‘Castle News

Number 53 January 2011

Busy January for Seven‘Castle teams!

Welcome from the Chair

Contents

3-7 – ‘Castle News Updates

8-9– ‘Castle lads in national Service

10 – 2011 LPV Festival

11-13 – ‘Castle Juniors

14-15 – ‘NVL

16- Club Shop

17 – Castle online

Main sponsor www.marangoni.com

Main school-club link and training HQ:

Madeley High School

Official Equipment Supplier: www.sportset.com

Sponsors

CBL Welding Supplies Cornovii Investment Management www.cblsupplies.co.uk

www.cornovii.com

MATRIX

AGGREGATES

For the start of 2011 it is probably fitting to wish everyone a big “thank you” for all of the work done for the club – whether it is hours put in to coaching, driving minibuses, taking photographs, making the refreshments, or even training with pride in your club t-shirt it is great to have you as part of the club.

The first few months of the year are always busy across the age groups, and there is a lot at stake – something highlighted in this edition of ‘Castle News!

Colin RobertsNSVC Chair

News Updates from ‘Castle!

Thank you!To Lucy James for providing so many fantastic photographs for this edition of ‘Castle News! Remember – this is your club and your magazine so without contributions like Lucy’s there will be nothing to read and look at each month!

Web updates

The highlights of the NVL matches on the 22nd January show the ladies win over Northampton to be marginally more popular than the men’s over Leicester! Both achieved over 60 views within 5 days of being posted online!

The December 2010 edition of ‘Castle News set another new record readership in its first month online with 645 readers!! Total readership of previous editions:- Dec 2010 - 645- Nov 2010 - 598- Oct 2010 - 362- Sep 2010 - 92- Aug 2010 - 100

Our Wikipedia pages have recently been further updated to recognise the recent achievements of our players and teams. If you want to know more about the club and its’ history why not check out “Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club” on Wikipedia

My Perfect teamIf you would like to nominate your own perfect 6 please do so as soon as possible! Please remember that this is your newsletter so you need to contribute by emailing your selection to Will Roberts on willroberts1981@hotmail.com

Remember, it doesn’t have to be a ‘Castle team but could be from anything you fancy, for example an international team, or best ever NVL side etc!

News Updates from ‘Castle!

Venue plans revealed for Volleyball venue

Further information is now available about the Volleyball venue at the 2012 London Games – Earl’s Court. For the Games, the arena will have an impressive 15,000 seated capacity, and having hosted countless concerts over the years will be well used to the noise generated by the world’s volleyball fans. Access to the venue is pretty straightforward so despite disappointment not to be in a brand new venue on the Olympic Park (which is on the opposite side of London) it should be a great spectator experience. Both the tube and National Rail train lines provide easy access to Earls Court from across London, and the M4 is nearby. For those of you looking to combine your trip to the Olympic Games with a bit of culture, Earls Court is close to the Victoria and Albert, Science and Natural History Museums.

Match

court

Training

courts

News Updates from ‘Castle!

City of Stoke-on-Trent 6th Form CollegeFor the past 4 years NSVC has developed a fantastic relationship with City of Stoke-on-Trent College in Fenton, seeing the growth of the Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) at the college to provide three training session per week for players. In 2010-11 we will continue to work closely with the college to further develop this programme which is unique in North Staffordshire, to provide daily opportunities to train through a partnership between club and college. Whilst many ‘Castle Juniors will always opt to attend other colleges, the 6th Form College in Fenton is the only one with this formal link to the club, and is the only place where players will get the chance to train on a daily basis locally.

Junior Boys Head Coach Will Roberts said, “The link with Fenton is fantastic for our young players. I did my ‘A’ Levels there back in 1998-2000 and only wish I’d had the chance to train for volleyball at college as often as they now offer through TAP. It wasn’t until I started my degree at Loughborough that I got anywhere near the quantity of training needed to play at a decent level so I hope that by strengthening the link to Fenton we are ableto help our young players progress and keep up to speed with their studies.”

Andy Saward secures personal sponsorship deal!

Men’s first team player Andy Sawardrevealed his brand new personal sponsorship deal on the recent away trip to Wessex: “Super Tramp.” Proud of his student lifestyle and personal presentation, Saward hotly disputed that Super Tramp is actually a trampolining manufacturer and nothing to do with him!

News Updates from ‘Castle!

New Additions for ‘Castle Men 2 in time for transfer deadline day!

In the past few weeks men’s 2nd team coach Rod Stockwell managed to strengthen his squad in preparation for its’ promotion push just prior to the transfer deadline at the start of February. Whilst the football transfer deadline day saw over £240 million spent on new players in the Premier League!!

For ‘Castle of course all of the signings were free, but have added strength and depth to the squad. First up is Danny Glover (top picture) who was part of the National Championship winning u15 and finalist u16 teams in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The last competitive game Danny had played was in that u16s final nearly 6 years ago as he embarked on a professional football career. Now playing for Conference North side Worcester City, Danny is training with ‘Castle and is registered to play in matches when available.

Richard James (aged 14) and James Chadwick (aged 16) are the latest graduates from the ‘Castle junior ranks to get a taste of the NVL to help advance their development. Both players signed in time to play a part in the squad for all of the four NVL3 north wins in January and look set to be main stays of ‘Castle teams in years to come!

News Updates from ‘Castle!

Academy players set the nutrition standard...!?!Away trips to NVL matches have always plagued players – sitting in the car or minibus for hours on end, then blasting your body with 100% commitment on court for a couple of hours before a quick shower, a bite to eat and then a few more hours on the motorway.

One of the perils of such trips is falling into poor nutritional habits but luckily for ‘Castle having a good number of players involved in daily training at the National Academy is that they have adopted the mentality of professional athletes...

... or so we thought until James Goodwin, RooScott and Sam Shenton ‘invested’ their cash into this bumper box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts at motorway services. Not the ideal pre-match meal lads! Clearly a few lessons still to be learned!

Potters ‘Arf: Get InvolvedSunday 12th June is not only the day after ‘Castle hosts the West Midlands “Let’s Play Volleyball Festival at Madeley (sunshine please!!) – it is also the day of the Potter ‘Arf – the ½ marathon around the streets of Stoke-on-Trent.

The players of the men’s 1st and 2nd teams have decided to enter teams in the relay races that go on as part of the ½ marathon – at the moment it looks like three

teams – each of which will campaign to raise the most money for club funds – and of course be the winning team. Entries are being centrally coordinated so if you fancy signing up or getting a team together to add to the fundraising effort please let Will Roberts know on willroberts1981@hotmail.com

Relay Distances• Stage 1 3.3 Miles (Probably the easiest stage)• Stage 2 3.4 Miles (Involves climb up Anchor Rd)• Stage 3 4.7 Miles (Mainly flat, hilly finish)• Stage 4 1.7 Miles (Includes Milton Road)

In addition the men are planning to run a car/minibus wash at the LPV festival on the 11th June so why not get your car cleaned and raise some £’s for the club that day too?!

‘Castle lads in

National Service

Over the Christmas period the England Junior Men were busy preparing for the first round of the European Youth Championships. In recent years England junior teams have only entered the CEV Junior Championships so have spent the first year of the Junior cycle preparing themselves for international action, but with the advent of the National Academy and the National Training Centre the bar has been raised.

The England squad of 12 players contained now fewer than 6 members of this season’s ‘Castle u18 boys squad, a fantastic achievement for the boys and for the club. Accompanied by Head Coach Keith Trenam and new full time academy coach, the Brazilian Rodrigo Ponticelli, manager Jackie Tapley and all round helpful pair of hands James Poole who kept the English Volleyball public in touch with the event through his Tweets and Facebook updates!

Though disappointed not to return home with any wins, England played well and had they not failed to capitalise in the 2nd set against Latvia it could have been a different tournament. But to go 28-26 with European powers like Holland and compete credibly against the likes of Germany and Belgium indicates a strong performance and real positives to take forward – well done lads!

Back: Keith Trenam, Richard Yates (Wessex), Stewart Ross (‘Castle), Sam Shenton (‘Castle), Adam Karakoc (Boswells), Sonny Chaney (Tendring) Iain McKellar (‘Castle), Rodrigo PonticelliFront: Jermaine Miles (Croydon), Alex Jenkins (‘Castle), Joe Lambe (Wessex), Chris Frost (Boswells), James Goodwin (‘Castle), Roo Scott (‘Castle)

England Results

v Latvia - lost 3-125:19 23:25 17:25 10:25

v Slovakia – lost 3-012:25 20:25 19:25

v Holland – lost 3-028:26 25:14 25:19

v Germany – lost 3-012:25 18:25 18:25

v Belgium – lost 3-025:16 25:18 25:20

‘Castle

players in

Action for

England

Junior Men

‘Castle Juniors Progress to

Last 8s in National Cups

In January the ‘Castle u16 girls ‘A’, u16 boys

‘A’, u18 girls ‘A’ and u18 boys ‘A’ and ‘B’ were

all in action in the second round of the national

championships and trying to qualify for the

Last 8s.

Both girls squads were hit by illness and injury

to key players, and whilst the u16 girls did not

quite make it to the Last 8s with Molly Boughey

missing, the under 18s survived despite the

unavailability of both Jen Bellamy and Paige

Nelmes. Indeed Zoe Rogers enjoyed taking on

the role of setter for the u18s in the narrow

defeat to Redhill which meant they didn’t take

top spot in the group.

This means that the girls will face perennial

challengers Wessex and Ashcombe, plus

Nunthorpe (Middlesbrough) at the Last 8s.

For the boys, first up were the u16s – who took

on Redhill, Academy of Beach Sports (Devon)

and Haughton (Darlington). The lads won all of

their games comfortably 2-0, including an

emphatic 25-8, 25-8 win over Haughton. All 12

players got good court time in a range of

positions giving a great opportunity to prepare

for the last 8s. As the photos on this page show,

the boys were in great shape in their matches!

The under 18 boys round 2 unfortunately saw York withdraw

just 3 days prior to the event due to players injuries leaving

three teams – two of which were from ‘Castle. The ‘A’ team

never really got out of first gear comfortably winning their

games 3-0 vs ‘Castle ‘B’ and Redhill (who took a set off this

team when it was on the way to winning the u16s two

seasons ago). Indeed the team to push the reigning

champions hardest was ‘Castle ‘B’ in the first set – when at

18-18 looked like they might cause a surprise!

It all came down to the last game of the day where the ‘B’

team took on Redhill. Unfortunately it was not to be and the

lads were not quite able to transfer the form they had shown

in the u16s the previous week, and lost the first two sets

meaning they could not qualify. But to their great credit they

battled on to win the third set despite Redhill re-introducing

their bench players to try to hold on for a 3-0 win. 2-1

reflects the balance of the teams and Redhill rightfully

progress to the last 8s.

At the last 8s ‘Castle will be in the same group as the two

teams they have faced in the semi-finals and finals in each of

the last two seasons: Middlesbrough (playing this year as

Team Northumbria) and Wessex. This is being dubbed the

‘group of death’ similar to that of the u18 girls so it will be a

challenging last 8s weekend for ‘Castle’s teams!

100% off in NVL January

Sales for ‘Castle !‘Castle’s three NVL teams were in superb form in January winning all nine matches to keep alive the dream of an

unprecedented triple promotion! Men’s first team captain Will Roberts commented, “It’s great that all the teams

are battling at the top of league. You’d have say that the girls have a great chance of being champions & going

into Division 1 next year. We (men1) have it all to do with a massive game at Birmingham in March, & then

the lads in second team are playing out of their skins at the moment too. Its’ an exciting time for the club.”

Both ‘Castle & Birmingham have lost just one game each all season in the league & for ‘Castle the last time they lost

sets in the league was on the 22nd November at Cambridge. The team is working well in training with an expanded

group of up to 16 players as young players from the 2nd team begin to impress & put pressure on the regulars. The

whole league season and promotion dreams of both ‘Castle and Birmingham will come into focus when the teams

meet on Wednesday the 2nd March in Birmingham. ‘Castle must ensure they don’t slip up in any other matches & look

forward to returning to the fortress at Keele on the 19th February.

The ladies team had 3 huge games in January with the division’s top 2 teams both coming to Madeley & then a trip to

play a good young Birmingham2 team. Beating Sheffield 3-1 and Northampton 3-1 on consecutive weeks showed

‘Castle’s mettle with some great play against Sheffield, and scrapping against adversity when Charlotte ‘CJ’ James

injured her ankle & was taken to hospital after the first point of the 3rd set v Northampton. Lucy Preston’s performance

as libero that day was superb showed the strength in depth that is being developed in the squad. Beating

Birmingham2 meant the team goes into February’s away matches at Cambridge (6th) & Loughborough (20th) knowing

that two wins will be a significant step towards promotion, but coaches Ant Viggars & Martin Mierwza will not let the

team get distracted & will ensure they approach it one game at a time.

Men2 won 4 out 4 in January, putting in some great performances against Wigan Seahawks (3-1), Northampton Sparks

(3-1) and two 3-0 wins over Haughton (Darlington). Particularly impressive for the second team is the maturity of

performance that the young team is putting in. With most players aged 16-19 (only the ‘old man’ Dan Glover who has

returned to volleyball action– see news) over the age of 20 – & he’s 21! Coach Rod Stockwell reports that Sam

Shenton, Michal Hawiar & Elliott Francis have been on superb form & are leading the team’s push for promotion

behind unbeaten leaders Nottingham Rockets. With James Chadwick (year 11) & Richard James (year 9) making their debuts ‘Castle again shows its face in youngsters making the grade!

Upcoming home fixturesFebruary

6th: Men2 v Loughborough Lion – 11amMen2 v Wigan Seahawks – 3pm @ Madeley

19th: Men1 v Richmond – 6pm @ Keele

Only a couple of home dates this month so please get down to the fortress at Keele to support Men1 versus Richmond on the 19th!!

‘Castle Shop

Training T-shirt: £15.00

High quality performance material NSVC club t-shirt, Navy Blue and now in White!

Classic Grey ‘Castle T-shirt ‘Castle Hoodie ‘Castle Polo Shirt ‘Castle Drawstring Bag

£10.00 £20.00 £10.00 £5.00

To purchase any club kit please contact your coach or a club official on match-day or at

training

Stay in touch with ‘Castle: online

The club’s communications strategy (part of the four-year club development plan) is now very well advanced following the launch of our You Tube channel and Wikipedia page in the first few months of 2010. These additions to the existing ‘Castle News, www.nsvc.co.uk and Facebook group give us what is hopefully excellent connectivity to our members through whatever medium they prefer. Soon to come on board is the final piece in the jigsaw for now! Happy browsing!

www.nsvc.co.uk The club website gives regular updates of information on both the home and news pages,, team and player profiles, plus carries all club match reports and an up to date club calendar

‘Castle News The club’s unique monthly e-newsletter is now available only as a download through the club website’s news pages at www.nsvc.co.uk/latest-news

FacebookSign up to ‘Castle at www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=12327566316

WikipediaThe NSVC Wikipedia page was launched in March 2010 and will provide a great historical record of the club and its’ achievements over the past 30 years and the years to comehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_(Staffs)_Volleyball_Club

You TubeMatch videos can be posted online at our very own You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/NSVC1

TwitterCOMING SOON – NSVC TWITTER FEEDS