For the fourth successive year Newcastle (Staffs) VC hosted the West Midlands "Let's Play Volleyball" Festival and with 55 junior teams entered it was around twice the size of any previous edition of the event, seeing 223 players in action on 15 courts. Perhaps the best evidence of this was the sale of more burgers in a 75 minute period than there had been throughout the whole day in 2009! Teams were attracted from the event from across the West Midlands, East Midlands, North West and as far afield as the North East, with competitions at under 11, 13, 15 and 17.
Under 11s
This 2v2 event was split into two halves, with Premier and 'Come and Play' Divisions on offer. Tameside beat teams from Thelwall and Tettenhall in a great competition, whilst local teams took to the court for one of their first volleyball experiences under the coaching of local Community Development Coach Ant Viggars.
Under 13s
Entries for the girls event were phenomenal, requiring a Premier Division of 10 teams and Division 1 of 8 teams. The 3v3 competition was fast and furious with Tameside A beating Tamesdie B in the Premier Dvision final, and Tameside D beating Haughton the Division 1 final.
The boys event was equally competitive as 9 teams took to the court to battle it out. After a close group phase the semi finals saw NSVC Madeley A play NSVC Madeley B, and Redhill A play Redhill B. The NSVC Madeley B team upset the odds to first win the semi and then the final against Redhill A!
Under 15s
The girls competition was one large league of 7 teams, meaning a total of 21 matches to be played and it was 5pm by the time the last of these was finished to allow NSVC Painsley to be crowned the winners and Tameside in 2nd place.
The boys event was dominated by teams playing on home turf and once NSVC Painsley had beaten NSVC Madeley B in the final group 2 match the final was confirmed as NSVC Painsley v NSVC Madeley 1. It was the power of NSVC Madeley that won out 25-17, 25-17 in an excellent final.
under 17s
The girls competition was sadly cancelled in the week before the event due to the organisation of England Central girls training, but the lads were out in force as a variety of home town teams played some entertaining volleyball.
The event was a great success and Newcastle (Staffs) VC hopes to host this event again in 2011 with further improvements and growth, so watch this space!
Entries came from: Redhill (WM), Tettenhall (WM), Ashfield Vipers (EM), Wirral (NW), Birchwood (NW), Thelwall (NW), Tameside (NW), Bolton (NW), Haughton (NE) and from four satellites of the host club.
