VOLLEYBALL

NEWSLETTER

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Hi all, More news from the web.

Cheers - Dave Reece Dave.Reece@volleyballnewsletter.com

Associated with St Mary’s University College as a volleyball centre of excellence.

Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May 2007
£55.00 (this includes resource pack)
Held at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, TW1 4SX

This is the basic introductory coaching award to assist in the introduction of volleyball to a group of inexperienced adults or children in a safe, controlled and enjoyable manner. This course is mainly practical. Duration of the course is 16 hours.

Candidates must be 16 or over with playing experience, for more information contact course organiser: David Rijvers, Tel 07779134007 Email dr@goldeneye7.freeserve.co.uk

Closing date: 21st April 2007

David Rijvers dr@goldeneye7.freeserve.co.uk

Plenty of volleyball comming up on Eurosport, with coverage of the closing stages of the European Champions League. It all stars with the Womens event on the 19th March with the mens the following weekend.

The e-mail addresses for Volleyball England head office staff will be changing as of 16/03/07. The new e-mail addresses will be in the following format: first name initial.surname@volleyballengland.org

The general e-mail address will remain as info@volleyballengland.org the new e-mail addresses for existing staff will be as follows:

Toomas Ojasoo, Chief Executive Officer, t.ojasoo@volleyballengland.org
Craig Handford, National Development Manager, c.handford@volleyballengland.org
Martin Lindsey, Office Manager, m.lindsey@volleyballengland.org
Chris Inman, Finance Manager, c.inman@volleyballengland.org
Rebecca Lee, Communications & Promotions Officer, r.lee@volleyballengland.org
Jo Richards, National Workforce Development Officer, j.richards@volleyballengland.org
Will Roberts, Partnerships Officer (PESSCL), w.roberts@volleyballengland.org
Laura Brown, National Club Development Officer, l.brown@volleyballengland.org
Steve Jones, Coach Education & Development Officer, s.jones@volleyballengland.org
Gemma Nunnerley, Events & Competitions Officer, g.nunnerley@volleyballengland.org
Catherine Nicholson, Membership Services Officer, c.nicholson@volleyballengland.org
Jayne Hughes, Administration Officer, j.hughes@volleyballengland.org
Patricia Brooks, Administration Officer, p.brooks@volleyballengland.org

Regards

Catherine Nicholson c.nicholson@volleyballengland.org
Membership Services Officer

Please could you add our Tournament to the list -

Epsom Mixed Outdoor Sunday 8th July - Adult and U.18

Contact details: Carole Rice crice@btinternet.com

www.epsomvolleyball.org.uk

Many thanks.
Carole Rice crice@btinternet.com

Dear Volleyballers,

Paola Hibs Candy, a Maltese female volleyball club is organising an indoor pre-season international tournament for ladies teams in Malta between the 30th August and the 6th September 2007.

The tournament will be set over a one week period and a total of 8 teams will be participating. Two clubs selected will be Maltese while the remaning six will be selected from clubs playing in the Small States of Europe, United Kingdom or Italian Regional Leagues.

Participation will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Besides the main indoor tournament, a one day beach volley tournament will be organised too.

If your club is interested, please contact us at paolavolley@yahoo.com or contact me directly on +356 79220065.

thanks & regards
David Bonnici
f/Paola Hibs Candy Volleyball Club
Malta

The 2007 BUSA Home Nations Championships were held at the University of Manchester over 17-18 March. Representative student teams from Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and English Universities competed for the title, with additional matches against guest sides Oxbridge and Republic of Ireland students (men) and Tameside and Chester & Ellesmere Port (women).

The round robin event produced many close and enthralling matches over the weekend. Highly competitive, passionate with high levels of commitment and energy. Partisan spectators adding to the atmosphere.

In the end English Universities completed a win double. The women retained their title with solid displays, controlling all their matches and closing out when required. The men regained the title after a two year gap thanks to a dramatic final game win over Scotland.

Scotland took an early lead in the first set, increasing it to six points by the mid teens before holding off the England fight back to close on 25-23. The second set saw England come back into the game and dominate with string hitting from Ward and Punnackl to take it 25-21.

And so to the decider. Nip and tuck, 8-7 at the change over. A quick break by England to take a two point lead, but Scotland would not let go and clawed back at 11 all. Points traded, big hits, spectacular defence and wholehearted commitment. Scotland lead, England have match point, Scotland block to level. England hit another winner and then get a transition ball and force an error to win 19-17 to unleash emotions of joy, and despair.

English Universities Women Jenna Stevens-Smith (c) Sheffield Su Sondergaard Sheffield Laura Hodgkinson Loughborough Hayley Ridgwell Loughborough Lou Tagg Bath Rachel Turner Bath Lora Ioannou Manchester Elina Kuitunen Manchester Kris Heemskerk Marjon Natalia Watjczak Wolverhampton Tanya Wyatt Kent Elin Skagerberg Sussex

English Universities Men Prince Punnackl (c) Southampton Tom Robinson Loughborough Leonardo Trench Loughborough Tom Ward Sheffield Hallam Anthony Hignett Sheffield Hallam Riccardo Senatore Manchester Tom Lord Manchester Dan Gillard Marjon Adam Phillips Bournemouth Dave Hubbard Bournemouth Costas Hadjidamianou Manchester Metropolitan Fabio Saguato University College London

Lenny Barry
lenny.barry@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

The 39th BUSA Volleyball Finals were held at Loughborough University on 9-11 March. Over 150 teams entered the Championships and started their journey last October. Five months, and at least ten games later, the top eight Men’s and Women’s teams progressed to the concluding stages of the Championship.

The Championship Finals began with teams split into pools of four playing three matches to qualify for the semi finals.

In the Women’s Championship Semi-Finals, London was too strong for Cambridge, winning in straight sets. In the second Semi-Final, Bath were forced to work hard against Manchester going to the tie break set but eventually securing their place in the final.

The Women’s Championship Final saw defending champions London control the opening set, winning 25-16. The second set was much closer with the lead changing hands several times before Vicki Palmer (Bath) hit and then served winners to take the set 25-22.

Strong Bath serving, and controlled passing from Palmer and Mulling put them in the box seat in the deciding set, winning comfortably 15-5. This is the first time Bath University have won the Women’s Volleyball Championships.

Loughborough faced defending champions London in the first Men’s Championship Semi-Final and dominated the early exchanges, controlling the net and taking the first set 25-18. London raised their game and Dockland's Nik Ruh distributed the ball with accuracy and purpose enabling London to take the second set 25-18.

The tie break was desperately close with never more than a point between the teams. Excellent hitting was matched by spirited defence leading to enthralling rallies before two big hits from Dockland's Albrecht Glitz have London the vital breakthrough to edge the match 19-17.

In the second Men’s Semi-Final Sheffield Hallam faced Bournemouth. The evenly matched teams traded point for point in the early stages, but the game swung when the Bournemouth setter broke a finger blocking Wayne Davies (Sheffield Hallam).

This was pivotal and Bournemouth was not able to sustain their challenge and Sheffield Hallam ran out comfortable winners 25-16, 25-11.

The final was watched by around 150 people banging drums, with air horns and creating a great atmosphere with the teams rising to the occasion.

London held an early lead but Hallam clawed back level by the high teens, only for Glizt and Massous to strike and give London a 22 - 20 lead. Another twist, a service error, passing error and a miraculous pick up by Mike Melbourne saw Hallam take the first set 25-22.

London came back strongly with Glitz in awesome form hitting and jump serving, taking and holding a lead all the way through to take the second set 25-18.

Another tie break to the delight of the crowd. Hallam started strongly and a power hit and roof block by Tom Ward saw them 8-5 up at the turn. London tried to come back but the damage was done, Hallam keeping the upper hand to win 15-12. This is Sheffield Hallam fourth Men’s Championship title in the competitions 39 year history. The win takes them to third place in overall winning with only Leeds and Manchester (6 titles each) ahead.

Final placings

Men’s Championship 1st - Sheffield Hallam 2nd - London 3rd - Loughborough 4th - Bournemouth 5th - Reading 6th - Edinburgh 7th - Queens Belfast 8th - York

Women’s Championship 1st - Bath 2nd - London 3rd - Manchester 4th - Cambridge 5th - Newcastle 6th - Bristol 7th - Dundee 8th - St Andrews

Men Trophy (Second Tier Knockout)
1st/2nd
Sheffield 3-0 Sussex
25-19, 25-19, 25-16

3rd/4th
Loughborough 2nd. 3 - 0 MMU Cheshire

Women’s Trophy
1st/2nd
UWIC 3-0 Lincoln
25-11, 25-21, 25-22

3rd/4th
Birmingham 3-0

Men’s Shield (Third Tier Knockout)
1st/2nd
Bradford 3-0 St Mary’s College
25-19, 25-21, 25-22

www.busa.org.uk

Preparations are now in full swing to further extend the horizons of international Beach Volleyball with a SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Men’s Open stop at Bahrain’s Formula 1 circuit from 8th-12th May.

FIVB inspectors are currently in Bahrain to assess the viability of this undertaking and ensure that everything is on track for the inaugural event in Bahrain. Although a lot of work remains to be done to ensure a world-class Beach Volleyball event in such a unique setting, initial reports indicate that everything is on the right track. Confirmation of whether the event can go ahead at the Formula 1 track is expected by the end of the month.

As one of the most popular sports at the Olympic Games, Beach Volleyball has proven to be a crowd puller regardless of location and has migrated from its birthplaces on the beaches of Southern California to the heart of great cities such as Paris and Berlin. This year’s World Championships will even be held in the Swiss Alps, as the SWATCH FIVB World Championships come to Gstaad, which has been staging SWATCH FIVB events since 2000.

The SWATCH FIVB World Tour Men’s Open in Bahrain has the full backing of the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the FIVB has received a personal message of support from Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, President of the General Organization for Youth and Sport, promising “to work diligently to make sure this outstanding world-wide porting event will have all the financial, public relations and media support necessary for a successful outcome.”

The National Volleyball Federation of Bahrain has also committed to fill the 3000-seat stadium with spectators for the final three days of the competition as the best way of promoting the sport in the Gulf region. This is in line with the FIVB’s vision of developing the sport in the Arabian Gulf, which includes plans for a SWATCH FIVB World Tour double-gender Open event in Qatar in 2008.

The 2007 SWATCH FIVB World Tour comprises a total of 37 events and 8.75 million US dollars in prize money. It also starts the Olympic Qualification Process for Beijing 2008, with the best eight results obtained by players up to 20th July 2008 counting towards the FIVB Olympic Ranking that will determine the teams who go to Beijing.

www.fivb.org

These videos demonstrate spatial awareness and rebound techniques for high jumpers and other athletes. When performing these exercises stay relaxed and follow through with the movements focusing on creating the correct shape in the air and on the ground with your body. Click each picture below to view and download to your video-ipod to take away into your training environment.

Depth Jump - A basic video demonstration of a depth jump, useful for coaches and athletes of all jumping sports. Using a 20-60 cm box, jump off and hold a static landing. Performe 3 sets of 2-3 reps each before moving on to Depth Jump - Rebounds.

Depth Jump - Rebounds - Same technique as the Depth Jump, except when you land rebound on to another box. Use a 20-60cm box to jump off, you can increase the hight of the landing box to as high as you can go. Shown are two 50 cm boxes. Perform 3 sets of 2-3 reps each before moving on to the Box to Box Rebounds

Depth Jump - Bunny - Depth jump to two footed 'bunny' jump for distance. Shown is a 50 cm box. Rebound and static depth jumps are demonstrated. Bunny jump should be 3m+ in distance. 3 sets of 3 reps.

Box to Box Rebounds - Same technique as Depth Jump - Rebounds, except make the jumping continuous on and off the boxes. Use 3 boxes of varying heights, shown are 30, 40 and 60 cm boxes. All 3 boxes in both directions is one rep. Perform 3 sets of 2-3 reps. This series will soon include; increamental box rebounds, lateral box rebounds and on off box rebounds.

Box Take Off - This is high jump/pole vault specific. Push off a low box with the non-take off leg and drive on to a higher box holding the take off position. This aids penultimate stride acceleration. I am also making a running version of this exercise for long jumpers.

Split Rebounds - Especially suitable for triple jump. Use two boxes 20-60 cm high. Rebound off the floor and land on the boxes in a lunge/ step phase position. Alternate legs with each rebound. Perform 2-3 sets of 6 reps (3 per leg forward).

Hurdle Rebounds - Using 5 hurdles 3-4 feet apart and 1m - 1.07m high, continually rebound jump over all the hurdles. This is one rep. Perform 3 set of 2-3 reps each. This exercise is the first in a series including; Russian stops, hurdle take offs, long shorts, single leg rebounds, circular hurdles and Daily's maze.

Russian Stops - Depth jump static landing with a bunny jump to a hurdle rebound. This combination is very demanding and all the elements need to be learned properly first. 3 Sets of 3 reps

To compliment all of these I will be introducing a series of free plyometric videos including; bunnies both continuous and static, bounding, hoping and double triple jump. I will also introducing a series of stair plyometric videos including; bunnies, bounding, hopping, triple jump and drop downs.

All these exercises require good technique to perform them. To show you how to build a usefull technique I will be introducing a series of basic movement drill videos. These will include walking and running transition drills, hurdle walk overs/knee drives drills and jumping drills.

From RSV, you can checkout all of the above at: http://sihunt.wordpress.com/

On the same weekend as the Womens Top Teams Cup Final Four will be taking place in Mnster (10-11 March 2007), the Italian mens team Cimone MODENA will be welcoming their international contestants for the same European Cup title from Rabotnicki Fersped SKOPJE (MKD), Autocommerce BLED (SLO) and Iskra ODINTSOVO (RUS).

The mens Top Teams Cup Final Four will PalaPanini will be held in Modenas Palapanini sports hall which hosts over 5000 spectators.

The first semi-final will be an Eastern European affair between Rabotnicki Fersped SKOPJE from the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and Slovenian Autocommerce BLED.

Host Cimone MODENA will face a tough task against Iskra ODINTSOVO, the latter named Russian team having defeated Chnois GENEVE (SUI) twice 3:0 in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, the route prior to the quarterfinal stage wasnt all that smooth for the team coached by Sergey Tsvetnov as they had to go into an extra set in the last 16 opposing Finnish Perungan Pojat ROVANIEMI after both teams won their home matches in a tiebreak.

For further information on the Mens Top Teams Cup 2006/07 please view www.cev.lu and www.pallavolomodena.com/ita/finalfour-2007.asp

DUTCH-GERMAN COOPERATION

Organisor PlantinaLonga LICHTENVOORDE (NED) and co-operative partner USC MNSTER (GER), in whose sports hall the Final Four of the Womens Top Teams will take place the coming wekend, will stage a high-class international sports event and a top-class happening including four European Cups matches as well as a German national league game.

Its the first time in the history of the CEV that the organisation of a European Cup Final Four crosses borders. Both clubs are breaking new ground, stated USC Managing Director Karsten Krippner, Therefore, there is continuous contact between the two clubs and many talks are necessary in order to clarify all aspects.

On a sportive level, the spectators in the Volleydome of Mnster will be guaranteed encounters of the highest international standard. The four participating teams, i.e. PlantinaLonga LICHTENVOORDE (NED), Grupo 2002 MURCIA (ESP), CSKA MOSCOW (RUS) and SCHWERINER SC (GER), have proven their worth in the respective National Cup finals during the past weekends.

Germanys SCHWERINER SC successfully managed to defend their title in the National Cup when they overthrew last years CEV Cup participant Bayer 04 LEVERKUSEN in the semi-final and DRESDNER SC 3:1 in last Sundays final in front of 10100 spectators, seizing their third National Cup overall. With this victory in the bag as well as the support of the local audience in Mnster, the team coached by Tore Aleksandersen will be confident enough to face their international opponents on home ground. Their semi-final opponent in the Womens Top Teams Cup on Saturday, 10 March 2007 at 16.30hrs local time will be CSKA MOSCOW.

The Russians made it to the final of the National Cup where they beat KAZAN 3:1, but lost the final match to the surprising finalist ODINTSOVO 0:3. Lubov Yagodina and Olga Illina were the best players on Moscows side.

The other semi-final will be a Spanish-Dutch battle between Grupo 2002 MURCIA and the organising team PlantinaLonga LICHTENVOORDE. MURCIA, including Russian World Champion Lioubov Kilic, Polish European Champions Malgorzata Glinka and Agata Mroz, US-American Nancy Metcalf as well as Brazilian setter Fernanda Venurini, overthrew the Champions League playoff team Spar TENERIFE Marichal in the semi-final of the Copa de la Reina before seizing the title with a final straight-set victory in San Sebastian de los Reyes over A.D. AGUERE.

Dutch Top Teams Cup semi-finalist PlantinaLonga LICHTENVOORDE were the underdogs in the National Cup final last Sunday against Champions League participant DELA Martinus AMSTELVEEN. Our opponents are the clear favourites, stated Longa-Manger Theo Hofland before the match, But if we have the chance of claiming a title this year, it will be the National Cup. Unfortunately, LICHTENVOORDE lost the match 1:3, but will have another chance of claiming a title in Mnster next weekend, provided they beat MURCIA in the semi-final and also win the final on Sunday

Tickets and Presale

Entrance tickets for the Womens Top Teams Cup Final Four are available from Monday to Friday between 9 and 12 oclock at USC MNSTERs office (Von Stauffenberg-Strae 2, D-48151 Mnster, Telephone: +49 - (0)251 702 1984, e-mail: uscmuenster@lvm.de ) as well as at finalfour@plantinalonga.nl.

A day ticket costs 15,- Euro (discounted 7,50 Euro). A weekend ticket costs 25,- Euro (discounted 12,- Euro). Members of the two clubs pay 10,- Euro per day or 20,- Euro for the weekend.

Autocommerce Bled (Slo) gains the volleyball Top Teams Cup in Modena. First time in a European cup history Slovenian team is the winner of the Cup. In a five set battle Bled surprised Cimone Modena.

Key moment of the final was injury of Ricardo, Brazilian setter of Modena. Ricardo injured in first half of the set. Modena did not lose only because of that, Bled deserves the victory. Cimone made 31 mistakes, the worst performance of them in this year.

Head coach Autocommerce BLED: “I’m very proud of my guys. They have won the last few matches in a row and I knew that we were in for a chance, even though we played against Modena at home. After the match against Skopje, where we proved better in reception and setting, we were optimistic and knew that we could play with the Italian team.”

Final
Autocommerce Bled 3 - Cimone Modena 2

3th place
Rabotnicki Fersped Skopje 1 - Iskra Odintsovo 3

Individual awards
MVP: Matija Plesko (Bled)
Best Scorer: Andrea Sartoretti (Modena)
Best Attacker: Tine Urnaut (Bled)
Best Server: Luiz Felipe Fonteles (Modena)
Best Blocker: Andrea Giani (Modena)
Best Receiver: Sebastijan Skorc (Bled)

www.cev.lu

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