We are a fully inclusive club with approximately 50 members of varying age and ability. Our club is the first North-Eastern club to gain the English Volleyball Association (EVA) Accredited status. For more information see our web site www.nunthorpe.com or our club brochure.

We play at (but are not associated with) Nunthorpe School, Guisborough Road, Nunthorpe, TS7 0LA. Sessions, (twice weekly through most of the year during school terms although we do have some breaks for tournaments).

Thursdays 7:00 to 9:00 pm—there are normally two courts in use, one for the older or more experienced player, the other for young/less experienced.

Sundays 5:00 to 9:00 pm—the first hour is aimed at the less experienced player. After 6:00, during the league season, home matches are normally played. These are normally scheduled 6:00 to 7:30 and 7:30 to 9:00, the lower divisions playing first. If there are no home matches then training continues to around 7:00/7:30 pm.

Club Contact Details volleyball@nunthorpe.com

To celebrate the re-opening of the building after the fire and our 1st year birthday we would like to invite you to have piece of cake and a cuppa with us on Sat March 1st at 2pm. The day will be as follows:

10am-2pm: The usual classes will run with a special master class at 1pm (see below)*

2pm: Jody Gooding (GB No1 male) and Denise Johns (GB No1 female) to officially open the building followed by the cutting of the Yellowave birthday cake

2.15pm: Roedean Vs Preston Circus Fire Dept game [1st official game of the season]

*Jody Gooding and Denise Johns will be running a ‘Master Class’ from 1-2pm on March 1st for Intermediate-Advanced players. The cost is as per usual classes (?4) but booking is essential as there are limited places. If you would like to book your place then please book/pay at reception.

So get your toes in the sand and get fit for summer. We are getting busy already so book in any special court hire dates early.

The University of Birmingham has the following coaching courses scheduled for the coming year.

Volleyball England Level One Award
5th and 12th April 2008
14th and 15th June 2008

Volleyball England Level Two Award
23rd, 24th and 25th August 2008

A selection of 400 photos (from the 3,300 taken) at www.mcgugan.co.uk/volleyball

Sheffield Hallam far too strong for everyone else in the mens but OCD had a lots of close calls on their way in the womens.

Hi All, Just want to give you a bit of an update about our training and matches with Israel this past week.

After a rocky start on Monday against Israel we played a very solid match last night, losing 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 21-25, 20-25). Israel is a team , mainly, composed of former Bulgarian and Russia players. As a team they have a very powerful serve, block and attack which is complemented by solid passing and defense. Their attack is not complex but because of their coach, Aire Selenger, they play a very structured defensive and offensive system.

Blocking was very good and defense kept us in the match. GB rallied well during the match and spectators were enthusiastic because of the power and speed of the athletes. After winning the first set on a block by Jo Morgan, the second set was very close with us leading 20-18 before a stumble cost us a chance for a 2-0 lead.

The third set found us down early but a late rally brought us into the set. This set up for a challenging 4th set after 90+ minutes of play. It was close all the way but Israel's power took over in the end, in spike of our tenacity on the court. It was a well played match by both teams and should give us additional reasons to continue to improve.

Paula Scott led the attack and Maria Bertelli was 'hugh' in the defensive department. Jen Taylor had her best reception match of the year. It was a total team effort with substitutes contributing to our solid performance. Our blocking was the most improved skill with many rallies continuing because of us touching the ball, even though their height advantage was well seen.

During the 3 days we had 14 training sets + an additional 7 sets during the 2 official matches in Leeds and Tameside. This coming week we have testing, meetings and training before the break.

This months coaching note from GB Women's coach Lorne sawula, looks at the warm up period.

...Try to “think” how you can use balls within your warm up period to create extra contacts for your players. Physical warm up, without balls, may have some role in the early part of the season or when players are tired but you still can do many activities using the ball, especially if the time for training is short (under two hours/one or two training times per week). This is the beginning step for use of "control drills" in training...

Dela Martinus over turned their first leg away lose by winning 3:0 over Winiary Bakalland KALISZ at home and going through to the next round on away sets. The match was shown live on Eurosport and online at Laola.tv.

Five Italian teams qualify for last playoff round

Following the return matches of the 12-team playoff round in the Women’s and Men's Indesit European Champions’ League 2007/08, twelve teams, as well as the Final Four organizers Grupo 2002 MURCIA (women) and PGE SKRA BELCHATOW (men), remain in the race for the title of the Indesit European Champions’ League. The 6-team playoff round, taking place in the beginning of March, will decide the six teams to join Murcia and Belchatow in the Final Four.

Moments of happiness for Italian teams these days when not less than five (three women's, two men's) Italian teams secured their tickets for the last playoff spots in the race for the Indesit European Champions' League title 2007-08.

In the women's competition, Sirio PERUGIA confirmed their domination and objective to position themselves amongst the best four teams of the season. After a first set barely won 28-26 against Spar TENERIFE Marichal, Sirio PERUGIA finished the match with only one set lost. In Jesi, Vini Monteschiavo approved their high performance a week ago in Russia, outclassing Dinamo MOSCOW again 3 to 1. Russian head coach Zayko was not happy with the situation commenting that "my team was disadvantaged tonight because several of our players are still out with injuries or just coming back into the game" but also recognized that Vini Monteschiavo JESI was "highly focused and playing a strong offensive game". Jesi head coach Abbondanza was particularly pleased to have brought home this victory against a team that had played in the finals of the last Champions League Final Rounds. "A 3:1 is great, certainly not taken for granted; we played well, but we also went out on the court with the right attitude: we are enjoying this moment."

Asystel NOVARA took their playoff ticket with the win of set one in the duel against Eczacibasi Zentiva ISTANBUL. Thanks to a strong team performance, Eczacibasi managed to decide the encounter to their favor, but the hard facts were already determined before. Young Neriman (Istanbul) as well as Osmokrovic (Novara) were the best scorers of the day with 17 points.

Zarechie ODINTSOVO (3:1 victory against Farmutil PILA), Vol?ro Z?RICH (in straight sets versus RC Cannes) as well as Dela Martinus AMSTELVEEN (3:0 win over Winiary Bakalland KALISZ) are the other three teams qualifying for the 6-team playoffs.

In the men's competition, the return match between Copra PIACENZA and Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO promised to be exhilarating after a hardly disputed clash a week ago in Cuneo (3:2 in PIACENZA's favor). Thanks to an outstanding Hristo Zlatanov (MVP of the match), Copra PIACENZA also won the second duel between the two Italian top clubs, making it to the last playoff round. The third Italian team in the men's 12-team playoffs, Sisley TREVISO, made short work of their rivals from Portol Drac Palma MALLORCA, winning the series with a 6-0 set record.

VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (1:3 in Moscow), Panathinaikos ATHENS (2:3 against Knack Randstad ROESELARE), Dinamo-Tattransgaz KAZAN (2:3 versus JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel SA) as well as AS CANNES (tie-break victory against PARIS Volley) are the other happy teams qualifying for the last playoff round.

For results, pictures and further information on the Men’s and Women’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2007/08 please click here.

Back in July 2007
22 trucks loaded with sand from Dongfang City (Hainan Province) arrived Friday in Chaoyang Park in Beijing, the venue for the beach volleyball competitions of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The sand was first shipped to Tianjin Harbor by sea; some 10,000 tons will be arriving in Beijing in four days. The sand will cover the 20,000 sq m-ground to be used for the 2007 FIVB Beach Volleyball Women's Challenger in August 2007.

We are all aware of the "Official Team" photo, that's the one required for team, club and event sponsors etc, then we have the traditional funny photo, where everyone can messes around in (not always suitable for publication).

Then we have the really clever structured team photo, this is where team organisation and a bit of planning can really show why the team is a cut above the rest.

Two more stamps from our collection of 23 volleyball stamps from around the world, an excellent example of period art work and past volleyball events. More stamps in the next issue...