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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

Hi all - More Volleyball news from the web.

As this is the last issue for 2002, I would like to wish all our readers a happy Christmas and prosperous new year.

Cheers - Dave Reece Dave.Reece@volleyballnewsletter.com

Dave, Loughborough Students Volleyball Club has relaunched its website at www.lborovolley.co.uk Come and vist for Club News, Results, Match Reports, Player Info and more.

Regards
Michael McKeever michael.mckeever@ntlworld.com

Dear Dave, I'm trying to organise a club tour for our university teams. Two years ago we spent five days in Denmark at the Rodovre Easter Volley Tournament, something I would like to highly recommend to anyone planning a trip over Easter. This year we want to go somewhere else in Europe, but I'm having trouble finding tournaments in Europe during our holiday period, i.e. 29 March - 27 April. I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas/suggestions/contacts for any type of tournament anywhere in Europe!

Thanks for your help,

Nico Zurcher nico_hkg@hotmail.com
Southampton Uni

Could you please advertise our Level 2 coaching course which will take place Saturday 15 Feb, Sunday 16 Feb and Saturday 22 February 2003 from 9.00 -6.00pm at a cost of £78 pounds which includes the resource materials. The Venue is the Alsager Campus of the Manchester Metropolitan University. Please contact me at the details below.

Thank you for your help.
Veronica Parkinson V.Parkinson@mmu.ac.uk

Dear All, Level 1 instructors course to be held at St. Lukes sports hall, University of Exeter on Saturday 2nd of March 2003. Cost £50 pounds and the course is limited to 18 places on a first come first served basis.

More details from Stuart Anderson 01392 264452

I just want to inform you of the results of the Irish Volleyball Intervarsities held by University College Cork from 14th to 16th November.  Twenty-four teams from 13 universities around the island of Ireland competed in this very successful tournament.  Below are the results of the tournament:

I'd like to inform you that both men and women cup winners will be taking part in the EVA Student Cup, which takes place in Leeds on 15th and 16th February. The Irish intervarsity winners are invited every year to take part in this. 

Next year's tournament will be hosted by University of Ulster, Jordanstown from 27th to 29th November 2003. Yours in sport, UCC Volleyball Club Ciaran Martin uccvolleyballclub@hotmail.com

Host UCC and tournament organisers

The Indesit European Champions' League is part of the European Cups of CEV, (European Volleyball Confederation) and forms the largest ever club tournament in volleyball history.

Eurosport will provide viewers with comprehensive action throughout the group stages until January, where the best eight men's and women's teams will qualify for the quarterfinals in February. The winners of the quarterfinals will then earn a ticket for the 'Final Four' in March 2003. 

In the men's tournament, the Italians remain clear favourites - their sheer spending power always attracts the best to their Serie A pro league. Fans will see Azuri legends like former Italian captain Andrea Gardini -arguably the best middle blocker the game has ever seen - joined by the power and experience of Luca Cantagalli.

The real draw will be the opportunity to catch USA bad boy playmaker Lloyd Ball strut his stuff - not many players want to tangle with a man who has a huge tattoo which reads -' Anger is a Gift'.

But the clever money is probably going further east. Russia has had a recent rebirth, The team list for Team Belgorie Belgorod makes chilling reading for the rest of Europe. Setter Vadim Khamoutskikh, monster middle blockers Ergotchev and Koulechov and brilliant power hitter Tetioukhine, all started for Russia in the World League and World Championship Finals.

In the women's tournament the real battle looks to be between the eastern European 'polarised clubs', formed entirely from National squad players, and the multi-national teams which characterise Italian and Spanish women's volleyball.

Italian champions Volley Modena must go into the competition as favourites, courtesy of Italy's Gold at the recent World Championships, but the word 'favourite' must be loosely applied with the likes of Russian Club Uralochka Ekaterinburg and Spanish team Tenerife Marchial close on their heels.

Of the remaining teams it would be wise not to count out several Turkish rivals Eczacibasi Istanbul and Vakifbank Istanbul will field the whole Turkish squad between them, Azerail Baku also sticks solely with Azerbaijan players and Jedinstvo Uzice and Zvezda Beograd (YUG), Zvezda Zagreb (CRO), SKRA Warsaw (POL), NRK Nyireyhaza (HUN) and Levski Siconco Sofia (BUL) all follow suit, employing only home nation players.

I have been looking around to see if there is any GOOD volleyball software. I'm looking for something on PC, and Palm. I found that there are a lot of programs that aren't very good and cost a ton.

One that I have like so far has been interactive volleyball, check out the link here:
http://www.kin.ucalgary.ca/strc/volleyball/index.html

If someone could point me in the direction of some good software that would be great.

Cheers,
Ben admin@volleyballclubs.net

Does anyone have any experience with the AirCAT, Volleyball Tutor, SportsAttack, or similar machines that purportedly simulate serves, sets, spikes, etc.? Any recommendations? 

Thanks in advance for any information.
Allan 1woods@attbi.com

Saw the Aircat in a demo booth at nationals in Dallas last year. It looks pretty cool. The demo was a "setting" demo and it worked quite nicely. I'd be curious about the serving abilities. I'm not sure how much heat it can put on the ball in comparison to other devices. 

I've worked with an attack machine of some sort that was used serving that was driven by 2 tires. There's nothing better for telling the truth about your passing form than taking bullets from this thing. Pat Powers referred to it as "The Truth Machine" in his traveling clinic.... The only down side of it is that it had a tendency to put some wear on the the volleyballs, but it did bring a powerful jumper at you and the ability to have a ton of reps in a short time.

Best Regards, 
Todd Haverkos tdh@vbref.org

Marcos Milinkovic, the most outstanding player of the 2002 World Championship in Argentina was on Monday presented with a giant cheque for $200,000 at the Swiss headquarters of International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Milinkovic was the only player of the current season to be twice named for FIVB Excellence Awards, which carry rewards of $100,000 each. He was named "Most Valuable Player" at the World Championship tournament, as well as being Top Scorer for the event.

One of his country's most popular sporting personalities and affectionately referred to as "Prince Marcos" in his native Argentina, Milinkovic traveled from Italy, where he plays in the National League, to be presented with the cheque. FIVB General-Manager Mr. Jean-Pierre Seppey made the presentation on behalf of FIVB's President, Dr. Rubén Acosta, who was traveling abroad. Dr. Acosta earlier paid tribute to the rich contribution Milinkovic has made to the sport, and to the success of the World Championship, saying he was a model ambassador for volleyball and an inspiration to young players wishing to strive for the same level of excellence.

Milinkovic, 30, a dynamic universal player with a devastatingly accurate left arm attack, was instrumental in driving Argentina through to the quarterfinals of the World Championship. He finished the tournament as top scorer with a total of 193 points, 43 points clear of his closest rival, Ivan Miljkovic of Yugoslavia. Milinkovic was also second top server of the tournament, slamming home 14 aces, a number equaled by the title winner, Frantz Granvorka of France, who emerged with a better average accuracy. 

"We know that the courage of the national team, including awarded players like Marcos Milinkovic and Pablo Meana, as well as the enthusiasm and passion of the Argentine public made major contributions to the resounding success of the World Championship in Argentina," said Dr. Acosta.

Cash awards offered to players in 2002 by the Federation International de Volleyball amount to $US1.6 million dollars, making it one of the richest handouts for individual players in team sports in the world, senior officials of the Federation said.

"The FIVB awards in 2002 represent a substantial amount of money and are designed to recognize the skills of players who strive to excel in volleyball," FIVB President Dr. Rubén Acosta said on Tuesday. He said that the players recognized by the Federation were more than just top athletes. "They are our ambassadors and are very important role models for our younger generation," he added.

Other players who were awarded $US100,000 each are:
Most Valuable Player: Women - Elisa Togut, (Italy)
Best Scorer: Women - Yumilka Ruiz, (Cuba)
Best Spiker: Men - Andre Nascimento, (Brazil); Women - Elizaveta Tichtchenko, (Russia)
Best Blocker: Men - Jose Joao, (Portugal); Women - Daniela Scott, (USA)
Best Setter: Men - Maurico Lima, (Brazil); Women - Marcelle Rodrigues (Brazil)
Best Server: Men - Frantz Granvorka, (France); Women - Nancy Carrilo, (Cuba)
Best Digger: Men - Hubert Henno, (France)
Best Receiver: Men - Pablo Meana, (Argentina)

My scoring system - rsv

- Each rotation serves 5 times.
- Sideout scoring.
- At the end of the game, each side will have served 30 times.
- A game can be clinched.
- Ties are broken by a one-rotation mini-game - 3 serves each side.
- Best of five games.
- Fifth game, each rotation serves 3 times (36 total serves).

Benefits:
- Final scores show what type of game it was. 30-28 is a server's game. 4-2 was a sideout war.
- Rotations take up much less time. The game moves much more quickly.

Lane laneoc@aol.com

Click Here to Visit >>> The Volleyball Book Store

A few changes in our book table this month and the titles of the new entries suggest that perhaps not everyone is going as well as some teams initially thought this season. Anyway, help is on hand, don't for get to check out our other titles from the on-line volleyball book store.

Click Here to Visit >>> The Volleyball Book Store

Badgerstripe badgerstripe@blueyonder.co.uk

Dynamically deformable sand - it's just like you're there at the beach / Provides a unique player environment - players are able to improve and save characters and import improved characters onto other Xbox systems / Characters react dynamically - jilted teammates hold a grudge and play harder against you / Draws on the Xbox graphic capabilities to provide extremely well-rendered, fun environments with dynamic elements 
Environments feature moving crowds, dynamic backgrounds, humorous "sponsor" ads and dynamic music which takes advantage of the Xbox by providing varied and interesting music which reacts to game elements and situations Gameplay: 

Extras: Want to be all you can be? Gamers will need to play through mini-games and drills to improve their player's attributes. For example, if you feel your partner doesn't have team spirit, put them through some drills. After successfully completing them, points are rewarded and they can be used to improve attributes such as team work. 

Courts: Outlaw Volleyball will have the most exotic locales seen in any volleyball game. There are 10 courts included in the retail version with additional courts that can be downloaded via Xbox Live. 

Xbox Live Support: Outlaw Volleyball will be the first volleyball game to be on Xbox Live, allowing gamers to compete against others from around the world. Gamers can choose to play with up to 3 other players and compete in online tournaments. Winning teams receive points and are ranked against others from around the world. 

http://www.gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=1277

Rotational performance data

Rotational performance data from the service as taken from the world championships for  women show as expected differences for the various rank positions.

Rk Ace Err Cont Tot Ser/set 1 77 116 1137 1330 3.98 2 49 83 1072 1204 3.60 3 65 147 918 1130 3.38 4 55 135 847 1037 3.10 5 45 96 788 919 2.78 6 37 76 717 830 2.49

The first two ranks however show average service performance with high ace over ace plus error ratio.  The thirds and forth ranked positions are characterized by high service errors indicating that aggressive  serving when it leads to higher errors and lower ace ratio will not necessarily lead to better results. The ratio stands for the ace over ace plus error ratio.

Rk %Ace %Err ratio 1 5.79 8.72 0.40 2 4.07 6.89 0.37 3 5.75 13.01 0.31 4 5.30 13.02 0.29 5 4.84 10.33 0.32 6 4.46 9.16 0.33

The positions 5 and 6 may have been influenced by players not having participated in all sets. This is not indicated in the FIVB stats. The data refer to about 26 to 30 sets and are averaged over 12 teams.

From: "leo van hal" leovh@wanadoo.fr

Fund Raising in Los Angeles - rsv

Dig for Kids Foundation present their first annual Winter Warmth Celebration 2002, Dig For Kids Is Committed To Providing Youth in Low-Income Communities with Increased Opportunities for Athletic and Academic Achievements

Date: Thursday, December 12th, 2002, 6:30pm to 11pm 
Place: Sangria Restaurant, 68 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254-3760 Tel: (310) 376-4412

Description: Winter Warmth Celebration 2002 promises to entice the senses and prove to be the kick-off party for South Bays beloved winter season. The evening will include dinner and drinks, a DJ, casino games to earn chances for cool prizes, and a silent auction. Your tax-deductible donation will be used to provide children in Los Angeles with literacy programs, in-classroom libraries, academic scholarships, and volleyball education.

Attendees: Upper to middle-class professionals / # Of Attendees: 250 / Fundraising Goal: $ 35,000 

SPONSORSHIP LEVELS & BENEFITS 

All Sponsors will receive: 
A mention in the Winter Warmth Celebration 2002 event program A mention on the invite to be sent to approx. 10,000 people in the South Bay/Los Angeles area Periodic announcements for that sponsor during pre and post event announcements. Company advertisements and/or product samples included in gift bags (supplied by sponsor)

Silver Level (donations valued at $ 1000) Sponsor will receive a gift bag, the companies name and logo printed on event t-shirts to be distributed to all volunteers, plus four tickets to Winter Warmth Celebration 2002.

Gold Level (donations valued at $2500 or more) Sponsor will receive the same as the Silver level, a banner ad on the foundations website for 30 days, the companys name and logo on the ads to be placed in local publications, and six tickets to Winter Warmth Celebration 2002.

Eric Fonoimoana at dig4kids@yahoo.com

And finally, the cold winter months will be sizzling with heat when "Xtreme Beach Volleyball" hits the shelves. Shoe says that the women fighters from previous "Dead or Alive" games have been stripped of most their clothing and now battle it out in bikinis on the beach.  As the woman move up the ranks they earn cash and can buy items such as suntan lotion and nail polish. But make no mistake, Shoe told me it's guys who are the target audience for this slugfest.

For additional video game coverage tune in to "Big Video Game Hunting" on CNN Headline News. Shoe gives us his take on games that are creating a buzz, every Thursday at about 7:45 p.m. ET. 

2003 World Beach Tour

The 2003 season will be a landmark one for this new Olympic Discipline. Events from January 1, 2003 and up to July 11, 2004 count towards the Olympic Qualification process and a decision concerning the Olympic seeding system will be taken before the first event.
Major season's highlights include the Beach Volleyball World Championships on Copa Cabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a Grand Slam event in Los Angeles, USA.

"This will be a key season in the history of our sport's development looking forward to the Athens Olympics," said Angelo Squeo, FIVB Beach Volleyball Coordinator, adding that planned events in Greece would serve as valuable test events for the Olympics.
Events already provisionally scheduled are:

June 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Switzerland and Germany.
July 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Norway, men's event in Portugal, women's event in Greece.
August 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's events in Japan, men's event in Poland and Greece; women's event in Indonesia
September 2003 (dates to be announced): Men's and women's event in USA
October 14-19, 2003: World Championship (men and women) in Brazil.

Other events under negotiation are in Australia, Austria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal (women's event), Sweden and Spain.

In other business, the FIVB offered their support to the delegation from Indonesia in the face of the recent terrorist attack and confirmed that they would stand by the event scheduled in that country for the 2003 season.

Another landmark decision by the World Council was to allow women who chose to take maternity leave from their professional sport the possibility of retaining 75% of their points earned within one year of the birth of their baby, and 50% of the points earned within two years of the birth of their baby. FIVB Beach Volleyball players pay equal prize money for men and women in their official competitions.

SPECIAL CASES

9.10 At the Women's NORCECA Championships, the USA was playing a hard fought match with Canada. At the start of the fifth set, the American coach, Kent Miller, submitted his line up. The first referee signaled for the teams to enter the court.

At the signal, the USA players took their positions on the court while the Canadian players were still gathered around their coach by the bench. The first referee signaled for the Canadian team to take the court. The Canadian coach apparently observed the USA players in their positions on the court, then submitted his line up to the second referee.

The first referee sanctioned the Canadian coach with a "delay warning". Coach Miller protested to the Control Committee that the Canadian Team should be sanctioned with "rude conduct" and the USA Team should be awarded a point. What should the correct ruling have been in this case?

The first referee made the initial error by directing the American team to take the court without having received the line up from the Canadian Coach.

Once the American Team was on the court, the delay warning given by the first referee was probably correct. If on the other hand, it was clear that the Canadian Coach was taking advantage of the situation, the Control Committee should have ruled the rude conduct against the Canadian Coach and awarded the USA Team the serve and the point. 

More examples in the next issue....

GREEN - Out Door Tournaments / BLUE - VB Events / ORANGE - Beach Tournaments / RED - In Door Tournaments

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