St John Fisher girls were unlucky in the u15s winning 2 games and losing two others 21-20. Paisley u15 boys battled through a very tough group only to fade in the heat of the sun during the afternoons play-offs. Madeley year 10s played some great volleyball but could only manage 2 victories from their 4 games against physically stronger/bigger opposition in the u15 event. PL4Sport co-ordinator at Stoke City, Rich Adams was pleased with the event and recognised that players from all 4 satellites are now beginning to integrate well as a group, thanks to recent gathering at several competitions. This will hopefully be good news for possible player transition to NSVC

Castle invited to join ‘Club Leaders’ Programme NSVC has been invited by Volleyball England to join a new exciting programme called ‘Club Leaders’ run by PricewaterhouseCoopers in conjunction with Sport England. The aim of the programme is for leading businesses to share their expertise, free of charge, to local sports clubs to enable them to be more successful. There are workshops, online resources and a mentoring scheme.

Whilst online resources are open to all clubs, the mentoring scheme is very limited so this is a great opportunity for ‘Castle and club chair Colin Roberts has accepted Volleyball England’s invitation.

The scheme involves matching clubs with individuals with a business background, from PricewaterhouseCoopers and a range of the Olympic Partners, assisting locally based sports clubs become more successful by applying their business skills and expertise. Volleyball England were allowed to nominate 5 clubs to take part in the Mentoring part of the scheme. As a club with a Super 8 team, a strong junior section, active committee and accreditation – Volleyball England think that this programme could be really beneficial in terms of club’s marketing, commercial and financial strategy.

Volleyball England Awards Night The Volleyball England Annual Awards Evening took place on Saturday 28th April at the National Volleyball Centre in Kettering and ‘Castle were up for no fewer than 3 awards!

Guaranteed was the collection of the NVL1 trophy and medals, a duty which was fulfilled by Sam Shenton, Stew Ross and Iain M<cKellar. Sadly last year’s winners Birmingham hadn't returned the trophy (!?!!) so the lads made do with their medals.

We were also up for the School-Club link award which was won by Team Southampton, and the prestigious Club of the Year – an award we have won twice in the past 8 years! This time around we finished in 2nd place, congratulations to winners Ashcombe!

Rod, Margaret and Colin pick-up 2nd place in Club of the Year Stew, Sam and Iain collect their medals!

6th July is going to be a busy night... Presentation Night, BBQ & Sitting Volleyball Challenge!! Come and join your friends and club mates for our annual awards and celebration night on the 6th July at Madeley. The barbecue will be lit at about 7pm and the prestigious awards given out soon after. These include not only the NVL team Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards as voted by their team mates, but also the Junior Member of the Year for boys and for girls, and a new addition to the 100 club.

Then, our Paralympics inspired Sitting Volleyball Challenge will start. Played in the Sports Hall we’ll have up to 5 courts set-up with players formed into teams on the night to have a fun tournament.

Don Anthony: founder of Volleyball in the UK On the 28th May Don Anthony sadly passed away. Don was the founder of Volleyball in Great Britain, forming Amateur Volleyball Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (AVA) in 1955, having been introduced to the game while training with foreign hammer throwers during his national service days in Cyprus. He joined Manchester University as an Assistant Lecturer and for research purposes, he decided he would found a national association for an international game. He chose volleyball and in late 1954, he placed a letter in the Manchester Guardian calling for the establishment of the AVA. He was involved in volleyball ever since in one capacity or another and was Volleyball England’s Honorary Life President. In 2011, he was awarded an MBE in recognition of his services to sport.

6th July – ‘Castle Presentation Night, BBQ and Sitting Volleyball Challenge Sam Allen 100 club

NSVC AGM The NSVC Annual General Meeting took place on Friday 18th May at Madeley. The key positions remain filled by Colin Roberts (chair), Margaret Dobell (Treasurer) and Rachel Viggars (Secretary) and all volunteers supporting the club were thanked for their efforts this year, with excellent annual reports made.

Jeanette Carter joined the club committee to take on the role of promoting volleyball/linking with pupils and parents at Madeley High School – opur main feeder school and home. Club chair Colin Roberts said, “I am very hopeful that this will prove very positive, and help secure the future of the club.”

Social Volleyball Wednesday evening Social Volleyball sessions at Madeley now take on a whole new dimension for the summer months as the weather (should hopefully!!) allow them to take place outdoors in the wonderful Staffordshire sunshine! We’ll make sure that as many courts will be set-up as is needed for everyone that comes along to have a good game of volleyball, and if the weather is poor then the action will move indoors. Sessions are free for club members and £2 for non-members. Remember, the Social Volleyball sessions are for over 16s only (junior sessions will carry on through the summer – keep in touch with your coaches for all the info about your sessions!

2012-13 NVL Season – the teams The teams have now been confirmed for all of the NVL divisions for next season and team secretaries up and down the country are now busy making slight changes to the draft fixture lists produced by Volleyball England. By the time the next edition of ‘Castle News comes out in early July fixtures will be published and we’ll be able to share with you the big match nights for the season... with Men1 back in the top flight after a 2 year absence there will now be a guarantee of top level domestic volleyball at Keele!

Men 1 – Super 8s Leeds Carnegie London Polonia Team Northumbria London Malory Eagles London Lynx Warwick Riga Newcastle (Staffs) SGTV Solent

Women – NVL1 Ashcombe Dorking Tameside Devon Loughborough Dolphins South Hants Newcastle (Staffs) Bristol Northampton Team South Wales Reading Aces

Men 2 – NVL 2N Leeds Oxford Students Team Northumbria 2 Newcastle (Staffs) Loughborough Students South Birmingham Leicester Cambridge Wigan Seahawks Brentwood Estonians

The 2012 Sainsbury’s School Games took place from the 6th-9th May in London, using Olympic and Paralympic venues. The Games was extra special this year as the final day of competition would take place on the Olympic Park with the UK’s most talented young athletes, cyclists and swimmers competing in the final event prior to the Olympic Games itself! Once again Volleyball was part of the competition programme and once again ‘Castle members were at the heart of the action. Rod Stockwell a team leader on the stats, Charlotte James on the stats team, Rosie Mankee Team Manager for England Central Boys, Will Roberts at the heart of the event’s overall organisation – but most importantly the 8 boys selected to be part of the England North squad. This was the first time since the Games first included Volleyball that no ‘Castle girls were selected, but the lads kept up the club’s proud tradition by ensuring that we have won medals every year and had players compete in the boys final every year except 2008!

The event opened with a grand ‘Welcome Dinner’ which featured legends Jonathan Edwards, Tanni-Grey Thompson and Seb Coe, plus – via video – David Beckham!

The Volleyball competition took place at the vast Excel Centre in London on the banks of the Thames, alongside 6 other sports. The Volleyball arena was once again at the heart of the action and thankfully for the results of the UK teams the Brazilian delegation were only competing in Athletics, Judo and Swimming, not Volleyball! The selected ‘Castle Players for the England North Boys were as follows: -Elliott Francis (Captain) - Chris Ashton - Jordan Adelburgh - James Chadwick - Alastair Donaldson - Cameron Rhodes - Richard James

North won their group matches in good style against Scotland West and Northern Ireland to progress to the semi-finals. The two teams to progress from the other group were England Central and England South, leaving Scotland East and Wales in the bottom 3 triangular with Northern Ireland.

In the semi-final on day 2 North were drawn against a very talented England South team, coached once again by former ‘Castle captain Neil Masters, and featuring ‘Castle under 18 player Jermaine Miles. This was a repeat of the 2011 Final, and sadly for the England North lads they didn’t make the most of their opportunities and crashed out. Despite their obvious disappointment the team re-grouped well for the bronze medal decider against the Scotland West team they had beaten in a close 2-1 win on day 1. This time it really was no contest as England North swept the Scots aside in style. Coach Dave Roberts was even able to run his full bench at times – this meant that other than libero Cameron Rhodes there were no ‘Castle lads on court... The genuine starting had been: setter –Jordan, opposite –Elliott, Middles – James and Al, Passers – Chris and Rich, and Cameron in the libero top! Good times for ‘Castle!

The final day of the event saw the whole event switch to the Olympic Park. The event organisers had secured the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre and Velodrome for competitions and the Basketball Arena for the closing ceremony. Spectators were mainly made up of school children from around the country with a total of 34,850 people on the Olympic Park during the day. A total of 21,000 people saw the athletics (9,000 AM, 12,000 PM), 10,600 saw the swimming (5000 AM, 5600 PM) & 7,200 the cycling (3000 AM, 4200 PM). The event finished with a spectacular closing ceremony in front of around 4,000 spectators in the Basketball Arena – entertained by Britain’s Got Talent Winners Spelbound, and chart toppers Cover Drive! Congratulations to everyone involved!

‘Castle prepare for the Cup Finals...

The day before the Junior National Cup Finals the two ‘Castle under 18s squads shifted their training base to Loughborough University – the pre-Olympics training base for Team GB this summer – to complete the finishing touches to their preparations for their matches against Ashcombe and Boswells.

The teams trained well with coaches Ant Viggars and Will Roberts both delighted to get the time on court with their players. Roo Scott and Alex Jenkins who both won the under 18s with ‘Castle in 2011 (Roo captained ‘Castle teams to four national titles – 2008 u15, 2009 u16, 2010 and 2011 u18) came to help out and whilst Jenks helped Will with the coaching, Roo ‘helped’ Rod put up the ‘Castle banner for the photo below... As the photos above show, Roo found this seemingly simple tasks rather difficult, much to the amusement of everyone there!

2012 Volleyball England National u18 girls Cup Final ‘Castle 2 v 3 Ashcombe

‘Castle were hoping to make it 2 consecutive wins in the National under 18 girls Championships but their preparations were badly effected by the loss of GB senior international and 2012 hopeful Meg Viggars due to injury. Whilst training with the GB team Meg turned her ankle and suffered ligament damage that would keep her off the court for over a month. ‘Caste also lost left handed opposite player Marina Haritou in the week before the match – a hammer blow for the squad. Despite this devastating news the team remained upbeat and coach Ant Viggars worked hard with his players to make sure he was as well prepared as possible. This incldued working with some players at a range of positions to make sure as many options as possible were covered. ‘Castle started well with Paige Nelmes excelling and Ruth Gurgul really going for it and doing a brilliant job. The momentum was with the reigning champs and they swept to a convincing first set win 25-16. Errors started to creep into the ‘Castle performance in the 2nd set and Ashcombe’s German born star player was really starting to figure heavily at crucial times. Viggars worked his....

2012 Volleyball England National u18 girls Cup Final ‘Castle 2 v 3 Ashcombe

... bench well but it wasn’t enough and Ashcombe levelled it at 1-1 with a 25-18 win. Clearly this was going to be a yo-yo match as both teams were nervously going for their shots leading to periods of scrappy play followed by excellent points. As the momentum swung wither way ‘Castle won the third set 25-17 it looked for all the world that they would also take the 4th set and the title. Then, at the mid-point in the 4th set and from a strong position ‘Castle folded in the serve receive and were unable to get themselves back into contention and the match was tied level 2-2 as Ashcombe closed out 25-20. The decider mirrored the rest of the match but sadly for ‘Castle the teams stopped taking it in turns to win sets as Ashcombe took it 15-13. The match could not have been closer and overall ‘Castle has won more points, just ...101-98, but its sets that count and Ashcombe had done the business. Great credit must go to the ‘Castle girls who proved they were all worthy of a place on court in the national final and came so close to winning the title without the stand-out player in junior girls volleyball.

This match was a repeat of last year’s finals for both the under 16 and under 18 boys – so it really was a highly anticipated match-up for all involved. ‘Castle were able to field a fantastic squad of players with immense talent, but coach Will Roberts has always been nervous about the limited amount of full squad training time that had been available. Despite all players training in at least 3 sessions per week to squad all had enough volleyball in their systems but for a variety of reasons it had been very difficult to bring the squad together often enough all season. ‘Castle were going for a hat-trick of titles and opened up incredibly well in the first set with some phenomenal blocking from Iain McKellar and Jermaine Miles who formed a brick wall that could not be passed. Setter Jordan Adelburgh was performing very well and his one-handed set (featured in this feature) was the most memorable moment of the set. The first set was totally one-way traffic in ‘Castle’s favour as they blitzed their opponents 25-15. Then, something happened. Maybe there was a turning point, maybe not but after only 1 point in the 2nd set there...

2012 Volleyball England National u18 boys Cup Final ‘Castle 1 v 3 Boswells

2012 Volleyball England National u18 boys Cup Final ‘Castle 1 v 3 Boswells

...was a long delay as Boswells had a strongly disputed rotation error. It was one of those confusing times in a volleyball match but whilst it was Boswells who were wronged by the decision it did them a double-favour. Firstly it gave them a sense of injustice and something to fight and feel angry about, and secondly the break in play broke ‘Castle’s focus. Boswells took the 2nd set 25-21 & coach Will Roberts chose to change things round slightly in the 3rd, switching Jermaine Miles from opposite to passer-hitter, Chris Ashton from passer-hitter to middle & Iain McKellar from middle to opposite. This was designed to increase the block pressure on Munro, Karakoc and French the Boswells wing men but ‘Castle could not execute the plan and went down 25-18. For the 4th set the team reverted to its normal line-up, but with Shenton struggling to kill the ball and Miles unable to swing with confidence Boswells took it 25-22. The disappointment was visible on all related to ‘Castle, but their coach reflected after the game, “Boswells were awesome today and deserved it. Sometimes you come up against an opponent who just will not be beaten and sadly we couldn’t respond. For all but four of the lads we have next year, but I am so disappointed particularly for Sam Shenton that his last game for the club is a loss.”

Under 15 Boys at the National Last 6s After progressing in impressive style through the under 15 regional and then divisional round the ‘Castle boys were through to the National Final 6 competition. This is the first year that the u15s has followed this new competition format and it made for a competitive day at the finals. ‘Castle were grouped with Middlesbrough A and pre-tournament favourites Chadwell Heath from east London.

In their first game against the north east team ‘Castle cruised to victory with coach Rod Stockwell able to take the opportunity to mix things up as Castle won 2-0. Next up were the hard hitting, big jumping lads of Chadwell Heath. They are the same team as the ‘Castle under 16s had scraped past 2-1 in the u16 Last 8s in February so ‘Castle knew it would be a very tough game.

After being 17-13 down in the first team ‘Castle fought excellently and were playing some excellent volleyball but ultimately lost it due to errors based in inexperience – 3 foot fault and 3 rotation errors. In the 2nd set there was also some excellent fighting spirit from the ‘Castle lads and their silly errors were not replicated. From 14-11 down ‘Castle raced to a 15-14 lead & it stayed close all set but Chadwell won 25-22.

This meant that ‘Castle had Boswells in the semis after they beat Ernest Bevin 18-16 in the deciding set of their group game, and ‘Castle were on a high in terms of performance having done so well against Chadwell Heath. In the 1st set they raced to a 7-3 lead that was then extended to 15-9 and ‘Castle took it 25-20. The 2nd set though saw ‘Castle completely press the self destruct button and get beaten inexplicably to single figures in what truly was a set to forget. So, it was down to a deciding set. The tension was high and the volleyball excellent but sadly for ‘Castle they could not quite convert their opportunities and lost 16-14. Chadwell Heath won the final 25-11, 25-22 v Boswells