On the weekend of 20/21st September Portsmouth opened its new Volleyball Beach courts at
Southsea. As Portsmouth Volleyball Club had been liasing with The City Council on its building, they decided to run an event to promote the completion and opening. They contacted all the other clubs around the area and invited them to the opening with the view to
seeing what was available to them and playing matches.
The local paper 'The News' quoted:
There are three courts available much to the delight of players who enjoyed a sun-kissed day of activities with Portsmouth Volleyball Club. Club chairman Ray Sharpe said 'the day went really well, the weather was fantastic and so many people came along to have a go. They couldn't believe it was all free to use. I think it will be a huge success, thanks to the new courts Portsmouth Volleyball Association will be looking into running a summer league and maybe competitions next year.'
The courts, near the bowling green on Southsea Common, are funded by Portsmouth City Council to promote volleyball and other beach sports including beach soccer, rugby and cricket. The Council cabinet member for culture and leisure, Terry Hall, said: 'Beach Volleyball is an increasingly popular sport that was featured in the Beijing Olympics. I'm delighted we are able to provide this great new court that will give players of all ages the chance to take part.' Unquote
Portsmouth Volleyball Club ran their normal Saturday junior training on the new facility much to the delight of the kids, this was meant to be for 2 hours but they were enjoying themselves so much it went on for nearly 3 hours. In the afternoon the adults came down and played matches, with everybody staying until the sun went down - a group then turned up on the Sunday and played again.
Jayne Sharpe jayneds201@aol.com
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