‘Castle News Number 65 I January 2012

Contents: 3 – Castle Shop 4-7 – Castle News updates 8 – under 16 girls 9 – Let’s Play Volleyball 2012 10-11 – under 16 boys 12-13 – under 18 girls 14 – Sportset 15-16 – under 18 boys 17 – Social Volleyball

Welcome from the Chair January is traditionally one of the most manic months of the year with the junior teams in action along with the NVL and poor weather. The start of this Olympic year has been no different with no fewer than 10 Castle teams in action, and ‘Castle players representing their country in all national teams that had matches. Well done to all involved! Colin Roberts Club Chair

‘Castle players in England Senior Action

In early January the two England Senior Development Squads went to Luxembourg to play in the Novotel Cup. The women won all of their matches, and with both Meg Viggars (wearing the famous Viggars number 3 shirt) and Paige Nelmes in the squad this was also a great success for ‘Castle! The men had a really tough tournament and seemed destined for disappointment as they let slip a number of winning opportunities to lose each of their games. Former ‘Castle player Sam Bragg was the first choice setter and fantastically, just 3 years after taking up the sport Adam ‘Bradders’ Bradbury was in the squad for the first time, but sadly did not get a cap.

Meg makes Malory move to keep Olympic Dreams alive

Just before the closing of the transfer window on the 31st January,

‘Castle’s Meg Viggars transferred to London Malory Eagles in a bid to keep her dreams of playing in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Meg, who has just turned 18 had hoped to be playing pro in Holland this season but that deal fell through due to FIVB rules on players under 18, so the move to play in the Super 8s was the only option available. Good luck for the rest of the season Meg, we look forward to seeing you in a Castle shirt in the under 18s!

Volleywood – Top Volleyball

site Over the past few months a new volleyball website has grown in prominence giving great insight into the players who are at the top of the game and the nest stories from the big leagues and international teams from around the world. www.volleywood.net is the site and you can follow them on facebook and twitter too – just search for them. They have recently done an in-depth interview with GB women’s setter Lucy Wicks and are definitely worth adding to your favourite sites

‘Castle lads do England Proud – but squad overshadowed by Goody selection controversy

When the England Junior Squad for the qualifying round of the European Championships there were a total of 7 ‘Castle lads past and present in the squad: Roo Scott who was captain, Ryan Heath who got the libero jersey ahead of Chris Frost who is playing pro in France! Stew Ross, Iain McKellar, Alex Jenkins, Sam Shenton, James Goodwin and Jermaine Miles who is playing u18s for ‘Castle this season.

But then, out of the blue it became apparent that Volleyball England had filled in the paperwork incorrectly and James Goodwin has not been put on the right list! This meant that just 36 hours before the plane left for Bosnia, Roo Scott was asked to go to his lifelong friend’s house to collect his kit for someone else to wear! This scandalous treatment is something that Volleyball England should be ashamed of and the volleyball public awaits any open acknowledgment of this having happened.

Unfortunately for the team they were unable to secure any wins in Bosnia, losing 3-1 to Lithuania, 3-2 against the hosts (in a games they should have won 3-1) and 3-0 against Sweden.

Half-term Young Leaders Award If you are year 9 or above and are interested in helping out with junior coaching in the future, there will be a course running at Madeley High during Feb half-term. A session will take place on Monday 13th between 9 – 1pm. This will then be followed up with some coaching of year 7s on a Friday evening. Participants will be given a certificate and award pack on completion. Anyone interested please contact Ant Viggars.

Coach in profile Sadly there is no coach in profile feature in Castle News this month – as none of the remaining coaches have sent through their questionnaires!! Come on chaps pull your fingers out – your stories are inspirational to the ‘Castle membership!!

New Volleyball England website is launched! This month saw the launch of the new Volleyball England website – and what a significant change it is! Much more attractive and appealing to the eye there are also a number of really cool features that are worth any volleyball fan checking out. From our perspective the only negative is the fact it seems not to be have designed with much consideration of smartphone use, so the traditional post-match scouring of the NVL results and tables won’t be any easier!

Under 16 Girls Fall Short in Round 2

Castle U16 girls team bowed out of the National Championships at the round 2 stage, hosted by reigning champs Tameside.

Having been drawn in an extremely difficult group, the team perhaps started the days play aware that a 3rd place finish would be a realistic achievement. To their credit this was achieved with a battling 2-1 victory against Tettenhall, a team who had previously beaten them in Round 1. Year 9, Rosie Barley showed great confidence for her age and captain Claire Hemmingway gave her usual 100%. Despite an obvious improvement over recent weeks by the team, Redhill and Tameside proved too strong an opponent for the Castle girls.

The group was won by Redhill with a fine display of attacking volleyball to overcome the ever organised Tameside. These two teams will now be amongst the favourites to play in the overall final in April. Castle MVP – Sophie Key

Final Places: 1.Redhill 2.Tameside 3.Newcastle (Staffs ) 4.Tettenhall

Under 16 safely through to Last 8s Saturday 21st January saw the under 16 boys A and B in 2nd round action in the National Championships. It was another strange draw by the national organisers that saw another Castle B team given a bye in round 1, which meant less match practice for the younger players who made up the B team. The opponents on the day were the highly fancied Nottingham Rockets, and a very young looking Middlesbrough/Acklam team. First up it was A against B, as per the rules of national competitions any match between teams from the same club have to be played first. The A team were straight into their stride and Dan Arme and Rich James were immediately swinging through 4 with confidence and power. As the first set went on Will Richardson started to attack powerfully through the middle and setter Rob Bellamy started to connect better with Will Beacon playing in the opposite role. The B team though were digging in and year 9s Matt Smith and Peter Drijfhout seemed to be playing with no fear and just going for it! With the leadership of the never say die Kieran Bedford the B team started to scrap harder and harder for the ball and ended up frustrating the A team into a number of errors throughout the match, however it was a comfortable 2-0 win for the A team.

Middlesbrough were running slightly late so the organisers tweaked the running order to match up Castle B and Nottingham Rockets next. Rockets have drawn together a number of local l ads from Nottingham as well as from further afield into Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, and have a team that could certainly make at least the semis at the last 8s with more training.

The height, power and overall physical presence of the Rockets players was just too much for Castle B despite strong performances from Connor Grimes, Jack Richardson and Jonny Denfy. However, the scoreline was an improvement for ‘Castle B who took Rockets to the mid-teens and did themselves proud.

The next two matches saw the top two sides in the group take on the young Middlesbrough side. The north east side were not helped when their main attacking threat rolled his ankle in the warm-up and was not fully mobile for the rest of the day. Castle A played a perfect game, serving tough and with minimal errors, and using the ball whenever they got the chance to. This meant that both Doug Ross and Izaak Bourne got some good opportunities through the middle, as did Will Richardson who scored some big spikes! Both Castle A and Rockets dispatched Middlesbrough 2-0, but Rockets showed glimpses of a crack in their armour as they suffered losses of concentration in both sets to concede runs of points.

So for the big showdown between Castle A and Rockets – both teams had qualified and this was a clash for who got top spot. Castle played a dominant performance in the first set and setter Rob Bellamy was really pulling the strings well to release both Rich James and Dan Arme on the back court pipe to really disrupt the Rockets block. Castle A took the set relatively comfortably but came out of the blocks slowly in the 2nd set allowing Rockets to take a big lead. With the England Cadets setter and passer-hitter as well as a decent opposite and 2nd passer-hitter Rockets have a good unit and despite some great ‘Castle battling they took the set 26-24. The decider was tense and tight, but ‘Castle stepped up their game with Dan Arme and Doug Ross particularly superb in defence. As the set went on it increasingly became clear that ‘Castle were going to take it, and they did – to claim top spot!

The final game of the day saw Middlesbrough beat Castle B in a very close game. The B team just ran out of steam in what for many players had been their first taste of 6v6 volleyball.

Final places 1- Castle A 2- Nottingham Rockets 3- Middlesbrough/Acklam 4- Castle B

Under 18 Girls Cruise into Last 8s

The round 2 group consisted of ‘Castle A and B teams, along with Black Country A and B teams (made up of players from Redhill and Tettenhall Clubs). This was an interesting draw by the organisers at this stage of the competition, as the two clubs had clashed in last years final. Castle ‘B’ consisting of the U16 team plus Amy Bradbury, continued to show remarkable progress despite ending the day winless. Year 10 Chloe Morris (hitter) and Hannah Kettle (libero) both enjoyed good performances. Kate Valentine (setter) distributed the ball well and Ellie Beeston was back on form hitting the ball from high. But it was Amy Bradbury who really impressed – the year 13 student who has only been playing the sport for a couple of years led the young team from the front and showed everyone what massive potential she has.

Club spirit – the ‘A’ team cheer on the ‘B’ team!

In the crunch game at the end of the day between the ‘A’ teams reigning champs ‘Castle remained composed to see of the spirited Black Country challenge 2-0. Jodie Amor in particular excelled, competing against several of her England Cadet teammates. Ruth Gurgul also had a good day, causing big problems with her serve and libero Harriet Roberts led the defence well. Castle looked sharp after their trip to Holland over Christmas, and will be a team to be avoided at the Last 8s Castle MVP’s: B - Amy Bradbury A – Jodie Amor Final Placings 1. Newcastle Staffs ‘A’ 2. 2.Black Country ‘A’ 3. 3.Black Country ‘B’ 4. 4.Newcastle Staffs ‘B’

It was a fresh start to a Sunday morning at Madeley Sports Hall. The Castle players began to arrive for the culmination of a weekend of National League matches and National junior competition. The first match pitted the A Team against the B Team.

On paper the younger, inexperienced B Team had their work cut out to make an impression against the A Team which had a mixture of Castle players some on full time programmes at the National Academy, and all of them having represented their country at some level, and all but one playing in the National League. The first few points were traded between both teams, with some great defensive play coming from the B Team. The A team didn't take much time to get into a basic rhythm forcing their height and strength advantages home with powerful hitting from Shenton and Miles. This combined with the well formed tall block of Shenton, McKellar and Miles, and the ability of all players to follow their given tactical instructions from the service line proved to become the pattern for the rest of the A Team's games of the day. These factors forced the B Team attackers James, Arme, Thompson, Beacon, Bourne and Donaldson, to loop the ball over the top, not giving the A Team defensive unit many problems. The A Team eventually closed out the set 25 - 10, disappointed not to keep the B Team in single figures.

The second set saw the replacement of Stefanowicz by Ashton, who both had a very steady match, but had the same outcome and score as the first, with other steady performances from setter Adelburgh, Chadwick through the middle, and Francis providing a stable, accurate pass in the Librero role. Tynedale and DNA Academy arrived during the first match, and with one of the Tynedale players ducking to enter the Sports Hall, there was anticipation to see them both play. Their match was a little bit of an anti-climax with DNA Academy proving the more experienced, and stronger side, emerging as 2 - 0 victors against an inexperienced but enthusiastic Tynedale.

Under 18 Boys into Last 8s

The Castle A Team then took on Tyndale. Again following their plan from the service line, and with better distribution from setter Adelburgh keeping the Tynedale block guessing, all of the A Team attackers managing to ground the ball, with both middle players getting the better of the 6ft 9in Tynedale middle player in both the attack and the block. The first set quickly disappeared 25 - 11, and with the A Team firmly on top, and wanting to make an impression, McKellar having an 8 point service run, the second set was over even more quickly with their opponents only managing to amass 4 points. The B Team then took to the court against DNA Academy. On the form displayed so far, the younger B Team shouldn't have proved too much problem for the visitors, but solid displays from opposite player Arme, setter Rhodes, and James meant that the visitors didn't have everything their own way. However, the B Team couldn't play consistently enough to maintain the pressure they were exerting at times during the match, and eventually succumbed 2 - 0. This consistency issue was to be integral for both teams in the next match, seeing the B Team take on Tynedale. This was to be a close fought tussle between 2 sides that both wanted to register their first victory. In a tight fought first set, the visitors just managed to edge the win, despite some stalwart defence from the B Team. Set 2 saw the same pattern of play emerge with both teams trying to edge the win, but this time Castle proved to have the greater desire and forced the match into a deciding set. This deciding set saw Castle unable to find the same grit and determination that they had done to force it, and disappointingly the mixture of U-15, U-16, and U-18 players couldn't perform well enough, losing the match 2 - 1. The final match of the day against DNA Academy could have proved to be a banana skin for the A Team to slip up on. With all of the A Team players having played 2 games during the day, and at least 3 sets of National League volleyball the previous day, fatigue could be a factor. The first set, however, allayed any fears with Castle firmly in control and playing well within themselves to run out winners against the best opposition of the day. The beginning of the second set didn't quite go to plan with DNA Academy taking an early lead through some consistent, tough serving that saw Castle unable to get regular, effective attacks away. DNA Academy maintained their service pressure, and after trading points in the middle of the set, a couple of kill blocks and some extremely classy and hard hitting from Miles, Shenton, and McKellar saw Castle regroup, and again take control of the plays. They had a lot of work still to do, but their class showed through against a DNA Academy side that wanted to take a scalp. The more experienced players were able to come from behind and give a solid, almost professional performance to win the match 2 – 0.