‘Castle News Numbers 80-81I April-May 2013

Contents: 3 – 33 years on committee! 4 – u15 Boys National Finalists 5 - Let’s Play Volleyball Festival 6-8 – ‘Castle News updates 9– End of Season Celebration 10 – The Game Conductor 11 – Sportset 12 – Social Volleyball 13 – 100 things a volleyball player should know 14 – Coaching Edge 15 – Castle Shop

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

Castle News, no.80-81 Apr-May ‘13

Welcome from the Chair “Much achieved, and much to look forward to. That could be said in every issue of ‘Castle News. This one is no different, so congratulations to the U/15 Boys Squad for reaching the National Final; to Will Roberts for completing the Potters ‘Arf and fund raising in ‘Castle colours; and to all who continue to work to make this a “great little club”. Enjoy the summer tournaments, including our LPV on the 15th June……and look forward to the challenges of next season!!”

Colin Roberts Club Chair

THIRTY-THREE YEARS... AND CHAMBERLAIN Writing about thirty-three years on the ‘Castle Committee, the past twenty-five as Chairman, would require a book, and include plenty of horror stories – and lots of fun………but a few lines will be sufficient for now.

The recent widely acclaimed goal scored by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, against Brazil, took me back to 1984 and beyond, when his father Mark played for England in the same stadium……………and for Hexagon Volleyball Club, 1977 – 1980, here in North Staffordshire. The Club was formed to provide volleyball for some ex-pupils from a school where I had been Head of P.E. Mark, and brother Neville, were playing for Port Vale at the time, and loved to train and play matches in the West Midlands League, for Hexagon, alongside their former school friends. That is, until one famous match, in the National Cup, when Hexagon beat a Liverpool team in a five set thriller, too well reported in the Evening Sentinel!! The Port Vale manager was not amused, no doubt realising the talent(and potential cash) that the two brothers provided for the Vale. This proved to be their last game………well, that’s the official story. Neville took on the role of secretary, and younger brother Mark also retained an active(!) role in the club, until they both joined Stoke City. Mark later moved on to Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth, both ‘top’ clubs at the time, and in later years was coaching at Southampton, where son Alex gained his first experience of professional football.

All this was in the lead up to the formation of ‘Castle, which brought together all the young talent of Hexagon, and two schools, Edward Orme and Marshlands, in 1980.

Thirty-three years later, having played home matches at Marshlands, Crewe, Keele Old Sports Hall, South Moorlands Leisure Centre, Fenton, Dimensions, Keele New Sports Centre, and Madeley High...thirty-three years later, having had significant sponsorship from Newcastle Borough Council, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and much private support…thirty-three years later, having enjoyed watching some great talents turn out for ‘Castle, and some with ‘legend status’(but less talent!)…’CASTLE IS STRONGER THAN EVER.

As I step aside as Chairman, I know that the Club is in good hands. Giving youngsters the opportunity to play the game has always been the main aim, backed by a ‘can-do’ approach, which has set the bar high, leading to countless individual and team successes. Sustainability has been an ever present desire, never holding back progress, but realistically, seeing ‘Castle take steps to survive and then succeed, and be seen in the volleyball world as a model to follow…unlike many clubs that disappeared over those years.

STRONGER THAN EVER. Yes, so much evidence of this, not currently in National Titles, but in the number of men, ladies, boys and girls playing the game at National, Local and Social levels. The future is bright, exciting and challenging. If you read this, and are not already ‘on board’, grab a place now…but never, ever, allow yourself to be on the committee for 33 years!!

Thanks to all who read this who have made my thirty-three years so memorable. Colin Roberts Past Chair ‘Castle

U15 Boys Road to the National Final

This season’s under 15 boys championships was a turbulent one for our lads, but one that almost ended in glory as they reached the National Cup Final itself before falling at the final hurdle to our great rivals Boswells. All of the boys involved in our u15 age group this season should take great credit for the time, energy and commitment that they showed to the cause, an accolade that definitely extends beyond the 12 players that travelled as the squad for the final 6s tournament.

The boys upped their training intensity for the final weeks leading into the Divisional and National rounds to train 3 times per week under the guidance of a range of coaches – with Sam Allen, Rod Stockwell and Phil Smith particularly stepping up to help them make final improvements. Some of the players made huge strides of improvement in this period and are now very exciting prospects for the forthcoming seasons!

Despite snow delays to previous rounds the boys retained their focus on making the finals, and the ‘A’ became the 10th successive ‘Castle boys team to win the Midlands/West Midlands round – 10 in a row – what an achievement for the club over a decade since 2004! The weather delays meant that the boys would play 2 rounds of matches within 7 days in May, a great chance for them to play 8 matches of competitive volleyball.

At the Divisional Championships they won their first match easily but then lost a tight 3 setter in the decider 17-15 vs Norwich Spikers. This meant they finished 2nd in the group and would play against Redhill in the semis – a Redhill team they had beaten in the West Midlands Round, but who had themselves beaten Boswells! Castle upped their game though and beat their rivals to make the final of the Central Championships where they would lose to Boswells. the top 2 teams qualified for the National finals though and the following Saturday the team travelled once again to Kettering.

At the Nationals their first match was against Ernest Bevin, who ‘Castle swept aside 2-0 25-8, 25-20 before then beating Harrogate 2-0 also in convincing style. In the semis ‘Castle faced Richmond who are heavily strengthened by the son of their Spanish coach. This match was as close as it gets and ‘Castle lost the first set 25-23 before winning the 2nd by the same scoreline. In the decider ‘Castle were 13-10 down before fighting back to take it 16-14! This match clearly drained ‘Castle who then faced Boswells in the final – it was a game too far and they went down 25-18, 25-21 – but the boys should take great pride in finishing 2nd in the entire country!

VENUE: Madeley High School Newcastle Road Madeley Newcastle-under-Lyme CW3 9JJ

DETAILS: - Arrive 10am for 10.30am start - Courts will be outdoors, with limited indoor space if inclement weather - Refreshments on sale - Considerable parking available on site - Teams and coaches are expected to assist with refereeing

Let’s Play Volleyball Festival Saturday 15th June 2013

Madeley High School, hosted by Newcastle (Staffs) VC

COMPETITIONS: -Each category will have competitions for boys and for girls in the below events - All categories will be split based upon level/experience of play – please indicate whether players are novice or experienced on entry information - 3 v 3 (year 8 and below/under 13) - £5.00 per team - 4 v 4 (year 10 and below/under 15) - £7.00 per team - 6 v 6 (year 12 and below/under 17) - £9.00 per team

ENTRIES: -Please enter early to avoid disappointment. Organisers will confirm all entries a week prior to the event (hence entry deadline!) - Entries must be accompanied by payment (only refunded if event is cancelled) - Clearly indicate the number of entries per category and level of play - Cheques should be payable to “Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club” - Deadline for entry is Friday 7th June 2013

SUBMIT ENTRIES TO: Rachel Viggars Let’s Play Volleyball Festival Entries 141 St George’s Avenue North Wolstanton Newcastle-under-Lyme ST5 8DH

www.nsvc.co.uk Twitter: @CastleVb @NorthStaffsVb

‘Castle Juniors representing England! Tom Carter and Rosie Barley were recently representing the England Cadets at the ‘World Youth Games’ in London. This invitational competition takes place each year hosted by Ernest Bevin College in London and often sees junior club and regional teams from abroad enter. This year’s event was no different in that regard and there were club teams from continental Europe taking part. The tournament was very special for the two ‘Castle players involved – Tom got his first points on court in an England shirt, and Rosie was confirmed as the new captain of the England Cadets – great recognition of the extent to which she has progressed as a player this year and is showing increasing maturity and leadership qualities on court!

Well to both Tom and Rosie, we look forward to hearing of your progress!

Fireman Smithy leads his team to silver Former Men’s first team captain & veteran of the famous team that made two cup finals and finished second in the NVL on more than one Occasion, Phil Smith, led the Fire Service to the silver medal in the recent UK Combined Services Championships in London. Since retiring from the NVL Phil has continued to play in this event as well as for ‘Castle in summer tournaments and this year in the North Staffs Local League . The combined services championships sees each of the armed forces come up against the police service, fire service etc, and is a keenly fought competition each year. Competitive as ever, Phil has vowed that the fire-fighters will take gold in 2014!

London International Beach Vb cancelled The planned FIVB event to be held in London this August has been cancelled. Volleyball England needed to raise £500,000 to stage the event, but fell £350,000 short of their target, despite aiming to host at the SCORE in Waltham Forest to reduce costs. The World Tour event failed to meet the criteria for support set out by UK Sport, even though they are committed to investing £27m into their "Gold Event Series" which aims to bring 70 major tournaments to Britain between now and 2019. "We've lost the opportunity to capitalise on London 2012," Richard Callicott, President of Volleyball England, told BBC Sport, but more positively he went on to say, "Work has already started on 2014 and the FIVB are very supportive because they recognise how hard we've worked to make it happen."

Will completes the Potters ‘Arf for ‘Castle! On Sunday 9th June Men’s 1st team captain Will Roberts ran the Potters ‘Arf Marathon to raise funds for the club. Sadly no other club members took up the challenge that was laid down in the previous edition of ‘Castle News to enter a relay team (as the men’s first team did in 2011) so Will ran alone! It was a warm day as this photo indicates and after the arrival of Will’s second child Jacob only 18 days earlier his training was limited, but he managed to complete a new personal best time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 9 seconds. Former ‘Castle Juniors Eddie Foulkes (u15 and u16 National Champion in 2004 and 2005 respectively, and now a top Rugby League player), Chris Deakin and Andy Ridgeway all also ran along with Roo Scott – for the charity CRY. Eddie and Chris ran particuarly well and got excellent times of 1 hour 35 and 1 hour 38 respectively! Well done lads! Will’s efforts have raised nearly £200 for club funds, so a big “THANK YOU” to everyone that sponsored him, and its not too late – if you’d like to give some sponsorship post event please drop Will an email on willroberts1981@hotmail.com

Beach Vb courts popping up around the country Volleyball England’s investment in building inland beach volleyball courts appears to be paying great dividends as more and more areas are able to have their own chance to play the great summer version of the sport we love! As the picture on the right show there are courts in Loughborough, St Albans, Kettering, Crystal Palace, Shoreditch and Wimbledon... amongst other venues.

That said, there has not been any court building in the landlocked region of the West Midlands!!! Or in the North West either, so at present our best chance in to drive the 53 miles from Newcastle to Loughborough to play on the sand... This needs to change! What do we need to do to get some beach courts in our region or preferably in North Staffordshire so that the growing local volleyball community can take advantage and introduce more people to our great sport.

North Staffs League Annual General Meeting The AGM of the North Staffs Volleyball League will take place at Madeley High School, 3pm on Saturday 15th June – all teams are requested to attend this meeting. Both league secretary positions will be up for election of new officers at this meeting, and the format of the 2013-14 league will be confirmed - with changes based upon feedback received throughout the season. Entry details for the 2013-14 season will be circulated and published in July.

Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club

END OF SEASON CELEBRATION NIGHT!

Venue: Newcastle (Staffs) Rugby Union Club, Lilleshall Road, Newcastle, ST5 3BX

Prices: £5 for individuals £15 family ticket (2 adults, 2 u16s)

All proceeds go towards the costs of the night and are invested back into the club

Saturday 29th June 7pm-11.30pm

Food, Awards, Raffle, DJ!!

Includes the presentation of the local league trophies

For tickets contact your coach Don’t

miss out!

The Awards: (to be presented from 8pm) PLAYERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Ladies - Men 1 - Men 2

JUNIOR MEMBER OF THE YEAR - Girls - Boys

COACHES CHOICE – PLAYER OF THE YEAR -Ladies - Men 1 - Men 2 - Social - u18 girls - u18 boys - u16 girls - u16 boys - u15 girls - u15 boys

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER OF THE YEAR -Ladies - Men 1 - Men 2 - Social - u18 girls - u18 boys - u16 girls - u16 boys - u15 girls - u15 boys

Setting – “The Game Conductor” Mark Lebedew, taken from www.volleywood.net, see more from Mark on his blog at

http://markleb1.wordpress.com

At ‘Castle we have a great record in producing and supporting the development of some of the country’s great setter of the past 30 years. Clearly there isn’t anything special in the water that comes out of the taps in North Staffordshire, but somehow we have had a hand in some of the best. This article was written for a blog and first published on the famous Volleywood website – it is written by Mark Lebedew, a coach at the top level - the Olympics, World League and World Championships as well as many seasons in pro-vball. “The setter in volleyball is a somewhat mythical creature. He has always been considered the key to success and is often imbued with qualities which are cloaked in mystery. If you ask a volleyball coach what are the most important qualities for a middle blocker or an opposite, you will receive a reasonably short list of technical qualities and perhaps one or two simple personal qualities. If you ask the same question about a setter, you will more than likely start a rambling discussion that will begin with a couple of technical qualities and will quickly descent into unprovable generalities. These conversations can be maddening. I once asked a ‘specialist’ setting coach what was the most important quality with which one could identify a future setter. He told me the most important quality was that the player ‘want to be a setter’. When I proposed to him such a candidate, he replied ‘he is not a setter’. He was unable (or more likely unwilling) to explain why. Another time, I asked a different coach why one setter was chosen over another: ‘He has a setter’s face’. Sometimes I am rendered speechless. Setters must make good ‘choices’. What is a good ‘choice’? Is setting the best spiker against a triple block better or worse than setting the worst spiker against no block? One professional (multiple championship winning) coach (He also maintained that choosing which spiker to set was much too important for the setter to be allowed to decide. And that women were not physically strong enough to jump set. Anyway…) once told me there were two kinds of sets; ones that led to points and ones that don’t. The first kind are good sets, the second kind are bad sets. If the best spiker scores against a triple block, it was a good ‘choice’ to set the best spiker. If he doesn’t it was a bad ‘choice’ to set into the obvious triple block. In actual fact, both were exactly the same choice. (Needless to say, setters must also have a thick skin and be a little bit crazy). Setters should be ‘creative’. What is ‘creative’? Setting a first tempo attack from the 3m line isn’t creative. Setting the longest possible set isn’t creative. Having spikers change position along the net isn’t creative. Those situations are difficult and risky but difficult and risky is not creative. Perhaps they are also unexpected. Is unexpected the same as creative? I would propose not. I have thought a lot about setting in the couple of years, and written about it multiple times. I was thinking about it again last week. The technical qualities are mostly clear (precision, consistency, etc etc) but as I often say, setting and being a setter are not the same thing. The analogy currently going through my head is that of an orchestra conductor. The conductor must have a deep understanding, both of the whole score and also of the underlying individual components. His job is to know exactly when and how to introduce and to emphasise each individual to optimise the performance of the orchestra as a whole. In the case of the conductor, the notes are already decided. What is important is the rhythm and the timing. The setter must have a deep understanding of the whole match (particularly the strategy), as well as all of the individual components (of his team and the opponent). His job is to set each individual in the right moment and right place in order to optimise the performance of the team. In the case of the setter, the techniques are fixed. What is important is the rhythm and the timing. As they say, the art lies in the spaces between the notes. So perhaps the setter is creative after all.

TOP ‘CASTLE SETTERS: • Richard Dobell • Meg Viggars • Paul Conlon • Tom Stevens • Sam Bragg • Jon Pennock • Sam Allen • Roo Scott • Alex Jenkins

100 Things Every Volleyball Player Should Know...

See www.volleyballmag.com for the full article! We’ve done a selection for ‘Castle News readers!

In May 2001, the editorial staff of Volleyball Magazine set out to put together a list of the 100 things volleyball players needed to know to be successful in the sport. Some are serious, some are ridiculous, and we certainly

wouldn't say we endorse all of them (we even felt the need to add a few updates, which you'll find in bold), but 12 years later, most are still undeniably true, even if we don't always like to admit it.

1. Practice like you want to play

2. When you’re playing defense or approaching to hit, remember that you have more time than you think.

3. Turn off your cell phone when you play.

4. Forget the last play and get ready for the next.

5. Serve the front court passer.

6. Know where the sidelines are.

7. Make sure you own any ball you kick in frustration.

8. Stay positive if you shank a pass into the bleachers. But don’t giggle.

9. Never tip a bad set

10. Never make the same mistake twice.

11. Keep your eyes open at all times.

12. Don’t act surprised when you roof somebody.

13. Look for an off-speed shot behind a three-person block.

14. Play with the attitude that every ball is coming to you.

15. If someone is struggling to pass your serve, stay on them.

16. Learn how to tape your own ankle.

17. Remember that the most expensive volleyball camp isn’t always the best.

18. Talk during the play, not between plays.

19. Maximize your strengths and attack your opponent’s weaknesses.

20. Serve in if you’re playing a weak team and go for it if you’re playing a strong team.

21. If you’re losing, make a change.

22. Never tip after you get blocked.

23. Always be stationary when you contact the ball.

24. Dump (tip) the ball when you’re thinking clearly, not when you’re confused.

25. Go beyond the ball with your arms when playing defense.

26. Always think: The next contact is the most important of my life.

27. Set the block with your feet; block the ball with your hands.

28. If you’re the setter, know who’s hitting and who the blockers are.

29. Understand that if you can’t pass at the highest level, you can’t play at the highest level.

30. Miss long on your serve rather than short.

31. Remember that teams usually win when they serve and hit in.

32. If you’re a setter, learn to set from anywhere to anywhere.

See the full list at www.volleymag.org

Get your essential ‘Castle clothing now – the club t-shirt... perfect for training and supporting your teams... only £15