The following Newsletter has been forwarded to you, from the Volleyball Newsletter E-Mail list. The UK's leading on line Volleyball Newsletter, providing up to date volleyball information, direct to over 1900 newsletter members throughout the UK and Ireland. Articles are collected from a variety of sources and credited appropriately. To advertise your volleyball event, direct to team members, club and league secretaries throughout the UK & Ireland, then please contact Dave at Dave.Reece@ndirect.co.uk 

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Hello Dave, I am the secretary of Coventry Rovers Volleyball Club, based in Coventry West Midlands. We play in the Leicester Mixed league currently, and we are looking for new members to join us. Our club night is Monday near the centre of Coventry at Barrs Hill School.

We shall be playing for the next two months at Warwick University on a Monday evening 7.30 - 9.30, and we would welcome anyone interested. For further details please contact me dc012a7907@blueyonder.co.uk or phone me on 0121 705 4028

Best Regards
David Cove dc012a7907@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi Dave, I was wondering if you could provide me with a list of teams that I may be able to join that play within Central London (preferably south west). I played quite a bit of indoor and beach volleyball back in Canada. All female or co-ed teams would both be great.

Thanks,
Carolyn ckerr@UK.EY.COM

Dave, I wish to thank all those who attended the Nottingham Volleyball Tournament on the 8th July. The new venue appeared to be popular and the rain that threatened all morning never came. 

In the afternoon we were treated to sunshine for the finals. Nearly 40 teams turned up and we were only let down by three that didn't show. This did upset two of the pools for some teams, and as some players had traveled a long way it is was very difficult to organise new pools to everyone's satisfaction. I want to congratulate the winners and hope everyone enjoyed it. If I continue to get the support I will consider running another event next year.

All the best
Lee Summers lsummers@ntlworld.com

Sunday 7^th October 2001  

It’s the start of a New Millenium and Chessington want to establish this as an annual event which can increase in size each year.

ALL PLAYERS MUST BE UNDER 19 YEARS OF AGE ON 1^ST JANUARY 2002. There will be a canteen serving sandwiches, snacks and drinks. The sports centre has full changing and shower facilities, and a large car park. THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 30^TH SEPTEMBER, HOWEVER PLACES WILL BE ALLOCATED ON A FIRST COME BASIS UNTIL THE  POOLS ARE FILLED.  

If you have any further questions please contact Nevil on 0208 397 5674. or kapadia@igclick.net For more information on this event and a entry form, see our Tournament Entry Forms page or visit the tournament website at  http://members.xoom.com/chessington 

Dave, Can you advertise our tournament please. White Eagles 4 aside outdoor Tournament on Saturday the 1st September. It will be held at Southfields Community College, Southfields, London, SW18. As 2001 is white Eagles 25th anniversary - it is going to be a fantastic day out. For further details please email me.

WHITE EAGLE 4-A-SIDE, LONDON

Thanks,
Andy Henderson a.henderson@nhm.ac.uk

If you are organising the events in Poole, Margate, Jersey or are running a training camp, make sure your event is well publicised, advertise your event in the Volleyball Newsletter, customers waiting. 

From July 4th to the 8th 2001, the 150 top-ranked players from 40 nations attended the Phillips Open World Tour, battling for important Olympic qualification points as well as the 1.3 mill NOK in prize money. 75.000 people visited Stavanger's city center every day of the 2000 tournament. As at previous Stavanger events, the streets surrounding the harbor will be closed to traffic during the World Tour, and the restaurants open outdoor terraces to welcome the crowds. Stavanger constructs five beach courts with 2.000 tons of sand brought from Årdal.

The main court has a 3.000 spectator capacity, and Beach Volleyball enthusiasts crowd the venue from sunrise to sunset. The organisers set up a tournament web cam, if you missed it, you check out the videos and tournament photos via their ONLINE WEBSITE http://www.sandvolley-stavanger.com/ Results: Emanuel and Tande win again in Stavanger

Led by tournament best player, Emanuel, the Brazilian combination Emanuel/Tande dominated the finals in Stavanger, Norway defeating the Laciga-brothers from Switzerland 2-0 (21-19,21-15) in the gold medal match. The Brazilians dominated the tournament going through undefeated. So dominate was their performance that they only lost one set in three days of competition. Early in the day they gave advanced notice of the great form that they were in, by defeating compatriots Ze Marco/Para in the semi final to advance directly to the gold medal game.

High Peaks Junior Camp

Dear All, this is an invitation for you to come and visit us at our annual High Peaks summer camp at Upper Heyford between the 5th - 18th August 2001. This year we have invited approximately 20 junior aged players and 20 of cadet age and we will be working between three and four sessions per day for the duration of the camp. The camp programme will be organised on a progressive basis so that the players can work through various techniques and game situations, accumulating and compounding the skills.

The players have been divided into two groups which are not age specific but rather according to abilities and current knowledge. This means that the more advanced group, which will include some of the cadet aged players, will work primarily on technical and psychological skills and the second group will work on technical and game awareness skills.

The current emphasis at this stage in the junior cycle is very much on understanding the team support systems and efficient communication. Physically and technically, the players are more or less at a level that can compete with their European counterparts. Where we are deficient is primarily in the mental understanding of the game, i.e. decisive shot selection, phasing each set, temperament under pressure. 

We are, as you are aware, traveling to Portugal next weekend for a tournament of the caliber that we need to meet on a weekly basis, and from there straight through to High Peaks. Right through this three week period we will be working progressively on the notions of team support systems and cohesion, continuing on from the work the boys put in at Easter camp. We expect that, at the end of this time for those that have been together for the duration, a strong improvement in those players' confidence and ability levels will be evident.

We are always glad to welcome coaches, teachers and volleyball enthusiasts to our camps - there is as always an open door policy to all Performance training. Last year over thirty coaches found the time to visit our camps, some for several days, some for a few hours and the young players and staff feel very appreciated by the support they receive from everyone who visits. If you would like us to find you accommodation nearby if you are intending to stay overnight please let us know and we can organise this for you.

Regards
James Wright james@1roundhayview.freeserve.co.uk

For those VB fans who hadn't heard, the side out freeze (new AVP rule this week) occurs when one team reaches 14 in the third and final game of a match, both teams scores are then frozen from rally scoring and side out scoring is used to finish up the game and match.

Unfortunately in Muskegeon, when side out scoring went into to effect in the third and final game with McPeak/Arce leading 14-13, it took 38 MINUTES to finish the match with Straton/ Hanley winning 18-16. Because the Fox show is only an hour long and has to include both the men's and women's two out of three finals, that third and final game will only be shown from 16-15.

I'm an old vet who grew up on side out scoring, but if we want to see more volleyball on television, rally scoring is the way to go. Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Chris Marlowe bigsymarlo@aol.com

Does anyone know of a book or computer program that mathematically figures out 9 teams in a league / 3 matches (6 teams) playing per night? One that gives parity to # of byes, # of early games, # of middle games, and # of later games?

The math drives me buggy.....I know someone has already invented this wheel! HELP!

Thanks to all who reply.

PJ venturavolleyball@yahoo.com 

Try the following sites...

http://www.ultranet.com/~yankee/forms/9team2.html

http://www.hoa-volleyball.org/pages/downloads.html


Beach/Grass Volleyball scalvolleyball@yahoo.com

Women's World Championship 

61 teams have registered to participate in the qualification process for the 2002 Women’s World Championship to be held in Germany from 30 August to 15 September 2002. 

22 vacancies will be decided by 2 September 2001 following which the Drawing of Lots will take place to determine the distribution of teams to their respective pools and competition cities for the final rounds. Cuba, 1998 World Championship title holder and Germany, Organising country have already directly earned their berths.

European Participants 

Pool C 2-4 Feb 2001 Baku, AZERBAIJAN Azerbaijan, Israel 
Pool E 17-19 Aug 2001 Hertogenbosch, NETHERLANDS Netherlands, Turkey, France, Azerbaijan 
Pool F 24-26 Aug 2001 Opole, POLAND Poland, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Slovenia 
Pool G 22-24 Jun 2001 Lisbon, PORTUGAL Portugal, Czech Republic, Spain, Norway 
Pool H 22-24 Jun 2001 Novyi Urengoi, RUSSIA Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Denmark 
Pool I 13-15 Jul 2001 Urbino, ITALY Italy, Romania, Hungary, Switzerland 
Pool J 27-29 Aug 2001 Dubrovnik, CROATIA Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Finland 

Approximately two thousand volunteers - at all levels - have made the Games possible, together with the huge commitment of the Isle of Man Government (through the Department of Tourism and Leisure), Nat West Offshore and the many sponsors of the Isle of Man sports, hoteliers and the general public. We hope that the high expectations of the International Island Games also have been met. Thank you all.

Tomorrow we begin to prepare for the Games in Guernsey in 2003 and Shetland in 2005, secure in the knowledge that the spirit of the Games is strong and in safe hands. Brian Partington (Chairman of the Organising Committee 2001) 

Hello all. Mt local district has just gone through a funding crisis and, of course, the first thing they tried to cut is the sports program. Specifically, JV and Middle school sports faced the axe. Some last minute lobbying by parents, athletes and coaches saved the programs. The superintendent says he is open to "solutions" to the problem. Since is commitment to sports is somewhere between zero and none, and there will be not researching of "solutions" from the board of ed. point of view, I was wondering if there are any creative funding solutions out there for volleyball and or sport in general on the high school level. Thanks Bob

Bob Borello bborello@dmv.com

I have found hosting volleyball tournaments to be a good fund-raiser. Depending on the demand for tournaments in your area, your region may want / need you to host a tournament if your facility is acceptable.

Randy Follas follasrd@bellsouth.net

Ad - INCREASE your vertical in the sand with Vincere Sand Socks / Vincere Sand Socks for ONLY $18! / PROTECT your feet from the HOT, burning sand! / PROTECT your feet from sharp objects in the sand!

INCREASE your vertical! (You're jumping off of a platform with Vincere Sand Socks versus the sand going between your toes when you jump without Vincere Sand Socks on.)

Beach/Grass Volleyball scalvolleyball@yahoo.com

The material of the sole is about two millimeters thick, so it probably increases your vertical by two millimeters, just like a 1" sole on volleyball shoe increases your vertical by 1". Bruce Kvam bkvam@visi.com

Maybe they mean that Vincere Sand Socks increase your "vert" relative to the other players, who are all suffering from 3rd degree burns and lacerations from all the seashells! :-) John Geldermann jgeldermann@cfl.rr.com

Reply - There's nothing magic about our beaches in S. California, gravity is the same here as it is "over there." The concept of being to jump higher with vincere sand socks on is basic mechanics:

1) when you jump in the sand you're using only the front half of your foot.
2) since our feet aren't webbed, a good portion of the sand goes between our toes, thus decreasing the available surface area.
3) with vincere sand socks on, you have an increased surface area to jump with.

The analogy is the same as using a flipper when scuba diving. Check it out the next time you're on the beach..... Vincere sand socks is so sure of it, the following is on the packaging: "Improves balance and feel and lets you jump higher on the court." weight: 0.1 lbs

Beach/Grass Volleyball scalvolleyball@yahoo.com
http://sandsocks.iwarp.com

Stat data from the preliminary round of the World league 2001. Further to earlier presented data from the final pool, in this contribution some stat data will be given from the preliminary rounds.

Attack.

Hitting data are ranked on bases of kill percentage corrected to zero errors (ckill). All teams are ranked in single table although this might be open to some critics as the data do originate from different pools, which may not have been of same average strength.
The Russian pool for instance has an average score of 0.369 while the pool in which both the Netherlands and the USA participated has lowest performance with only 0.338 ckill. The other pools had successively 0.352/0.355 strength.

The Russians have shown great attack performance in their pool, clearly better than in the final round, while the Brazilians improved in final round to 0.454. The data indicate that roughly above 200 attacks maximum performance runs about 50% ace and 20 error with slight tendency to increase. Below 50 observations the results are too much influenced by chance and will be ignored. Much better performances however are observed for attacks less than 200. The point of interest here is do those hitters get this performance because they are less loaded and assuming it are mostly mid hitters do they attack under more favourable conditions? It could also well be and there are many examples where the most used hitters do not reach best results in the team and a redistribution of attack in the team strategy may have to be envisaged.

Blocking

From the total number of attacks 18245 about half 8186 were blocked of which only 1812 resulted in direct point. Complete data are summarised in following table.

Strong attacking teams are also well placed in block performance. There is no correlation between the percentage successful blocks and the number of point block per set.

Service.

Service data are summarised in following table. This is the first play compartment where the final four teams are not presented on top of the table. The data are ranked according to the ace over ace plus error ratio. The percentage error of some teams as Portugal and Germany is excessively high. There is a relatively good relation between errors and aces with an average slope of two aces for one error. The graphic relation however shows also much spread.

From a breakdown of available data it would appear that an upper limit of 16 % error would acceptable above which apparently on average no recovery in more aces takes place and efficiency will reduce.

Receiving.

The finalist teams with an exception of Italy are not present in best performances. The low error percentage and high quality of receiving by France is remarkable. The French team has various players, which do perform very well in receiving. I will leave it to Cristian Perret to make further comments on this. Receiving quality appears to be decreasing probably under influence of the new rules. About 15 % of the players made more than 20 error. This is the more remarkable as the libero's will take on average a good 30 % of all services. The performance of some of the libero's is very good and mostly better than the remainder of the team. This is the case for Italy, Argentine, Spain Poland and Portugal. Other extreme cases are Mitkow for Russia with 11.9 % error Kooistra for the Dutch with 9.26 % error and Cuba where the libero performance is worse than the team stopping performance.

leo van hal leovh@wanadoo.fr

You can see Leo full report, plus graphs and table etc on the Newsletter Reports Page.

I was in Stavanger and watched the World Tour round there this week. This was the first time I have seen the new rules in effect at the top
level. Let serves: a good thing in my opinion. A very few balls drop straight down, but I prefer that to having all the slight net touches called and
the game stopped all the time.

The court size: there were perhaps a few more spectacular rallies. The jump serve was almost absent or just jump floaters. This lead to more
ideal situations, but also less serve errors breaking up the game. Since both Childe/Heese, Canada, Ze Marco/Para, Brasil and Berg/Dahl, Sweden did fairly well there is no clear indication that small players will suffer from the rules. I have no strong opinion on this as a spectator,
but as a player I prefer a bigger court.

The running score: the side out rate at this level is so high, that even a two or three point lead late in the set is almost impossible to catch up. Combined with the smaller court and the difficulty serving aces this makes for boring matches. There were many sets ending with three or more
points difference, and those were not very exiting. My take: go back to side out scoring or to one set that lasts longer. The only positive thing to say about RPS in beach is that it evens out the field.

Are Akselsen areakselsen@yahoo.com

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