Volleyball success for Kirklees
Kirklees teams dominated the finals when volleyball players from all over the region converged on York College for a mixed 4-aside volleyball
competition.
The event, organised by York Volleyball Club, was the Yorkshire leg of Volleyball England's Regional Grass Series 2008 - a series of outdoor summer tournaments, with the aim of raising the profile and encouraging participation in the sport.
The tournament format, mixed teams of 2 men and 2 women, is the same as the popular Bridlington Mixed Beach Volleyball Tournament, held last weekend. Over 90 teams attended the Bridlington tournament and Tim Godson, the York tournament organiser, expects that many of them will be back on Sunday.
"The emphasis of the York event is a friendly tournament, with everyone playing throughout the day. There will be a Plate competition for teams that don't qualify for the main draw. Staff from the Volleyball England national office in Loughborough will be on hand with useful information on developing clubs and the other services that Volleyball England offer."
Also taking place on Sunday is a junior event, a Let's Play Volleyball festival, aimed at future volleyball players, playing on smaller sized courts. There are different age categories, under 11's and under 12's playing 2-aside, under 14 boys and girls playing 3-a-side, through to under 16's boys and girls playing 6-aside. The Let's Play Volleyball event is a fun day out, with participation the main priority. Expert local coaches will be on hand to help out and valuable Volleyball England resources will be available to all teams taking part.
The tournament was a great success. Amazingly the weather was great (unlike the previous few days in York), with sunshine all day. We had 17 teams, from as far away as Kendal, Darlington and Scunthorpe. There were 5 teams from York, 3 from Wakefield, 2 from Leeds and 2 from Kirklees.
The main final was contested by 2 teams from Kirklees. Cave Dwellers (aka Boathouse VC, Dewsbury) beat their local rivals Hawks (of Cleckheaton).
But more importantly, all the teams played all day long. There was a separate Plate competition for the teams that didn't finish 1st or 2nd in the initial pool stages. The Plate winners were Haughton 1 (Darlington), beating the Mounties (York) in a close match.
The tournament was part of the Volleyball England Regional Grass Series 2008. Two members of the Volleyball England staff came up from Loughborough to help the event and to promote the Volleyball England Club Accreditation scheme - Volley 123. <http://www.volleyballengland.org/Clubs/index.php>
There was also a junior event, a Let's Play Volleyball Festival, running at the same time as the adult tournament, but playing on smaller sized courts. There were teams from York, Featherstone and Stokesley at under 16, under 14 and under 13 age groups.
We are already looking forwards to a bigger event in 2009.
For more photos go to the York Volleyball Club web site www.yorkvolleyball.org.uk