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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 events or products, 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@volleyballnewsletter.com

Issue 155 (28/07/2002) - Circulation: 2600 - Regular Items: Letters to the Editor / Tournaments / International News / Photos of Interest / On-Line Calendar.

Hi all - More Volleyball news from the web.

Cheers - Dave Reece Dave.Reece@volleyballnewsletter.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Help - coach needed please !

Hello Dave, My name is Julian from Farnborough Volleyball Club (Hants/Surrey border). We find ourselves in urgent need of a new Coach. The coach we've had up to now originally started the Club and has done an excellent job in trying to bash us into some kind of volleyballing shape. He is now moving on unfortunately for us (but all good luck to him).

We usually enter two/three teams in the Berkshire League during the indoor season. We have players of all levels up to National League.

Wonder if you or you're readers could help us out in time for the up coming winter season ? If there are any interested coaches, please contact me at farnvolley99@hotmail.com or at jldeeks@dstl.gov.uk We could certainly help out with reasonable expenses if any are incurred. You can learn more about us at http://farnboroughvolleyballclub.8bit.co.uk .

Julian Deeks Julian.Deeks@care4free.net
Writer Required

We're looking for 2 or 3 people to write 1 or 2 short articles per month on volleyball, conditioning, injury prevention, nutrition, sports medicine and/or sports psychology. Individuals require a high level of knowledge of volleyball. 

Writing ability is a must. This is a pay per article position. Please include a small sample article (150 words or so) in your e-mail and not as an attachment. Positions available immediately.

Essie Johnson ejohnson@diplomatsvb.org

Director of Media Relations
Washington Diplomats VBC

Exeter University seek coach

Exeter University are looking for a coach for the coming season. This is a non-paying position. For more information contact former coach Nigel Weaver N.R.Weaver@ex.ac.uk
Cardiff Ladies

Dave, Cardiff Ladies Volleyball Club is looking to add more players to their National League team. We play in NVL Div 3 West and train every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 at Western Leisure Centre, Cardiff. Additionally, we always welcome new players or visitors to our Club training sessions.

We would also welcome enquiries from potential coaches who can cope with a bunch of players who ALWAYS know better!

Regards
Jayne Burke Jayne.Burke@ramesys.com

Gloucestershire Volleyball Association

Hello Dave, The GVA has now registered www.glosva.net for its usage. At present this points to a local paper's community freespace, but we hope to improve upon this soon. 

Thanks
Mark Horseman HorsemanM@aol.com
British Airways Volleyball Club

Dave, Could you plug our new website? We're a lively club looking for new players in the West London area. (Working at or around Heathrow Airport is a bonus but not essential.) We compete in the Surrey league and are especially interested in hearing from ladies who'd like to play competitively.

Site address is: http://www23.brinkster.com/bavball

Many thanks Ben bjbristow@yahoo.com
Ipswich Volleyball Club

Could you add our link to your volleyball site please http://www.ipswichvc.org.uk

Regards
Rob Hughes robert.2.hughes@bt.com
VOLLEYBALL EVENTS
BARRY ISLAND BEACH VOLLEYBALL

This may be short notice but it is an opportunity to have a fun filled weekend of Beach Volleyball.

I would also like to run along side the Grand Prix a Open MIXED 4’s event…


Registration can be done prior to the even or on the Saturday morning at 9.30am…

 The Grand Prix Starts at 9am and the Open Mixed 4’s will start at 10am

Please contact :

Carl Harwood

077 99 280 676          -         01446 736 003

or          welsh.volleyball@cableol.co.uk

 

EVA Level 3 Coaching Course / sportscoach UK courses

Dave you will know that I have been organising a four separate date modular Level 3 coaching course here in the South East/East. Modules 1 and 2 are completed, and arrangements have been made for the final two which are on Sunday 1st September 2002 and Sunday 5th January 2003.

Both at Ashcombe Volleyball Centre, Dorking, Surrey. We can still take any additional candidates who are existing Level 2 coaches who can look to take the first two modules at a later date. We are also exploring the possibility of holding a one day when all three of the necessary sportscoach UK courses to complete level 3 are held, namely 
- Fitness and Training
- Goal Setting and Planning
- Coaching Methods and Communication OR Motivation and Mental Toughness (decision on which not yet made)

If anyone out there who is a level 2 coach wants to do modules 3 and / or 4 (cost £25 per day - travel costs met, courtesy of an Award for All grant); or the sportscoachUK courses (cost to be decided, but course fees are significant; date/venue to suit as many as I can). please Email ken.edwards@volleyball.co.uk and I can keep them in touch. 

Ken Edwards ken@edwardskg.freeserve.co.uk

Advertising in the Newsletter
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Free Calendar Listing for all UK & Ireland Events (Tournaments / Courses / Conferences / etc.)

Dave.Reece@volleyballnewsletter.com
THIS WEEKS PHOTOS OF INTEREST

EXMOUTH 2002
Glorious sunshine and clear blue skies from dawn to dusk helped to make the 2002 Beach Volleyball Championships a major success. Over 100 teams competed in what is now the largest event of its kind and they traveled from as far and wide as London, Hayle, Gloucester, Poole and Northampton to take advantage of the sun-drenched soft Devon sand.
In this years Men's Tournament there was some success for local teams with 'Damn we're good (Ottery), ECPC (Exeter), The Albanian Plumbers collective (Wonford), Really Dirty Nicks (Exeter) and Space Cowboys (Totnes) all making it through to the CUP.
So it was Jesus and his disciples (Burnham-on-sea) and Barry Bullfrogs (Wales) who fought it out in the cup final. This match was the last to be played out of all of the days events, but despite this both teams continued to put in an excellent display of skills and showed superb fitness. Both teams kept up the pace but it was Barry who emerged triumphant 22-18 to take the silverware.
Meanwhile, in the Men's Plate event the final saw Mozzarella storm off and take the early lead and they eventually ran out 30-16 winners. But it was not all one-sided as Suckers put up a strong defence and their young legs never stopped working. Last years winners, Taunton TNT just lost out in the quarter-finals.
There was more local success in the Ladies Tournament as last years runners-up The Barbies beat last years winners Barry ladies to reach the final. They faced local rivals Girls-R-Us who had defeated Space Slappers in the semi-finals. With the two teams well aware of each other playing styles, strengths and weaknesses it was nip-and-tuck all the way with strong defensive skills clearly showing through. But Barbies held their nerve to take the Cup with just a two point advantage (24-22).
The Barry A team were a force in the Mixed event where they made it through to the Cup and then saw off Clares mixed (Poole), Muppets on the beach and Badgers & Beavers (Monmouthshire), before losing out by a single point in the final. Andy Nick's Pink Nicks (Exeter) won it (21-20) beating Breathless, Fat men in suits and Any old thing in the knock-out stages.
In the Mixed Plate it was Barry Mixed B who took the honours beating Free Kings, Taunton and Gerb along the way. They faced Mixed Grill (Wonford) who beat their sister team Mixed Metaphors in the semi-final and local teams Mr's & Mrs's and What you like. Barry Mixed won it (26-16) to ensure their squad went home with a sack load of trophies !

All in all another successful Tournament for Exeter & District Volleyball Association and thanks also to East Devon District Council for sponsoring the Junior events, thus ensuring that all juniors were able to participate and play free of charge. They also did an excellent job on clearing and cleaning the beach to ensure there were no injuries throughout the day.

Martin Oram moram@devon.gov.uk
EDVA Press Officer www.edva.org.uk

More photos from Exmouth 2002 on the web site www.volleyballnewsletter.com

NEXT ON TV
For all UK Volleyball TV listings, see our web site www.volleyballnewsletter.com


NEWS ITEMS
Bournemouth Beach Volleyball Club 

The new partnership of Tim Hollis and Mike Randall from Bournemouth, win the Bournemouth Beach Volleyball Grand Prix at their first event together. In one of the most closely fought beach volleyball contests seen on these shores it was the local lads who shone through. Saturday saw brilliant pool play with top teams battling it out to get into the Sundays knockout competition, no one team dominated, but the Under 21 Champions from Poole, Greg Weaver and Dave Hubbard made it through to their second successive finals day. Unfortunately for them on Sunday morning they met Hollis and Randall, who steamed through this game 2-0 to earn Randall a place in his first semi-final. On the other side of the draw another new partnership of Morphe Bowes and Paul Godwin were quietly making their way through the draw with some amazing defensive plays. 

Closely fought semi finals saw Hollis and Randall beat England Indoor internationals Fee and Watson, and Bowes and Godwin went on to beat the German team of Neubert and Glitz.

In the final, Randall settled in nicely with some great blocks, but the defensive genius of Godwin and Bowes clinched the first set 15-14. Then in the second set the Randall block and the Hollis power jump serve took it toll, all of a sudden it was one set all and Godwin and Bowes were struggling to attack effectively. Being careful not to ease off, Hollis cracked some great ace serves and Randall continued to block everything coming at him including some amazing stuff blocks on Bowes who was trying everything to find a way through. The end result was in no doubt, the best team on the weekend won, Hollis and Randall clinching the final set 15-12 and the match 2 sets to 1.

In the women's competition, Denise Austin and Poole Junior Amy Weemes continued to dominate the British Grand Prix Series with their third straight event win. Austin and Weemes beating Olympian Audrey Cooper and Mellisa Coutts 2 set to 0.

Amy playing the Grand Prix Series for the first time this year showed no nerves as she powered jumps serves in time and time again. Austin as consistent as ever controlled the game which allowed Weemes to show the Bournemouth crowd how much potential she has got. Cooper battled and battled, but was no match this unstoppable Austin and Weemes partnership.

Further details can be obtained from the UK Beach Volleyball web site www.beachvolleyball.org.uk.
The event is promoted by the Bournemouth Beach Volleyball Club (bbvc.beachvolleyball.org.uk) and is run in association with the English Volleyball Association and Mikasa. Support is also provided by the Bournemouth Council, FM107.6 The FIRE, Jumpin Jaks, Fitness First, Zespri Fruit, Acclaim Studios Ltd, The Irish Skin Care Company and The Scooby Doo Mystery Tour.

Richard Cannon richard@rcannons.co.uk
South West Junior Beach Grand Prix
This year was the second year of Junior events at Exmouth and with the events also included in the South-West Grand Prix it ensured some strong competition throughout.

Pat Graham, Mayor of Exmouth, presented the trophies to all junior winners, ensuring this was a memorable day for all. 

With the Town Council also sponsoring this year's event we were able to expand and allow extra junior teams to take part. 

With the Under 16's and Under 18's combined it was Priory who beat off all-comers to clinch the title with a hard-fought 21-19 win against the Gruesome Twosome (Ottery). Both teams put in strong performances in what was a most enjoyable and entertaining final. Thunder 3 and Thunder 2 (both from Churston) were beaten semi-finalists and as a result took the awards for highest placed under 18 teams.

Plymouth Pumas won the Under 14's category by the narrowest of margins with the Tyrnanical Trio (Ottery) edged into second place. Both teams were tied on 10 points each with Pumas winning through by just 4 match points ! Amy Daniel's Plymouth team took third place.
In the under 12's category Bristol based Whitefield beat Charlies Angels from Pinhoe 25-17 in the final with Lydney (Gloucester) and Plymstock Juniors losing out at the semi-final stages. Exmouth Juniors also came close, only just losing 23-25 to Charlies Angels and 22-25 to Plymstock. A win in one of these would have ensured a place in the semi-final.

The equipment provided by the Town Council is also available (free of charge) to schools in the area who wish to try out volleyball as a fun sport for all ages (contact Martin Oram moram@devon.gov.uk for more information). 

More Photos on the web site www.volleyballnewsletter.com web site.
European University Championships

Report of Cambridge University's matches in the European Championships.

Lenny lenny.barry@hmce.gsi.gov.uk

Day Two

We played our second match against Ukraine today - due to the withdrawal of the Yugoslav representative, we are the only two teams in our pool.
Withdrawal may be a charitable phrasing - I've heard rumors that the Yugoslavs were disqualified after it was found that they had used non-student players in last year's tournament.

We had a good training session this morning where we specifically practiced reception, particularly against hard spin services, and also did some work on running three-man blocks as a standard tactic. The hall for today's game was much bigger, and we even had some spectators... unfortunately this didn't seem to motivate the team, who came out very flat. Some dire service and hitting errors meant we dropped game one to 15, far from bad but much less than we would have hoped.

Game two saw some improvement, but Ukraine's opposite still took a run of five points off us with his jump serve. Even with four guys passing with
instructions just to pop it up as if it were a spike (it's hard enough), he could still ace us. Ukraine ran a couple of subs and took the set to 17.

Game three could well be the highlight of our tournament, however. Although down by three at both technical time-outs, Cambridge fought back superbly, even overcoming a couple of terrible calls by the up-ref. Amazingly, the matches don't have line judges - and this particular ref called a Ken Kato jump serve ace as being a foot fault, when he was well behind the line. Having saved a match point, some heroic defense from Denis Zuev forced a Ukraine hitting error to give us set point. On the next play, Ukraine set their one-tempo - and their 6'9" middle blocker was stuffed straight down by Great Britain's own 5'11" Jean Jacquet.

The team celebrated, quite rightly, as if they'd won the tournament. Unfortunately the Ukraine coach, who was visibly furious at the loss of a set, clearly used the interval to threaten his players with years of hard labour should they do it again. They responded, and took a big early lead, at which point I ran the bench to give them a go.

A very successful day, then, and we had our photos taken with the Ukraine boys afterwards just to prove how big they were. The Ukraine coach
congratulated me after the game, which was a nice touch. We bought them a round of beers at dinner afterwards... which were gladly accepted but not drunk. Ukraine are here to win.

Great Britain men are doing their bit for international volleyball relations, with the Greek and Norwegian women's teams apparently the target
this evening. We are due to play Israel in the 5th-8th semifinal tomorrow.

Day Three

Today's match wasn't until the evening, which was probably just as well since most of the guys were nowhere to be seen at breakfast! This coach
began to regret not imposing any sort of curfew or limitation on his team's social activities. Our opponents were Israel, in the first 5th-8th seeding
match.

On the bus to the Greece/Cyprus game (I decided to scout our opponents for the final match), I sat next to the coach of the Croatian men. Although I was prepared to use my Croatian on him, he of course spoke perfect English. He was very surprised by the lack of support for and emphasis on physical education in English universities - in Zagreb at least two sessions per week are compulsory for all students, irrespective of what course they are following.

In the match preceding our game, Cyprus showed themselves to be a decent side, with three strong hitters, and were only pipped 3-2 by Greece. The Israel team looked a very mixed bunch in warm-ups; being the Open University side, they presumably have the same potential as the British equivalent. Hence one of their players looked to be in his mid-forties, although he offset this by standing 6'8".

The match was a huge disappointment. Israel were a decent enough team, but beatable. Unusually for modern volleyball, they base their strategy around the middle of the net. Their two passers (who were excellent) came in for a lot of combinations and used inside-out approaches, in almost a true swing hitter system. The Israeli setter was truly outstanding and made a couple of plays that will stick in my mind for a long time. One came with a ball that looked as though it was overpassed; he was back-row, but jumped and set the ball one-handed as a reverse slide to his middle at the antenna at 2. The ball was crushed with our blockers nowhere.

Unfortunately Cambridge played the worst match I've seen us play since probably the start of the season. We knew we had to serve tough, and when we did so Israel struggled - the guys are running 3-man blocks very efficiently now and it works well. But the serving was generally poor, whereas Israel consistently put over tough spin serves and put big blocks up well themselves.

The first two sets were lost to 17 and 17, game three looked to be going the same way until at match point down, we won 6 points in a row before Israel finally finished us off. Even Pierre Briguet-Lamarre coming on as sub and yelling at his team to 'do it for the Norwegian girls!' (who were in the stands) couldn't motivate them.

One final point; the Israelis were a very nice bunch, and surpassed themselves by giving us not only a pennant, but also a t-shirt each. The 
same could not be said of their two security guards, who prowled the hall with walkie-talkies and concealed weapons throughout the game.

The final day will see Great Britain take on Cyprus for 7th place.

Rich
PARK & SUN PVC NET SYSTEM

In issue 154, one of our readers ask for information regarding the standard of the Park & Sun PVC Net System from Sportset and what they think about it. 

PARK & SUN PVC NET SYSTEM
PVC Extendable poles. Net. Line Marker. Ropes & Pegs, Complete with bag, Price: £90.01 

Five people kindle replied to the request and their opinions are listed below:

Opinion 1) I purchased the same PVc Net system your on about. The net is very good and worth the money but the poles are just ok and the pegs are very lets say pathetic, when I went to hammer one into the ground it snapped but apart from the pegs everything else is ok. 

Opinion 2) I have been using the net system this year for some junior development work, so the net goes up and down several times a day. 

It is:
1. Very light and compact compared to the other court systems I have used
2. Quick and easy to put up once you work out how to get the support ropes to work
3. Considering who light it is I am impressed with the strength of the system

On the down side
1. The bag it comes in has started to fall to pieces
2. Occasionally the clips that allow you to change the height of the net get stuck inside and the net poles collapse on their own
3. It is difficult to get real tension on the net - the poles bend slightly if you want to get the net really tight. Not a problem for me when working
 with 11 year olds.
4. I have changed the pegs the ones provided pull out too easily.

Opinion 3) I bought a Park & Sun set about five years ago. I've used it a few times each year. In my opinion it's adequate for casual play, but won't stand up to competitive play. My club owns two of the more expensive sets that Sportset sell and these are much more stable, with rigid posts and a net cord that can be tightened. These sets are, however, about twice the price of the Park & Sun and also quite a bit heavier. Whichever you choose, it should last for a long while and that's the reason why I'd recommend spending the extra money to get a high quality system.

Opinion 4) Hi, if you can afford it buy the sportset posts (at about £180). They are a superb investment and worth every penny. We have used them now for 6 years at our outdoor comps and they are still as good as new.

Opinion 5) I have recently bought the park and sun basic and elite systems, both are good, the elite is definitely worth the money if you are going to be playing a lot £250 as opposed to £170

I prefer the telescopic systems as I had a spot sport one for about 12 years and it was great, some of the beach GP ones have stuck, I think these are the basic ones. It all depends on the TLC and emptying the sand out of the telescopic mechanism every now and then.

Product Review

If you would like to ask our readers about a particular product, please send in your request to Dave.Reece@volleyballnewsletter.com

Found on a Canadian VB web site (sorry can't remember which one)

New Leicestershire Volleyball Centre- www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/

South Wigston High School has unveiled plans to extend its St Thomas Road site to offer students and the community a host of sports and leisure activities, including indoor volleyball. The project has already won more than £950,000 backing from public and private sources, paving the way for a planned start to the building work early next year. Fund-raisers say they still need to find up to another £200,000 to complete the centre.

South Wigston High School head Gary Toward has been overseeing the project and paid tribute to fund-raisers' efforts. He said: "We are very grateful for the excellent support shown from the community, pupils, parents, staff and governors."
Flipping Coins??? - rsv

I am a NJ shore resident and attended [and loved!] the AVP tournament last week in Belmar. I'm also have a hobby as a metal detector; searching beaches for coins. Today on the Belmar beach I found a "Coin"; which has the face of a Bull on the front and the word "Tails" on the back. There's also some writing, including 'bump-set-spike'. 

Any information on what the heck this coin is?
THANX! Mike Miketeachr@aol.com

These are volleyball flipping coins. Lost by a referee undoubtedly, due to a too-shallow pocket. 

Todd Haverkos tdh@vbref.org

Funny you should ask. I just bought one at the USAV Boys Junior Finals in Louisville on Monday. $5.00

From: JRS jerrystrubdelete@earthlink.net
Whitefield Results- www.thisisbath.com

Some 140 local, national and international teams gathered in Bath over the weekend to compete in one of the country's largest volleyball tournaments. Whitefield Volleyball Club held their 29th annual event at Bath Sports Centre, Bath University sports hall and the Rec, in which top teams from the English National League and international teams competed indoors for the titles of men's and women's champions.

The climax of the tournament was yesterday afternoon on a centre-stage court at Bath's sports centre, when the men's and ladies' finals were contested in front of a crowd of over 1,000 people. London Malory, the strongest men's and ladies' sides in the English First Division, successfully defended their crowns. 

The trophys were presented by the Deputy Mayor of Bath, Councillor Agnes Melling.

RESULTS Men: Premier Division - Cup - Malory bt Video Time St Truiden; Plate - London Docklands bt Polonia;

Division 1 - Cup - City of Stoke bt Solent; Plate - USAF bt Chiltern Aces; Division 2 - Cup - Emilys Boys bt T H Lynx; Plate - Inter Malaga bt Jamax Technical Services; Division 3 - Cup - Hunky Men bt Petersfield; Plate - Sankey bt Maidenhead; Division 3x - Cup - Cudley Dudley bt Cleobury; Plate - White Eagles bt Harrow Weald Mixed: Division 1 - Cup - Cambridge Riders bt Have a nice day; Plate - Tamwor th Mixed up 1 bt Spikeopaths 2; Division 2 - Cup - Inter Malaga bt Used to be friends; Plate - Phoenix bt Exe Exiles Women: Premier Division - Cup - Malory bt Ashcombe; Plate - Brixton bt Cleobury; Division 1 - Cup - Thames Valley bt Polonia; Plate - Gone Shopping bt Bristol Cream; Division 2 - Cup - Chilli Bunnies bt Milton Keynes; Plate - TH Lynx bt Inter Malaga; Division 3 - Cup - Clucking Chickens bt White Eagles; Plate - Half Pints bt Stowmarket Stingers

World Youth Games

The Games are 20th/21st July at Crystal Palace. Donations from spectators are going to Sports Relief. I have attached the list of teams entering.

From: worldyouthgames@btinternet.com

UPDATE ON TEAMS ENTERING WORLD YOUTH GAMES 2002

GIRLS U16 U18

England Tigers 
England Juniors
England Eagles 
Scotland (Edinburgh team)
Gibraltar 
USA Goodwill Ambassadors (2 teams)
South Aryshire (Scotland)
Austria (top club team) 

 BOYS U16 U18 

Nigeria(Kano State team) 
USA Goodwill Ambassadors
Scotland(Edinburgh) 
Belgium (top club team) 
Gibraltar
St Clement Danes(English school Champions) 
Nigeria (Jigawa State team)
Hsin-Yuan (Taiwan school champions) 
Team Bonding -  www.zwire.com/

Taking 62 volleyball players of widely different ages and skill levels and teaching them teamwork may seem a tough task, but progress was being made Tuesday morning in Athens at the 2002 Concord College team camp.

"We have at least two team-bonding activities per day," said camp director Pat Hardin, head coach of the Concord volleyball squad. "Communication is so important to the game. They don't understand that. So we have a lot of activities to impress that on them."

In one session, everyone on the team jumps the same jump-rope at the same time. In another, the players are assigned a task but are not allowed to talk to each other in getting the job done. "They've got to communicate nonverbally," said camp counselor Kim Russell, who will be a freshman on this fall's Concord team.

Hardin said, "Then we tried to transfer that onto the court. They have to work together. If there are two of you under the ball, and one of you doesn't call for the ball, and it falls in between you, that shows the importance of communication." "A lot of what we do is to get them to see the skills it actually takes to make up a team," Russell said....
Under-21 World Beach Championships

Early upset in opening qualification - Venezuelans Julio Rodriguez and Robinson Castro caused an early upset in the opening stages of the FIVB Under-21 World Beach Volleyball Championships when they Brazilian favourites Rodrigo and Leandro.

The start of the qualification tournament was slightly delayed due to some rain showers, but when the weather cleared, the crowd was treated to some first class competition, even if for the Brazilians, it was not the start they had hoped for, going down to Rodriguez and Castro 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 15-11). Castro, who bypassed traditional volleyball completely and started playing beach volleyball at the age of twelve, delivered a tremendous match.

But the team from Venezuela is not the only formation to add colour and interest to this tournament of future champions. Andrei Zharykau and Vasili Kurdziuk from Belarus probably had the longest journey of all the participants, traveling by car all the way from Minsk to the most southern part of Italy. 

"First it took us 25 hours to get from Belarus to the north of Italy," Kurdziuk said. "We trained there a little bit before we went down to Catania. All together we have been in the car for almost 40 hours." Zharykau added: "Fortunately we had a driver, but we also drove the car for some hours."

Unfortunately the much-traveled team were beaten in their first match by Greek pair Konstantinos Tampouratis and Nikolaos Giannakakos 2-1 (21-18, 21-12).

The qualification concludes on Thursday morning with the four best men's and women's teams advancing to the Main Draw when 24 teams of each gender compete for the coveted title here at the La Playa beach venue.

All continents are represented at the Championship, giving the future beach volleyball stars a chance to meet their rivals from all around the world.

The main draw includes Brazilian stars like men's team of Pedro Henrique Cunha and Adriano Fonseca and their compatriots in the women's competition, Maria Salgado Rufino and Talita Rocha. Italy is represented in both genders with three teams. 

Dutch twins Richard and Roland Rademaker were the last direct entry into the men's Main Draw, while the women's competition also features some family business with Bernadette and Regina Kiss of Hungary performing a "Sister Act" here on this Italian beach.

The single round robin preliminary is played on Thursday and Friday, while the best 16 teams play single elimination starting Saturday. The finals in both the men's competition are scheduled Sunday afternoon and the winners will be awarded with a wild card for one of the next World Tour events.

FIVB arjen.meijer@freeler.nl
ASTERIX KIELDRECHT VOLLEYBALL CLUB
Asterix Kieldrecht Volleyball club 

To learn more about professional Volleyball and European events, we have decided to adopt a team, Asterix Kieldrecht from Belgium and follow their progress in European competitions.
Asterix Kieldrecht is happy to announce that we have concluded an agreement with Inmaculada Gonzales Casado (better know as Tico) for next season.

Tico is the setter of the Spanish national team, and played for the previous eight years for the team of Universidad de Granada (her native city). She has participated in many European games (including champions league and final four), and also played at the Barcelona Olympics. She wants to add an international experience to her already well-filled résumé.

Tico (a professional physiotherapist) is very driven by her sport, but also likes to go out with friends and enjoy the good things in life. We are sure that she will prove to be a very valuable player for Asterix, both on the field and afterwards... But watch out, don't say anything wrong about Andulusia, or her Spanish pride will get excited and her deep brown eyes will shoot you down !

More information and pictures on our website http://go.to/kieldrecht , or go directly to http://users.tijd.com/~tdn02345/seizoen20022003/ploeg20022003.htm

Tico will arrive in Kieldrecht in the first week of August, and she will be very active during our international tournament on 17 and 18 August. And this tournament will be exciting for many other reasons as well, such as the teams from Nigeria or Iran that have already registered. 

Happy holidays to all of you.

From: kieldrechte@coollist.com

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RULES OF THE GAME
RULES OF THE GAME - from the FIVB

8.2 The second referee indicated to the first referee that the American substitute Eric Sato was sitting on the floor in the warm-up area rather than standing or stretching in the warm-up area. The first referee warned the American team for a minor misconduct and made Sato stand up. Is this a correct action by the first referee?

This was an incorrect ruling by the first referee. Players are not required to be standing in the warm-up area. On the other hand, players may
not sit on benches, chairs, rails or walls in this area. The warm-up area is designated so that the players can be prepared to play. Rule: 4.2.1, 4.2.3, 25.2.4, 25.2.5

8.3 The coach of the USA Junior Women’s team approached the scorer and asked information as to the number of time-outs that had been taken by the Mexican team. What is the proper response of the scorer?

Coaches are permitted to ask the scorers for information only about their own team. They may ask the scorer only at a time which is neither distracting to the scorer nor delaying to the match. Rule 26.2.2


More examples in the next issue....

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