The under 18 boys team of Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club travels to Castellana Grotte in southern Italy from the 9th – 11th September 2011 to take on the continent’s best sides in the Euro Volley Cup. This competition brings together the under 18 boys national champion club teams from across Europe in an exciting competition run over three days.

This is the second consecutive year that ‘Castle have represented England in this event and they go into the competition hoping to go better than in 2010 where they finished 8th, beating the champions of both Portugal and Albania along the way.

Team captain Rupert Scott, who has played for the club since the age of 11 and who is also England u19 captain said, “Last year it was incredible but also disappointing because we could have done better, but it was such a good experience. This year we are aiming to progress to finish in the final group stage and go for a medal.”

Fellow player for ‘Castle and England, and local lad James Goodwin commented, “Last year we lost a crucial match against the Turkish champions after coming to close to beating them. It was such an awesome opportunity for European glory. It hurt twice as much watching them in the final.”

The teams competing in the Euro Volley Cup 2011 are:
· Newcastle Staffs (England)
· Tirana U18 (Albania)
· ATC Trencin Cop (Slovakia)
· Delic- Pol Norwind (Poland)
· Materdomini Volley (Italy)
· Haok Mladost (Croatia)
· VICTORIA Moscow (Russia)
· Cuneo (Italy)