VOLLEYBALL NEWS

The following Newsletter has been forwarded to you, from the Volleyball Newsletter E-Mail list. The UK's leading on line Volleyball News service, providing up to date volleyball information, direct to newsletter members throughout the UK and Ireland. Articles are collected from a variety of sources and credited appropriately. The Volleyball Newsletter uses advertising sponsorship to support our free and non-profit making service to newsletter members. To advertise your volleyball event or product, direct to players, club and league secretaries throughout the UK & Ireland, then please see our web site for details or contact Dave at Dave.Reece@ndirect.co.uk 

VOLLEYBALL NEWSLETTER
Issue 140 (19/11/2001) - Circulation: 2200 - Regular Items: Letters to the Editor / Tournaments / International News / Photos of Interest / On-Line Calendar.

This weeks Newsletter is Sponsored by...     

Click on their banner for more information....

Hi all - More Volleyball news from the web.

I intended to send this newsletter out last weekend but regular visitors to the web site, will have noticed that our sever has been down for the last six days, my services provider decided to switch it off (upgrade their system) without informing us! You should all now find the Volleyball Newsletter web site back on line. 

Cheers - Dave Reece Dave.Reece@ndirect.co.uk

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Leicester Volleyball club website now active!!

Hi Dave, Great News letter! Our website is now active, I would be grateful if you could change the link to reflect this on your site.

http://www.leicestervolleyballclub.net/

Thanks
Sudhir Jethwa suds@MailAndNews.com

Looking for a Team

Well, I don't have any particular place in U.K, and I am ready to play everywhere they are playing volleyball in U.K. It can be as professional or as amateur, I mean if there is no professional championship I can play while doing a little job. I have a scientific Baccalaureat diploma and I started with chemistry at University but I was faced with many hurdles. Anyway, all I wish is to have the chance to express myself in a stadium. I think that I have a great experience of game. You can ask me any question you need.

Keep in touch.
Jean Baptiste jibus1@lycos.fr

Junior Beach Training

Hello All, Mo Glover and myself will be running a junior training weekend ( age U23 ) at Heyford 30 Nov-2 Dec. If you are interested in training then please contact me with your times of availability over the weekend. I will send confirmation of training times, food instructions, padlock entry number next week.


Denise Austin
austin@seabirdsbandb.freeserve.co.uk

Volleyball Photos

Hi Dave, please could you ask your many readers for any quality action photos. We require royalty free photos for the design of our web site.

thanks
Jonathan Doyle jonathan@jonathan7.force9.co.uk

VOLLEYBALL EVENTS
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES VOLLEYBALL

Hi Dave, Could the following go in to the next edition please? 

The British Universities Home Nations Championships will be held in March 2002. Men's and women's representative teams from English, Welsh, Scottish and N Irish universities all compete in this prestigious event. Squads will be selected and train in the new year in the lead up to this
event. Players wishing to be considered must complete the attached nomination form, and have it approved by their University. Players of any nationality are eligible.

Good luck!
Lenny Barry
British Universities Volleyball lennybarry@aol.com

BUSA VOLLEYBALL (MEN AND WOMEN) NOMINATION FORMS

Those players wishing to be considered for representative (England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland) squads must complete the attached nomination form. Players of any nationality are welcome, as the squads represent the country in which they are studying, and not their country of origin. 

The nomination form must be countersigned by the Athletic Union President to indicate his/her support for the nomination and eligibility of the player. Players selected for trials will be advised of details shortly after the closing date. Squads will train and prepare during the second term working towards the BUSA Home Nations Championships in March 2002.

NOTE: Players, their clubs or Athletic Unions are responsible for all travel, hotel and subsistence costs. BUSA regrets that it cannot be held
responsible for any personal costs, injury or losses incurred, whilst travelling to or from, or in attendance at a BUSA trial or representative fixture.

CLOSING DATE: 10 December 2001.

Junior Development / Coaching conference - EVA

National Youth Development & Coaches Conference 2001/2. The EVA's Youth Development Commission in-conjunction with the Coaches Commission will be running two one-day Conference's looking at Youth Volleyball issues. The first will be held in the North of the country, with a repeat in the South in the New Year (Date & Venue TBC), to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to attend. 

The Conference's will combine both practical and presentation style workshops which will include: Child Protection - Sports Coach UK presents an 'Awareness Training' workshop that will provide delegates with an understanding of Child Protection issues and how it affects them as coaches or administrators working with young people. The EVA will also be launching its' new CP Policy. This workshop is the first step of a training programme available to all Club Child Welfare Officers (CCWO).

Volley Sport Cards - a practical workshop presented by CC to look at how to get the most out of this new resource. This workshop will be split into two sessions and will provide delegates with new ideas on how to provide an enjoyable and interesting introduction to volleyball. It will also look at how to disseminate this training package to teachers. 

The Way Forward - New Structures for Youth Volleyball - This workshop will provide you with an opportunity to influence the future of junior volleyball. Members of the EVA's Junior Review working group will make a series of presentations. Break-off groups to discuss the series of issues will follow the presentations. Findings will be reported back and taken forward by the EVA working group.

NORTHERN CONFERENCE
Date: SUNDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2001 Cost: £25.00 per person
Venue: WHITCLIFFE MOUNT SPORTS CENTRE, Turnsteads Avenue, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.

Includes: Free set of Volley Sport Cards worth £20.00, Refreshments and Buffet Lunch

Janet Inman InmanLN1@aol.com
Youth Development Commission

Scorers Course

Dave, could you possibly advertise the following course. There will be a scorers course held at Glasgow Caledonian University on Wednesday the 21st of November. If any team secretaries could advertise this to their players it would be appreciated. The time (tbc) will be 19:00-20:30. To reserve your place or for more info please contact me at the address below. 

A flier / poster can be printed from www.scottishvolleyball.org/scorers.pdf

Cheers
Douglas Orr DougOrr283@aol.com

Level 4 Referees Course

Enclosed is the details for our level 4 referees course to run on the 15th and 16th of December in Greater Manchester. We have notified clubs in Greater Manchester, and also sent details to Merseyside, Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues. Please will you advertise this nationally. 

Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December 10am - 5pm, To be held at Siddall Moor Sports College, Newhouse Road, Heywood.
Cost £20, School children 14yrs upward welcome and may possibly receive a grant towards the cost, for further information contact:

Adam Gillibrand adam@10mytham.freeserve.co.uk
Technical Coordinator, Greater Manchester Volleyball Association

2001 JUNIOR VOLLEYBALL FESTIVAL (U11 to U15)

HUTTON MOOR LEISURE CENTRE, WESTON SUPER MARE
SATURDAY DECEMBER 15th 12.00 to 17.00

This event is being held as part of the SW Mini Volleyball Grand Prix. There will be three other events to be held at Bath Sports Centre on February 3rd, April 20th and a further date to be announced. Local teams may, however, wish to enter only this festival. It is very suited to teams playing their first matches - it is a novice tournament with the refereeing intended to help the players learn the game. We will be particularly pleased to welcome teams from primary schools.

Age groups will be U11, U12 and U13 (3 a side), U14 and U15 (4 a side) competitions and played on reduced (badminton) size court. The make up of the divisions will depend on the number of entries. Every effort will be made to provide separate boys and girls sections, but this is often not possible due to a lack of entries. We are normally able to provide play off matches for the top girls teams even if they have to play against boys or mixed teams in the main part of the event. The date for age qualification is August 31st 2001.

The entry fees will be £6.00 (3 a side) or £8.00 (4 a side) per team. We hope to see many entries - please help us to encourage junior development. We are grateful to North Somerset Council for their technical and financial support.

Last season the festival was very popular with nearly 40 entries. If there are to many teams it will therefore be necessary to turn down entries once we have reached a manageable figure - or ask clubs / schools to merge players into a smaller number of teams. It may also be necessary to combine adjacent age group competitions if the numbers do not work out well. Please therefore apply early for places for your team(s). 

Ron Richards Rricha7122@aol.com

Information Required

Here are your top five search statistics, used on the web site, during the last two weeks. A total of 32 searches carried out.

1st "coaching" / 2nd "guernsey volleyball" / 3rd "armitage" / 4th "knees" / 5th "nepal".

If you are organising an events or are running a coaching or refereeing course, make sure your event is well publicised. If your forthcoming event was not listed in our search statistics, you may be lacking Brand Awareness?

Advertising in the Newsletter
We offer various advertising opportunities, see the web site for details or Click Here 

THIS WEEKS PHOTOS OF INTEREST
Grand Champions Cup 2001

The triumphant Chinese team after defeating Korea that secured the tournament win.

China finished a dream run Saturday to claim its first major world volleyball title in 15 years by defeating Korea in three easy sets 25:13, 25:15, 25:12. With still one day of competition left, China, with a perfect record of four wins and on 8 points, cannot be caught by the other five teams in the single round robin competition. Regardless of results on Sunday, they will collect the winner's cheque of US 300,000 dollars. 

Russia, Brazil and Japan are each on 6 points going into the final day of the Grand Champions Cup in Fukuoka, Japan. Russia defeated Japan 3-0 and Brazil just edged-out USA in a five set marathon in earlier matches. Both USA and Korea are on 5 points. 

China has long been one of the best women's volleyball countries in the world, but not since China, lead by the great Lang Ping, won two world championship titles (1982 and 1986), the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles 1984, and two World Cup titles (1981 and 1985) has the Asian champion enjoyed the top position on the podium at one of volleyball's top tournaments. 

They came close at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, leading eventual gold medallists Cuba 2-1 and looked capable of ending the Cuban's run, only to have the indomitable Mireya Luis spoil the party in the final two sets. Luis and Regla Torres were again responsible for making China settle for the second-run at the 1998 world championship. 

Sydney 2000 was a major disappointment for the Chinese. The team had lost many of its stars like the powerful outside hitter Sun Yue, and finished fifth. But the finish forced changes back home. Firstly, Chen Zhonghe was appointed head coach in April. 
And if patience is a quality the Chinese team needs to learn, they could not find a better example than Chen, who, before his appointment to the top job, was trainer and assistant coach for 22 years, joining the team at a 22-year-old in 1979. 

But what he has done to this team in just six months in nothing short of miraculous. He started by cleaning out the old squad and starting afresh. Comparatively, the Russian squad at this event features no fewer than 186 world championship and Olympic Games match appearances under its belt. Chen's young team has zero. And yet they demolished the Olympic silver medallists 3-1 on Day 1. 
At the World Grand Prix in August, fielding a team which was formed only four months prior, and averaged only 22-years of age, they convincingly defeated Olympic champion Cuba twice (3-1 and 3-0), Olympic bronze medallist Brazil twice (3-1 and 3-2), as well as Olympic silver medallist Russia, before going down to the USA in the final. 

"China is the strongest contender of this tournament. Their strength is consistent individually as well as a team," Brazilian coach Marco Motta said of the young Chinese. 
Korean head coach Kim Cheol-young said: "The Chinese team was excellent in every aspect. They are the best team at this event" 

Coach Chen is singularly focused, as was evidenced by each of his players: "Our goal is gold in Athens 2004," said captain Feng Kun 

"World Championship next year is important, but it is just a part of the three year plan," said Chen. 

"We did not come to this event to win, we came to gain experience. Our goal is 2004," Chen again reiterated. "This is why our team was able to stay relaxed."
18 November, 2001 - China finished a dream run on Sunday to stamp its authority on its first major world volleyball title in 15 years by defeating South American champion Brazil 25:21, 25:17, 21:25 25:23, to keep its perfect record of 5 wins and collect the US$300,000 first prize cheque.

Russia finished second, Japan third with Brazil, USA and Korea finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
NEWS ITEMS

European Champions League 
Welcome to the Indesit European Champions' League 2001-2002! 

After the great success of the first edition in 2000-2001 of the European Champions' League, the CEV is proud to announce the start of the Indesit European Champions' League 2001-2002.

With the support of prestigious sponsors such as INDESIT and CHAMPION and the performances of the best European men and women club teams, the most exciting indoor club competition will indubitably impart to European volleyball an original dimension.

Willing to increase the effectiveness of the European Champions' League, the CEV and its partners have been working hard to achieve even better conditions for TV broadcasters, sponsors and participating clubs in order to meet the requirements of this top-level competition.

A lot of success to the 2nd edition of the European Champions' League and to all participating teams in organizing a great sports event and thus increasing the presence of volleyball all over Europe.

The first qualifying league round start on the 5th of December, with the finals taken place during 13 - 20th Feb 2002.

www.cev.lu

2002 Saudi-British Volleyball Program

Deputy President of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare (GPYW), Dr. Saleh ibn Nasser, will be chairing the 11th Joint Higher Committee meeting with senior British government officials, together with the sporting committees from the UK and Saudi Arabia, to review activities undertaken as part of the ongoing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sports between the two countries.  

“Last year produced a record number of activities - and the committee is hoping to report a similar success this year,” commented Callicott. The overall program is wide ranging and the variety of events that took place over the last year included international volleyball matches. 

Signed in 1987 and coordinated jointly by the British government and BAE SYSTEMS for the UK and the General Presidency for Youth Welfare for Saudi Arabia, the program has continued to grow, and is now benefiting over 500 sportsmen, schoolchildren, coaches and officials annually.

By a Staff Writer
http://www.arabnews.com

3.8m (12ft 6in) Blocker Required

A couple of photos from this Sunday's Torexe v Portsmouth (0 - 3) Cup match, with Portsmouth's 2.1m (6 foot 11 in) attacker Marcus Russell warming up before the match. 

Marking the top of the antennae at 3.23m (10 ft 7 in) plus the diameter of the ball (and with a bent arm), total height 3.53m (11ft 6in). Using the general dimensions of the body and working from the net height, with a straight hitting arm, Marcus could have taken this ball at an impressive 3.73m (12ft 3in). 

Not very scientific but Torexe now have a vacancy for a 3.8m (12ft 6in) blocker, if you can fulfill this roll, then please contact us.

Dave Reece
Dave.Reece@ndirect.co.uk

More on Hard Balls

From the last issue:
> I was just wondering if anyone out there could tell me how to soften a volleyball. 

Doug Paul tyree@nbnet.nb.ca


It depends if the tournaments are forced to use the official ball, if the official manufacturer has provided such balls for use. The players often have a way of picking a "good" ball over the official ball in the event the two are mutually exclusive. :-) 

I can safely offer some general tips:

Official indoor pressure 0.3-0.325kg/cm^2. Often, ball manufacturers stamp "inflate to XXX" on the ball itself where XXX is quite a bit higher than official pressure. Correct your ball pressure if need be. 

Organizations typically do not weigh players' opinions much (if at all) in the selection of their Official Ball. The decision is typically financial. Sometimes you therefore have the choice of playing with the official ball, or a ball people actually like. Unfortunately that choice might be mutually exclusive.

High quality leather volleyballs are usually much softer than synthetic leather.

Softness of volleyballs does vary quite a bit among manufacturers. Currently most of the official balls that are in vogue are _quite_ hard. For the heavy hitters, they do bounce spectacularly, though. 

Todd Haverkos tdh@vbref.org

Volleyball Canada has the idea that for Canada to be competitive at the international level they need to use a harder ball. There was some convoluted explanation that harder balls will mean harder spikes which will mean learning to dig harder balls. I believe it went something like that.

Mikassa is the official ball of FIVB and is very hard. So when Tachikara got the official sponsor role they were asked to make a hard ball. So they have done just that.

They do have softer balls and you may want to contact them if you need a softer ball. In the mean time use wristlets like in Tennis for sweat.
Very nice to pass on the cushion. Michigan Volleyball sells them if I remember correctly. Also gives a great target.

Victor E. Lindal viclindal@shaw.ca

Volleyball Vacations

Just thought you folks here might like to know about our program, which is called "Volleyball Vacations" ( www.volleyballvacations.com ). For those of you not familiar with Volleyball Vacations, it is NOT a "Volleyball Camp" like atmosphere. It's basically a more relaxed vibe with lots of partying, competitive "pickup" play, some tournaments and most importantly games with and instruction from top AVP beach pros.

We have just put together a January trip (January 19th-26th) for Club Med's Paradise Island village. Pros currently scheduled for this trip include Gold Medalist Eric Fonoimoana, 2001 AVP moneyboard leader Canyon Ceman, AVP favorite Albert Hannemann and other AVP pros
including some the female pros.

For more information about the trip, checkout: www.volleyballvacations.com I'm the webmaster and haven't missed a trip since my first one in 1997. They are a BLAST and most people who come to these keep coming back. I would be happy to answer questions via e-mail.

Regards,

Dave (db) Blickstein
db@VolleyballVacations.com

Four Days by Train, then mop floor, fix door and windows

After three postponements, India's biggest sports extravaganza will finally get rolling here on Monday with a glittering ceremony signaling the start of the 31st National Games. The twelve-day Games originally scheduled to be held last year to mark the tercentenary celebrations of Khalsa but postponed twice due to various reasons, will see competitions in 27 disciplines spread over six cities.

About 10,500 sportspersons, including officials, are expected to take part in the sports extravaganza. Eleven teams have already arrived for the Games. The captain of India’s volleyball team had to mop the floor of the room allotted to him to get it into decent shape. Ravikant Reddy, along with this year’s Arjuna awardee PV Raman, started his preparation for the Games with a hectic workout — cleaning the floors of their run-down room at the Government College hostel. The room will be their home for the next 13 days. ‘‘All I can say is that the Games haven’t been planned well. They are still fixing the doors and windows of our rooms,’’ said Raman.

There’s more from Ludhiana, which hopes to showcase the nation’s talent over the next fortnight: the Manipur contingent which is staying at the Government College for Boys traveled for four days by train in a second class compartment. When they reached their allotted rooms, they found they too had to sweep the floors clean before settling down. As for their officials: well, they traveled by air.

MANISH KUMAR
http://www.indian-express.com

World Grand Champions Cup Stats

The analyses after the second round of the World Grand Champions Cup for women show a net improvement in receiving performance. The percentage error which in1999 and 2000 for the world cup competitions amounted 4.57 and 5.05 % has decreased to 3.69 %; this appears mainly the result of the efficient use of the libero's. The error percentage of the libero's amounts only 2.14 against 4.57 for the remainder of the stoppers.

Categorie Exc Err Cont Tot %Err %Exc* % Libero
Liberos 293 8 73 374 2.14 71.93 36.28
Without Lib 481 30 146 657 4.57 59.51 63.72
Total 774 38 219 1031 3.69 64.02

Some of the libero's show remarkable performance such as Brazil and the USA with zero error.

Team Set Exc Err Cont. Total. %err %exc %lib Name
USA 8 38 0 7 45 0.00 84.44 24.59 SYKORA Stacy
BRA 8 67 0 17 84 0.00 79.76 49.12 OLIVEIRA Fa
RUS 9 50 2 19 71 2.82 61.97 37.17 TIOURINA Elena
CHN 8 53 2 15 70 2.86 67.14 38.67 XIONG Zi
KOR 8 53 2 10 65 3.08 72.31 39.63 KOO Ki-Lan
JPN 7 32 2 5 39 5.13 66.67 27.66 SAKURAI Yuka

Although the average contribution in receiving of the libero's is 39% one may notice the near 50 % of Brazil, this appears in view of the zero error
an excellent strategy. It is therefore difficult to understand why Stacy Sakory has not been used more as the remainder of the team show much lower performance. In reviewing those results it may be noted that all teams do stop 85% to more of all services with three to four players.

team exc err
cont tot %exc %err name
USA 48 2 25 75 61.33 2.67 CRAWFORD Therese
USA 43 5 12 60 63.33 8.33 CROSS-BATTLE Tara
USA 38 7 45 84.44 0.00 SYKORA Stacy
USA 1 0 1 100 0.00 BOWN Heather
USA 1 0 1 100 0.00 NORIEGA Sarah

Korea shows best team performance with only 1.83 % error.

team sets exc err cont tot %err %exc
KOR 8 123 3 38 164 1.83 69.51
BRA 8 134 5 32 171 2.92 69.59
CHN 8 140 6 35 181 3.31 67.40
JPN 7 104 6 31 141 4.26 60.99
USA 8 131 8 44 183 4.37 58.46
RUS 9 142 10 39 191 5.24 58.63
Total 48 774 38 219 1031 3.69 64.01

leovh leovh@wanadoo.fr

New U.S. Professional Volleyball League

The East Dundee, Ill.-based U.S. Professional Volleyball League is building a professional volleyball players association. The league plans to launch 20 or more teams in major U.S. cities. The league's launches its inaugural full-year season in 2002, when professional teams will play in four U.S. cities. In 2003, the league plans to add four more exhibition teams. 

http://austin.bcentral.com/austin/stories

Players Commitment - rsv

Coaches, This season, I had a lot of trouble getting my players to commit to coming out to games and practices. The other downfall to this is that I only had 7 girls on the team. At the start of the season, each girl noted that because the team was small that they all had to commit to coming to every game. I had to cancel two games this week, plus one make-up game and have had to cancel a couple of practices due to lack of commitment. It also doesn't help when my co-coach has the same problem.

Here's my questions to all coaches, especially those who coach high school girls: Is there anything that you do to guarantee a commitment from your
players to come to practice and games?

Thank you in advance.
Colin Glass volleyball_coach@email.com

You do realize that you are coaching high school girls, don't you? You can't get them to commit to a hair style. Tell them that if they make it to
all of the practices and matches that you will take them to the new 'Nsync movie!

Ken Juneau kenhill@gci.net

Collin, Time to figure out what motivates your players to play (or not play in your case). Start by talking with them. You need commitment. Making practices and games should be one of your basic team rules that your players agree to at the start of the season. Missing practices should have an impact on game time, and whether players remain on the team (specific measures and results should be spelled out).

How often and how long are your practices? 
Are your student/athletes over committed? 
Are your players having fun playing, and practicing?
Are you doing something to turn away your players (and your assistant)?
What motivates you to coach?

From: www_volleyball_org@my-deja.com

First thing is that they've got to enjoy it and want to come themselves. What are they looking for from the team: challenge, victory, glory or are
they more interested in the social side or just keeping a bit fitter, or is it just their parents dragging them along?

We have open coaching sessions for adults so every session is voluntary. Things that help encourage people to stick with it are good, supportive
coaching; challenge and improvement; good social interaction and shared responsibility. So it works better if we have more people, because the
social dynamics are better. It works better if you also do things other than play volleyball together. It works better with more people being involved
with responsibilities for the team - like a team captain, rather than the coach doing everything. And it works better if we give more players the
opportunity for playing competitively.

I reckon if you could work out how to get more girls to come along, you would probably have solved most of these problems, so maybe think about how you can increase numbers rather than put more pressure on those who do show some commitment.

Saul Dobney saul.dobney@dobney.com

Advantages of playing in Europe - from the Leicester VC web pages

Soon after the formation of Southfields Volleyball Club in 1977 by the amicable merger of the Countesthorpe and Leicester Polytechnic Volleyball Clubs a number of Club members expressed an interest in widening their playing horizons and traveling abroad to take part in a foreign tournament. By the end of the 1977/78 season the Club had received sponsorship from Advance Tapes and had decided to visit a well established tournament in Belgium, the Asterix Tournament in Kieldrecht. Thus the first "Tapes Tour" was to take place with the luxury of a spacious Woods coach. Mark Wood and John Trigg took up the dual role of driving and playing over the weekend.

The Women's team although not as highly placed as the men did gain the respect of Olvek V.C. with their sportsmanship so much so that the whole Club were invited to their tournament in Ekeren the next Easter. That 1979 tour was extended over a further two days to include a match in France against Marles-les-Mines through a contact made by Phil Cobb.

The Ekeren part of the tour, where play began 15 minutes after arriving from an overnight journey, the Club were introduced to timed sets - something that very soon was introduced to the Annual Leicester Volleyball Tournament. Nicknames became more prevalent as "Obno" was first introduced to the Club vocabulary. The tournament was once again a success for the Club as both Men's and Women's teams were the highest placed British teams and the Women won the "Most Sporting Team Award".

It was also 1979 that Patrick Keogh of St. Matthews Sports Centre contacted Phil Cobb as he was looking for a volleyball club to accompany a badminton side on a trip to Krefeld and hence the Twinning with Verberger Turnverein (VTV) was born. Travel again was with the luxury of Woods Coaches and the "mobile disco wagon" alias the coach. VTV were well ahead of Leicester skill-wise and the hospitality the Club received was outstanding. Ralph Christgen was our contact.

VTV then returned to Leicester in 1980 with a Men's team to compete in the Leicester Tournament, that year held at Hinckley, and a Women's team for a one-off game against Advance Tapes Southfields as the Club were called then. 1980 also saw the Club make two trips abroad one to Leicester's twin city in France, Strasbourg, and the other to another tournament in Belgium, the Knack tournament in Roeselare as recommended by Brian Saunders one of the Club's players at that time.

The Strasbourg trip was only a limited success as the Clubs were not evenly matched, La Fraternelle, the Women's hosts, having an international player playing and the Men only meeting their opponents shortly before the game and having to stay in the Foyer (a YMCA equivalent). The trip was memorable for a rousing speech made in Polish by Henry "the Polak" Paulinski which received much acclaim though not a word was understood. 

The trip to Roeselare was an improvement on Kieldrecht as it was a bigger Tournament with a good quality indoor league to watch and better facilities. Once again the Club, now called Advance Tapes Leicester, made some good friends and were invited back the next year to S'Gravenhage by Die Haghe. The trip was made in May 1981 with Die Haghe reciprocating in 1982 coming to the Leicester Volleyball Tournament.

Over the next few years regular visits were made both ways to and from Krefeld with the clubs meeting "halfway" at Roeselare. The numbers involved year by year as one year three players from Leicester (Allen "Cleggy" Clegg, Raphael "The Cuban " Ephraim Bonchang y Hernandez and Phil Cobb) teamed up with three (Ralph, Jurgen and Burkhart) to form VTV Leicester. Opposition teams were fooled by the mix of languages and team kit as to exactly where the team did come from but were impressed when they found out it was a "Twin Club" side.

By the end of the decade 25 "Tapes" and subsequently "Leicester" tours had been made, the name of Leicester Volleyball Club having been written into the constitution with the loss of Advance Tapes sponsorship in 1985. A further three foreign teams, Brother Martinus from Amstelveen, Holland, Rixensart from Brussels, Belgium and Mockmuhl from Germany had also competed in the Annual Leicester Tournament. Celebrations had taken place in 1989 in Krefeld and 1990 in Leicester to mark Leicester and VTV's tenth anniversaries of twinning.

1990 was also the year that Leicester Volleyball Club moved back to the Asterix Tournament in Kieldrecht. The demise of the Knack, Roeselare Tournament and the attraction of a street party on the Friday night took the Club back to the place of their first visit.

The added dimension of international competition was beginning to bear fruit and Leicester began to get into high placings both in the Belgian and German tournaments. In 1993 Leicester missed out on a clean sweep of trophies at the MTV Tournament in Krefeld when the women lost by just 3 points!

Since the early beginnings of visits and twinning, many friendships have been made and maintained with numerous personal visits being made in addition to the official ones. The Club has also had numerous foreign players represent its sides over the years with continental players from France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Finland. Players from further a field have come from the U.S.A., Venezuela, Australia and New Zealand. Such is the friendliness of the Club that some of the contacts still receive the Club's newsletter and make visits or are met by the players.

http://www.leicestervolleyballclub.net

RULES OF THE GAME - FIVB

Some of the more interesting volleyball rules from the FIVB Casebook. Did you know that......

4.9 The Netherlands was playing Cuba in the Men's World Cup. At one point the dramatic Cuban spiker Joel Despaigne was a back row player. He received a set which was in front of the three meter line. He jumped from behind the three meter line, made a sensational attack and landed with his heels on the centre line, but with most of his foot on the feet of the Netherlands blocker Ron Zwerver. Zwerver made an attempt to play the next ball but could not move rapidly enough to get to the ball. Zwerver appealed to the second referee for interference, but the second referee ignored his appeal. Similar confrontations occurred numerous times during the match and were ignored each time by the second referee. Is this a correct ruling by the second referee?

Rule 12.2.1 states, "It is permitted to penetrate into the opponent's space under the net, provided that this does not interfere with the opponent's play." It is quite clear that interference is not allowed. Whether, or not, this specific case was interference cannot be determined in this Casebook. It is reasonable to assume that a player who is entirely on his own court and is hit or is stepped on by an opponent has experienced "interference". In
this case, the offending player should be penalized. It is one of the responsibilities of the second referee to observe this potential fault. Rule 12.2.1, 12.2.2.1, 12.2.4


4.10 The USA Women's Team was serve receiving. Lori Endicott was the American setter penetrating from the back zone. Tee Williams passed the ball poorly and Endicott was forced to move into the back zone to set the ball. As Endicott returned to the back zone to set the ball, she slightly
touched the net. The referee did not whistle this net contact. Was the referee correct?

The referee was correct. Since the action of playing the ball is separate from, and later than, the movement off the net, Endicott's contact of the net was not a fault. Rule 12.3.1

4.11 After playing the ball, Brazilian player, Ana Moser, made a turning movement near the net and her hair contacted the net. What was the correct ruling in this case?

This was not a fault. Contact of the net by any part of the body, including hair, wiping towel, or any part of the uniform, is a fault only when the player is in the action of playing the ball. Rule 12.3.1, 12.4.4

4.12 In the Olympic Games in a men's match between Argentina and the USA, the American player, passed the ball toward the net. The ball penetrated the vertical plane of the net. Stork, the USA setter, reached across the plane of the net and set the ball so that his attacker, Buck,
could make an attack hit. The first referee whistled the play as a fault. Is this play illegal?

The first referee was correct. Above the top of the net a player is not allowed to penetrate the vertical plane to contact the ball and return it to that player's court. Thus, the play by Stork was not legal. A similar play under the net is different. Under the net the play is illegal only if the ball has completely crossed the vertical plane of the net. Rule 10, 12.2.1

More examples in the next issue....

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