‘Castle News Number 88/89 I Dec2013/Jan 2014

Contents:

3-9 – ‘Castle News Updates 10-11 – Junior Spike League 12-13 - ‘Junior Teams 14- NVL Fixtures 15 –Set like a Pro 16-17 – Castle in the USA 18 – Sportset 19 – Social Volleyball 20 – Castle Shop

Submit your own content (please!) to willroberts1981@hotmail.com by the end of each month.

Castle News, no.88/89 – Dec ’13/ Jan ‘14

Welcome from the Chair On every occasion when I come to write my piece for our newsletter I deliberate on what in particular I’m going to write about. I must read the newsletter from front to back 4 or 5 times before putting pen to paper. Will Roberts presents me with so much news I really don’t know where to start! This edition is yet again full of commitment, progression and achievement across our club and without a doubt certainly shows the growing strength of our organisation. Our Junior Spike League, led by Ant Viggars, has drawn in enthusiastic young players from surrounding primary schools that, along with the support and encouragement of our coaches and Junior Leaders are learning new skills, game play and developing their social skills are meeting many children for the first time. The transition work we carry out with the young players is invaluable and certainly supports pupils and families in making their move from primary to secondary a smooth one. One word that stands out above any other is ‘Volunteer’. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributes towards our club. We can offer many opportunities, so if you’re interested in getting involved please do get in touch. Jeanette Carter Club Chair

Team GB Olympian Mark Plotyczer:

"There is no progress in British volleyball" In an exclusive interview for WorldofVolley.com in January, he spoke about his life playing pro in Germany and about British volleyball. What do you think about what one of our 2012 heroes had to say? Is he right? For the full interview go to http://www.worldofvolley.com/News/interviews/25382/exclusive-for-wov-mark-plotyczer---there-is-no-progress-in-british-volleyball.html Mark, let’s talk about volleyball in Great Britain. Is there any progress in British volleyball after Olympic Games in London 2012? “Not at all. The national team was finished due to funding cut straight after the Olympics. It was a great disappointment as we had improved so much and built a solid team after 6 years of hard work. The Games were not granted for us as many think and all the players had to go through a lot of difficult moments for the team. Words like “legacy”, “inspire a generation” and “biggest team” were used as marketing for the Olympic Games. Now, there are only 3 professional players still playing. I watched some of the World championship qualifications and saw teams that we had beaten qualifying and it still makes me very sad to talk about it… as I had in mind a completely different scenario.” Imagine that you are the president of British Volleyball Federation. What changes would you make? “On top of that, the BVF (British volleyball federation) closed and the EVA (English volleyball association) decided not to continue with a national team. I would have tried to look for private sponsors and not depend exclusively on the government.“

NVL PLAYOFFS NVL relegation/promotion playoffs will be held at the National Volleyball Centre, Kettering on Sunday 11th May 2014. Match times will be released in due course by Volleyball England.

To nominate go to: www.volleyballengland.org/news/article/4801/voting-extended-for-the-biggest Deadline = 10th March

Want to take control of your game? If you are interested in taking steps to improve your own performance in volleyball then Volleyball 1 on 1 could be the place for you. With loads of videos and articles provided by top players and coaches this website and You Tube channel is a great resource for any dedicated volleyball nut! With a membership you get more service but there are plenty of free resources to get you started. Just search online for Volleyball 1 on 1!

Local League Latest The latest rounds of matches in the North Staffordshire Volleyball League have left both the men’s and ladies competitions poised for an exciting final few rounds of fixtures. In the ladies league reigning champions ‘Castle Dynamo have a commanding lead as the tables (right) shows and have already secured their place in the league finals, but there is a close battle for 2nd place, and don’t forget this season there will be play-offs to decide the final positions in the league so the last round of regular season games on Friday 14th March will decide who contests the final, with any one of three teams mathematically able to make it through: -Castle Dynamo v NuLC - Castle Go Spike v Castle Juniors - Spike it! V Lady Gios

The men’s competition is far less clear cut with both groups heading into a final regular season finale on Monday 3rd March with lots riding on it. With some delays to key fixtures the tension is high, with the Staffs Uni v Keele Uni fixture now keenly anticipated in the build-up to the formal Varsity game this Spring! With more teams, the men’s league is more complex in its’ play-offs which run across three separate match nights on 14th March, 2nd May and 12th May, which also sees the conclusion of the ladies league.

To keep track with the league, fixtures and results please follow them on twitter via @NorthStaffsVB

LADIES Pos Team Sets Points Pts

P F A F A D

1 Castle Dynamo 4 8 0 205 117 88 8

2 Castle Go Spike 4 5 3 183 176 7 5

3 Lady Gios (u18) 4 5 3 176 171 5 5

4 Spike it! 4 3 5 187 193 -6 3

5 NuLC 4 2 6 169 186 -17 2

6 Castle Juniors (u16) 4 1 7 139 198 -59 1

MEN POOL A

Pos Team Sets Points Pts

P F A F A D

1 NuLC Academy 3 6 0 150 84 66 6

2 Staffs Uni 3 5 1 148 108 40 5

3 Castle Go Spike 3 3 3 123 121 2 3

4 Keele Uni 2 2 2 84 72 12 2

5 Castle Lions (u16 A) 3 2 4 115 139 -24 2

6 Castle Diggers (u15) 4 0 8 104 200 -96 0

MEN POOL B

Pos Team Sets Points Pts

P F A F A D

1 Team Gios 4 6 2 200 156 44 6

2 NSVC Men 4 5 3 194 181 13 5

3 Fenton 3 4 2 152 142 10 4

4 NuLC2 4 3 5 170 183 -13 3

5 Castle Spikers (u16 B) 3 0 6 96 150 -54 0

Check out Volleyball Coverage in The Sentinel So far this season we have had numerous weekly articles in The Sentinel as we seek to establish a regular volleyball column in the paper. Committed club volunteers make sure that the paper is supplied with news and match reports every week as we share our sport with the local community. Show your support by logging on to the newspaper’s website and making some supportive comments next to the articles on the volleyball – its easy to do and shows that the community in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme really care about their volleyball and want to read more alongside the regular coverage of local sports... Its up to us all to raise the profile of volleyball!

Local University Teams in Action Our local university volleyball scene has been particularly vibrant so far this season with both Keele Uni and Staffs Uni entering teams not only in our local league but also in the BUCS Championships. Despite being only 5 miles or so from each other, the two universities are based in different leagues in BUCS with Keele Men and Women both playing in div 2A North, Staffs in Midlands 2A. With this backdrop the meeting between the two universities in the ‘Varsity’ match days is always keenly Anticipated... This year the varsity is hosted by Keele and will take place on Wednesday 26 March with the men’s volleyball math sure to be a key fixture!

Would you like to edit ‘Castle News? Since creating ‘Castle News in August 2006 the editor for all but 1 edition has been Will Roberts. Due to time constraints at work and home Will is looking for someone else to take ‘Castle News on – if you are interested or know of someone who might be, please let Jeanette or Marie know.

Beach Volleyball, and top level Ice Hockey... In a Baseball Stadium?? ...only in America...! Those great sporting innovators (they invented Volleyball after -all!!) in the USA have taken things a step further this year through one of their major 3 sports, Ice Hockey, whose National Hockey League (NHL) has held ‘The 2014 NHL Stadium Series (branded the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series of course!) is an ongoing series of four outdoor regular season National Hockey League games. This series is distinct from the NHL Winter Classic and NHL Heritage Classic outdoor games. The Stadium Series games included the Los Angeles Kings versus the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium on Jan 25 (see photo right), where elsewhere on the baseball outfield they also hosted a Beach Volleyball court!

Incredible Volleyball crowds at league matches... only in Brazil!! The team currently languishing in bottom place in the women’s Superliga in Brazil, Maranhao have broken the record for the highest ever attendance in the league with a phenomenal 7200 spectators for their match against Unilever. The team have had fantastic attendances this season having already reached 5000 and then 6500 but this latest was a record. The team from Maranhao even had set point in the first set but Unilever took it in the end and won the match 3-0. What do ‘Castle fans think about working to get a huge attendance of 150 for one of our NVL matches?!

NuLC/NSVC Satellite Academy The boys team of Newcastle College (NuLC) which features the lads that are in the Satellite Academy based out of NuLC have qualified for the national finals of the British Colleges Sports on the 5-6 April in Bath. The team will aim to win the title for a third year in a row, but face tough opposition from across the country, and then travel to Holland to play in a European festival during the Easter period.

2013-2018: NSVC development plan The NSVC club committee was pleased in September to confirm the publication and launch of our five year club development plan for the period 2013-2018. The plan is available for download from the club website and we encourage all club members and supporters to take the time to read it, digest it and understand the direction of the club for the next 5 years. We have grown significantly over the past 10 years under the two previous plans and it is our intention to continue to strengthen as a club.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Girls 1900-2100 Newcastle Community High School

1630-1800 Newcastle under Lyme College

1900-2100 Newcastle Community High School

1630-1800 Newcastle under Lyme College (Strength & Conditioning)

1630-1800 Newcastle under Lyme College

Boys 1830-2130 Madeley High School

1600-1800 Newcastle under Lyme College

1800-2000 or 2000-2200 Madeley High School

NSVC awaits decision on Volley 3 accreditation

In the previous edition of ‘Castle News we reported upon the months of hard work led by Rachel Viggars to complete all of the necessary paperwork and submit our Volley 3 accreditation folder to Volleyball England... As it stands we have clarified all of their queries but await confirmation that we have achieved the award! Volley 3 is the highest level of accreditation and once we get the good news that we have successfully completed all of the requirements it will elevate us to the highest level of recognition in the sport for the quality of club environment that we provide.

POS TEAM P W D L P/D PTS 1 DA Crew 3 2 1 0 23 8

2 B.O.C 3 1 2 0 20 7

3 Stoke United 3 1 2 0 16 7

4 Madeley Spikers 3 0 2 1 -28 5

5 Castle Crew 2 0 2 0 -2 4

6 Castle Girls 3 0 1 2 -9 4

7 Castle Jams 2 0 1 1 -10 3

8 Volley Allstars 1 0 1 0 -6 2

Under 13 mixed

POS TEAM P W D L P/D PTS

1 Madeley Wreckin Balls 4 4 0 0 46 12

2 Superstar Setters 4 3 1 0 36 11

3 Madeley Mafia 3 3 0 0 57 9

4 Diggin Dynamites 4 1 2 1 -4 8

5 Ashley Aces 4 0 2 2 -18 6

6 Volley Vipers 4 0 2 2 --25 6

7 Golden Girls 4 0 2 2 -31 6

8 Rastas 3 1 0 2 -27 5

9 Betley Spike 4 0 1 3 -30 5

Under 15 mixed

Whilst the senior local league for North Staffordshire has gone from strength to strength this season growing to a total of 17 teams, our local volleyball scene is also shown to be incredibly vibrant through our new Junior Spike set-up which features an amazing 26 teams across four league! Funded by the Sport England National Lottery Grant that the club committee successfully bid for in the summer of 2013, Junior Spike shows how the club is by its’ members, for its’ members – literally designed and run by a group of key volunteers including a number of younger members of the club. These young people are learning how to set-up and co-ordinate a league and will these skills not only bring more opportunities for their peers to play competitive volleyball but also helps them to develop other key skills which will prove useful later in life. On the court the competition is already intense after the first round of matches, and of an excellent standard. Drawing players in from across our network of local schools, the league is certainly rooted in the club but will hopefully begin to feed more teams to enter the North Staffs Senior league in future years.

Under 17 Girls

POS TEAM P W D L P/D PTS

1 Charlie’s Angels 3 2 0 1 26 7

2 Castle Dynamo 3 2 0 1 21 7

3 Loggerhead Turtles 3 1 1 1 6 6

4 Miss GiOS 3 0 1 2 -44 4

Under 17 Boys

POS TEAM P W D L P/D PTS

1 NMPP 6 2 3 1 25 13 2

Ryan’s Angels 5 2 2 0 16 11 3

Team GB 5 2 1 2 -6 9 4 Fish Around The

World 3 2 1 0 33 8 5 Team Magnets 5 0 1 4 -72 6

‘Castle Junior Teams in

Under 18s The under 18s National Championships all took place at an unusually early time in the season due to the introduction of the new Grand Prix competition which is designed to bring the top 8 teams together for a further competition in the second half of the season. Both the girls and boys A teams made it through to the last 8s, but had a tough time of it in Kettering.

The girls lost 2-0 v both Tameside and Boswells (who will now meet in the final... Tough group for the girls), and could not quite recover their confidence, losing 2-1 v Devon’s Academy of Beach Sports.

The boys group was an amazing one, with all teams winning matches. ‘Castle beat Ernest Bevin 2-1 before losing 2-1 v both Exeter and Boswells . A win against Exeter would have seen ‘Castle finish 2nd, a win against Boswells (who made it through to the final!)would have seen ‘Castle win the group... but it was not to be. February and March see the Grand Prix with the girls taking on Boswells, Wessex Leaf and Malory Eagles, whilst the boys face Boswells, Chadwell Heath, and Richmond (who enter the competition due to the withdrawal of Ernest Bevin).

UNDER 15s Girls... the A team came 6th place & the B team 7th in the West Midlands round. For a majority of them it was their first experience of playing against other teams. It was a great day building foundations with them for future play. Lots of learning......enjoyed by all girls. The girls played against Tettenhall, Redhill and Cleobury. Charlie Carter was team coach and headed up the A team with Rosie Barley as his assistant coach and Ant Viggars was head coach with the B team...Marie Barley as Team Manager for all girls teams. Boys....unfortunately only 3 teams turned up on the day after the boys and their Head Coach Keith Handy has been looking forward to playing lots of matches. With only 2 boys ‘in age group’ and the others all actually under 14s it was always going to be a challenging competition. The boys started slowly against Nuneaton serving poorly to lose 25-21, 25-14... Before then putting in a much better performances against Redhill who conceded only 20 points against Nuneaton. Sadly the ‘Castle boys defeat against Nuneaton cost them dearly as Redhill beat the, 25-10, 25-18 but Keith was much more pleased with their performance in the second game.

UNDER 16s The boys u16 B team made a good account of themselves in their 3 matches (v Riga, Nuneaton, Black Country) in round 1 and progressed to round 2... They could have topped the group if things had gone our way against eventual winners Riga. In round 2 they took on the A team, plus Marske, and Middlesbrough. That day the ‘A’ team, who lost in the National Final of the u15s last season, played some good volleyball winning every match 2-0 to qualify for the last 8s on Sunday 9th March at Kettering where they will take on Riga, Boswells (who they lost to in last year’s final) and Richmond (who they beat in last year’s semis) in a draw that seems Volleyball England have ignored the results from the u15s! Whilst the girls B Team did not make it past round 1, the A team were hopeful of challenging two powerful teams in Black Country and Ashfield and making the last 8s. Sadly though their opponents proved too strong on the day and the girls had to settle for a consolation win over Wirral and no place at last 8s.

National Competitions

Fixtures 2013-14 Season Details of the remaining NVL matches for our teams!

FEBRUARY 2014 15th: Men2 v Cambridge (a) NVL2N 16th: Ladies v Herts (a) NVL1 Men2 v Lboro Students (a) NVL2N

MARCH 2014 8th: Ladies v Bristol (a) NVL1 9th: Ladies v Devon (a) NVL1 Men1 v Birmingham (a) NVL1

22nd: Ladies v Devon (h) NVL1 Men2 v Sunderland City (h) NVL2N Men1 v London Knights (h) NVL1 23rd Ladies v Surrey (h) NVL1 Men2 v South Birmingham (a) NVL2N

29th: Ladies v Reading (h) NVL1 Men1 v Bristol (h) NVL1

APRIL 2014 5th: Ladies v South Birmingham (a) NVL1 Men2 v Wigan Seahawks (a) NVL2N Men1 v London Knights (a) NVL1

12th: Men2 v Nottingham Rockets (h) NVL2N Men1 v London Lynx2 (h) NVL1

SET LIKE A PRO Written by Lindsey Berg, US National Team setter (Originally published in VolleyballUSA, Winter 2009-10 issue)

Olympic silver medallist Lindsey Berg shares 10 tips that will help you become a leader on the court. Be a leader. A setter should be high energy. It’s important that you learn how to give positive, constructive criticism. It’s crucial that you make your teammates feel comfortable. You should never be the most silent player in the gym.

Be the hardest worker on the team. If there’s an opportunity to get more reps by setting during a passing drill or joining a defensive drill when an extra person is needed, do it.

Know your hitters and what sets they like to hit. Learn what motivates them and develop a good relationship with them. One good way to bond with your hitters is to let them know that you’re comfortable receiving feedback from them. Having them say something is always better than having them say nothing. You need to be mentally strong and able to accept criticism.

Keep your hands high. This is very important because the ball should be coming from the same position every time. Also, the blockers on the other side of the net will have a harder time reading where you are setting.

Make everyone around you better. This is always a goal of mine. I was once told after a game that I make the players around me better. From then on, I decided that I would make an effort to do that every day.

Set from a consistent body position and hand position so you can be deceptive. If you arch your back too much, the blockers will know you are setting back. And if you take the ball too far in front of you, the only place you can set is forward.

Have a good relationship with your coach since you are often looked at as the “coach on the floor.” Always respect your coaches and try to become comfortable talking to them. Ask a lot of questions. Voice opinions. Share ideas. Just be sure you talk. The more you talk, the more comfortable you will be.

Constantly work on your hands. You can never set too many balls, especially if you’re a beginning or intermediate setter. My sister and I used to set against the wall in our house all day long.

It’s rare that you’ll get a pass right to you, so work on your foot speed. You can practice your footwork anywhere, and you don’t even need a ball. Turn on some music, and start moving. Setting is all about rhythm.

Play as much as you can! Even if you’re not setting, just playing volleyball gives you a strong knowledge of the game and experience to build on. Growing up in Hawaii, my sister and I used to play in our back yard whenever we could, and we also played on the beach at the Outrigger Canoe Club. We’d compete against all the other kids on the “baby court.”

Castle The

Iain McKellar is challenging for court time in the 11th ranked University of Hawaii team this season.

Hawaii play in a highly competitive conference in the regular season against famous US Collegiate Volleyball names such as Pepperdine, UCLA, BYU, Stanford and USC.

Travelling thousands of miles to away matches is part and parcel for Iain as a member of the Rainbow Warriors squad!

Our very own Meg Viggars receives her all-freshman conference award

The Southern Illinois University volleyball team fell in three sets to Wichita State in the title match of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Salukis fell by scores of 20-25, 17-25,18-25. Wichita were finally ranked 38th in the NCAA standings and were knocked out of the NCAA final in r1... Southern Illinois had a final ranking of 105.

All-Freshman selection Meg Viggars ranks second on the team in kills having compiled 200 this season to average 1.83 per set. The Stoke-on-Trent, England native has also recorded 200 assists, 21 service aces and 317 digs this season. Viggars also ranks third on the team in block assists with 71. This marks the first time Southern Illinois has two players on the All-Freshman team.

In USA

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