‘Castle News Number 61 | September 2011

Welcome from the Chair

Contents

3 – ‘Castle Shop

4-7 – ‘Castle News Updates

8- Social Volleyball

9– Sportset advert

10-14 Euro Volley Cup 2011

15-20 – Sainsbury's UK School Games

21-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 PASS www.cblsupplies.co.uk www.pass-staffs.co.uk

MATRIX AGGREGATES Cornovii Investment Management www.cornovii.com

This time last year we were celebrating the performance of our under 18 boys in competing with great pride at the inaugural Euro Volley Cup... Well, this year it is a similar story but we must celebrate their fantastic performance to finish in 6th place. Maybe with a bit of a fairer schedule they could have taken 5th. This month also saw the 6th UK School Games event and we should celebrate the performance of the 10 players, coach, 2 team managers, statistician and organiser involved all from ‘Castle! Colin Roberts NSVC Chair

‘Castle Shop

White Training T-shirt: £15.00 High quality performance material NSVC club t-shirt, 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

NEW T-SHIRT COMING IN SEPTEMBER – INCLUDED IN ALL JUNIOR PLAYERS’ MEMBERSHIP FEES AND AVAILABLE TO OTHER MEMBERS FOR £15.00

News Updates from ‘Castle!

Viggars’ Olympic chances in the balance as contract issues reign In the August edition of ‘Castle News was reported and celebrated Meg Viggars’ move to Dutch club Pollux, but it now appears that this report was somewhat premature as the sport’s global governing body, the FIVB have not yet ruled on whether this was a legal move or not. The FIVB introduced a rule in the past year that prevented under 18s from transferring to foreign countries in a move that was designed to protect them from exploitation and prevent a talent drain from smaller/ developing nations. There has been a promise that Meg’s case will be heard imminently but for now she is in limbo and having given up her place at the Volleyball England National Academy in Loughborough where she had been part of a daily training programme to go to Holland in the expectation that these issues would be resolved quickly. With the unexpected delay, Meg is back home and playing again for ‘Castle, training as much as possible with our squads including sessions with the Men’s 1st team, but her longer term future appears uncertain. But for Meg this is a serious blow, as it was indicated that Team GB Olympic players for 2012 squads should only be expecting to be selected if they are playing pro... A real challenge if the global governing body will not permit this in her case. Although it is great for ‘Castle to have a player of Meg’s quality back in the fold, and a player who has been part of the club since she was very young, we all recognise that this opportunity to be an Olympian may not arise again and wish Meg and Britjsh Volleyball every success in trying to resolve this case and maximising her opportunity to play in London 2012 as an 18 year old.

News Updates from ‘Castle!

Shents is ‘too tall’ At the recent away match for the men’s first team at Richmond the team travelled in the Rural Runabout minibus, but after a 4 hour trip in the unseasonal 30C heat on the 1st October (!!!!!) found that the parking for the venue was too low for the minibus! Coaches Dave Lovell and Will Roberts negotiated a parking space elsewhere nearby, but in the meantime our under 18 boys captain and 1st team player Sam Shenton investigated the height restriction for the car park – only to find out that he too was too tall!! Clearly an issue in planning access for parking at volleyball venues! This ‘welcome’ from Richmond was then matched by the provision of no food after the match, so all in all its a good job the lads won the match 3-0!!

Shocking incident in NVL match at Cambridge In a truly shocking incident at the recent NVL 1 match against Cambridge, a scorer was struck in the face with the ball after a powerful spike from one of the home team’s passer-hitters. The incident was captured on ‘Castle’s official match footage and has been put online through our You Tube Channel (NSVC1) for the volleyball public to take a look at and draw their own conclusions. It does look remarkably like the players, (who had been blocked a number of points in a row) turned in the air and deliberately hit the ball in the direction of the wall – i.e. Away from the court itself! Unfortunately for him, in addition for this incredible action he then struck the ball very powerfully and the assistant scorer got the ball full in face and required medical attention, delaying the match. Whilst the scorer returned part way through the next set, the only sanction issued to the player was an immediate substitution but he returned to the court for the fourth set. Take a look at the video and see what you think of the incident.

News Updates from ‘Castle!

VOLLEYBALL IN AFRICA – OUR LINK TO UGANDA CONTINUES Regular readers of ‘Castle News will be well aware of our links to the Rock Paintersvolleyball set-up in Uganda and we hope that you’ll all be interested in the insight into what playing volleyball looks and feels like in a much less economically developed nation such as Uganda. These photos are from the KAVC founders international volleyball tourny. The club had a highly successful season, much the same as ‘Castle: •won the Nyero Rock Stone tourny, •second place in the Eastern Volleyball league standings, •7th place in this years KAVCs founders International Volleyball tourny.

Juniors •national primary girls champions •boys 1st and 2nd runners up in the primary category

Check out their juniors photos on facebook, the account can be found by searching nrockpainters@yahoo.co.uk

News Updates from ‘Castle!

NVL matches under way and looking even better than ever!

This month saw the restart of the NVL season with both the ladies and men1 at home on the opening day, playing at Keele University. As a club we are proud that we focus energy and effort in presenting our sport in the best possible manner and this summer invested in further banners which really added to the look and feel of the matches. The large banners behind the scorers table and at the ‘home’ end make a real impact and make sure our teams feel at home- this is addition to the noise of our enthusiastic home supporters is why Keele is ‘THE FORTRESS’!!!!

tle News....Next month in ‘Castle News.... Next month in ‘Castle News.... N

• Junior teams 2011-12 •Coaches in profile – Ant Viggars

• Local schools coaching programme

Pool “A” Pool “B” ATC TRENCIN COP (SVK) M. ROMA VOLLEY (ITA)

BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO MATERDOMINIVOLLEY.IT (ITA) HAOK MLADOST (CRO) LEIXÕES SPORT CLUB (POR)

TIRANA NATIONAL TEAM (ALB) NEWCASTLE STAFFS (ENG)

‘Castle finish 6th in Europe!!

From the 8th to the 12th of September the ‘Castle under 18 boys team were representing club and country at the Euro Volley Cup in southern Italy, for the second year in a row. The players were determined to improve upon last year’s result of 8th place out of 9, but when the draw came out days before they travelled it was clear they would have a tough task, with two Italian teams – the hosts Materdomini and Roma, in the group along with Portuguese team Leixoes.

It was a long and tiring journey for ‘Castle as the photos below shows just minutes before the team went to the Opening Ceremony! On the first day of matches ‘Castle went straight into the action against the side that had lost in the final of the Italian Cup, Roma. The long day of travelling clearly effected ‘Castle in this match and the team looked lethargic in the 30C+ heat of the late Italy summer. That said, ‘Castle fought well in every set and despite going down to a 3-0 defeat the scores were tight throughout at 21-25, 21-25, 23-25. Next up were the host Materdomini, later on the same day and after a rest ‘Castle were ready for the match and they returned to the venue which has now been nicknamed ‘the sauna’ knowing that they needed a win to stand a chance of making the top 4. Unfortunately Materdomini were a really class act and took ‘Castle apart in three straightforward sets 15-25, 15-25, 19-25.

THE ‘CASTLE SQUAD • Roo Scott (c) • James Goodwin (vc) • Sam Shenton • Stew Ross • Iain McKellar • Ryan Heath (libero) • Richard Yates • Alex Jenkins • Richard James • James Chadwick • Cameron Rhodes

Head Coach: Ant Viggars Asst Coach: Martin Mierwza Manager: Rod Stockwell

On day two ‘Castle returned to the sauna for their final group match against the Portuguese side Leixoes. This game was much better for ‘Castle and they were able to exert control over the tempo and power of the play from the start and dominated the game with some great attacking, winning 25-19, 25-13, 25-20. At this point ‘Castle were expecting a match for 5th place against the team that had finished in 3rd place in the other group, but the organisers had made a change to the tournament structure meaning that they faced a full cross-over semi final and then play-off, so two more matches in the sweltering heat to be played on the same day!

So, at 4.30pm that afternoon they returned to the sauna for their 4th match in 2 days, against the Albanian champions Tirana. ‘Castle played against this club twice at the 2010 Euro Volley Cup, winning in the pool but then crucially losing out on the last day to finish 8th rather than 7th, despite having won more matches across the whole tournament than the Albanians. This time it was a different story and ‘Castle played some great volleyball after losing the first set 21-25 to take the match 3-1 winning 25-21, 25-15 and 25-16 with the players clearly responding positively to the opportunity to play for 5th place.

No rest for the wicked and unfortunately for the lads and their coaching team they got straight onto the transport and head across town to the Grande Pallazzo for the 5/6 place play-off against Croatian side Haok Mladost. This is the venue that the Materdomini senior teams plays at, and must have a capacity of 1500-2000 in total with large stands either side of the taraflex court. This game wasn’t a big box office hit though and the crowd was smaller than an English Division 2North crowd at Madeley. Disappointingly, with this game crammed in on the same day as two others the players were totally spent, physically, and the match was played as the best of 3 rather than a full 5 set format. ‘Castle’s fatigue and efforts of winning 6 out of 7 sets already played that day, and coming straight from one match to another showed in the first set as they were humbled 25-11. However, in the 2nd they showed true ‘Castle grit and fighting spirit to fight back from being match point four times but could not quite take it to a deciding set, going down 2-0 30-28. Still, despite feeling completely shattered, the team had again made history for English Volleyball finishing in 6th place, an improvement of 2 places compared to last year!

On the following morning ‘Castle returned to the Pallazzo to watch the ¾ playoff and final happy in the knowledge of having done themselves proud overall, and pleased that they had a full days rest prior to the long trip back home. The 3/4 game saw Roma line-up against Slovakian champions and Euro Volley 2010 legends Trencin. For the second year in a row the Slovakian side took the bronze medal in this event and in the process prevented an Italian sweep of the medals. This was because the final saw Italian Champions Cuneo play against hosts Materdomini – who had finished 4th in 2010. This time though the hosts were not to be beaten and with their inspirational setter pulling the strings from start to finish they won the final convincingly to be crowned champions of Europe!! This does make it seem likely that the club will seek to host and coordinate the event for a 3rd successive year in 2012 so great motivation for ‘Castle’s u18s to strive for the trophy again this season! ‘Castle feature (briefly) in the online footage of the tournament at www.eurovolleycup.eu/40/video-eurovolleycup-2011.html

All images in this article – credit: Action Images

1st – 4th September saw the sixth and final edition of the Sainsbury’s UK School Games and as with every time that this fantastic event has included volleyball in the programme (since 2007) there was a significant ‘Castle contingent involved! This year all of our players and coaching staff involved won medals, with ‘Castle part of both gold medal sides!!!!* (Neil ‘Noodle’ Masters, coach of England South Boys was ‘Castle men1 captain and played for the club for 7 years!

The Games were kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony on the evening of the 1st September at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, which was packed out with a 4000 crowd. Prior to the ceremony, ‘Castle player Paige Nelmes was interviewed by Baroness Sue Campbell at the VIP reception about her role at the Games – as a 3 time champion (2008-2010) Paige is a ‘Champion Ambassador’ for the Games and she returned to the Games this year to offer her advice and support to her fellow athletes. The ceremony itself was hosted by BBC Sport’s Jill Douglas who has become ‘the face’ of BBC’s cycling coverage in recent years, and throughout the ceremony several interviews took place, most excitingly with Olympic Champion Jason Gardener and then Paralympic double champion from the Beijing 2008 Games – Ellie Simmonds. The UK School Games is particularly special for Ellie who rose to prominence winning medals at the inaugural Games in Glasgow in 2006 and she was given the honour of announcing the event open. A spectacular show then followed and all of the athletes left it pepped up to compete to the highest possible standards over the next few days. Across the 12 sport programme the 1600 competitors excelled themselves, with a World Record achieved in the swimming pool, and the boys 100m won on the track in just 10.52s!!

The Volleyball event was held at the EIS Sheffield where GB play many of their matches, and this was a venue where a total 7 sports were taking place within close proximity of each other. With two courts laid out and the normal noisy and enthusiastic volleyball crowd in attendance the atmosphere was amazing, and for the finals matches in particular, a really amazing place to play. A key difference to the cup finals is that the whole crowd gets involved as there are so many young spectators, and the effect is just brilliant, making volleyball the most popular sport in the entire event!

The girls competition was dominated from start to finish by England Central who won all of their pool matches 2-0. ‘Castle’s Harriet Roberts was part of this squad and played a critical role on court in many of their matches as they marched largely unopposed towards the final with their star players being their wing-hitters and set Jade Butcher from down the road at Redhill. England South, who had been the champions in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and silver medallists in 2007 missed out on the final for the first time in UK School Games history as they lost out to England North who had also been in every final! In the boys competition England Central were highly fancied pre-event but lacked the depth in their squad and match winning performers, and surprisingly lost a couple of key games. It was the North, captained by Sam Shenton in a squad that featured no fewer than 8 ‘Castle players (!!!) and England South who dominated the competition and from the start looked the likely finalists – both sides having the players with all of the big shots and a wider overall capability than their opponents.

Hockey Mountain Biking

Girls Rugby 7s

Wheelchair Basketball

Swimming and Fencing

In addition to the Volleyball competition there are 11 other sports involved

Athletics Table Tennis

Badminton Judo

Gymnastics

‘Castle’s 2011 roll of honour England Central Girls: Gold -Harriet Roberts -Charlotte ‘CJ’ James (Team Manager)

England North Boys: Silver -Sam Shenton -Stewart Ross -Iain McKellar -Kacper Stefanowicz -Jordan Adelburgh -Elliott Francis -James Chadwick -Richard James

England Central Boys: Bronze -Chris Ashton -Ant Viggars (Assistant Coach) -Rosie Mankee (Team Manager)

Stats: -Rod Stockwell

Organising Committee: - Will Roberts

The girls final was preceded by confirmation that England had done a clean sweep of the medals for the first time in Games history, taking gold. Silver and bronze in both the girls and boys events. Central looked like a far stronger team than North come the final and Nicole Parish and Mechelle Daniel really excelled from start to finish. The power of the Central side overwhelmed the North who simply could not match them for aggression and strength at the net and Central swept to a 2-0 win and golden glory! The boys final followed with an electric atmosphere again in the hall. South were the favourites, but the North, captained by Sam Shenton featured 6 ‘Castle lads in their starting 7 (bodes well for the national under 18s this year!!). The first set was incredibly tight and at one point turned into a direct battle between Shents and South’s Jermaine Miles as they laid down spike after spike against each other’s teams. At the end of the set the sides were point for point and Jordan Adelburgh impressed the crowd by dropping in an excellent and brave 2nd touch attack at a crucial time. Unfortunately the North lost the set 26-24 and went down ultimately to a 2-0 defeat. After the final the presentations were made and Sam Shenton was nominated for a place in the boys’ Super 6, receiving a golden volleyball as his prize!

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: 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 2010, plus a Twitter feed. 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.

You Tube Match videos can be posted online at our very own You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/NSVC1 Recent viewer numbers: - Meg GB – 198 views - under 18 girls final highlights – 75views - under 18 boys final highlights – 214 views - under 16 boys highlights – 79 views

‘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 Reader numbers from recent editions: - June 2011 - 318 - May 2011 – 463 - April 2011 – 523 - March2011– 563

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

Twitter We have an active Twitter account for those of you who want up to the minute information on the club. Go to Twitter and search for us @CastleVb

Wikipedia The 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 come http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_(Staffs)_Volleyball_Club