This weekend (25th April) the girls u16 and boys u18 teams of Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club were both in action at the Volleyball England National Cup Finals at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Whilst the girls were not able to defeat favourites Tameside (Manchester) to the title, the lads beat Wessex (Poole) to win the club's 20th National Title (out of 43 finals played in!).

For more see the forthcoming edition of 'Castle News

This weekend (16-18 April) the girls and boys teams of City of Stoke-on-Trent College were in action at the British Colleges Finals at Loughborough University. Many NSVC players featured in the squads, coached by Ant Viggars as part of the college's Talent Athlete Programme and were part of a performance that placed the college as Britain's number 1 with the girls winning the title and the boys losing out in the final.

Over Easter weekend Alex Liebeck, Sam Shenton, Stewart Ross and Chris Ashton will travel to Italy in the England Cadets squad taking part in the Bussinello Trophy tournament, 1st - 4th April.

England have been drawn in Group A with SdP Anderlini Trenkwalder VC (Italy), Selection Cote d'Azur VC (France) and Vfb Friedrichshafen VC (Germany). In total there are sixteen teams entered into the tournament from across Europe, all taking part across the two days of competition.

Good luck lads!

Today, Tuesday the 30th March the selections for the West Midlands regional squads have been confirmed and there is good news for Newcastle (Staffs) VC players in all four squads:
- under 14 girls - Hannah Kettle
- under 16 girls - Jen Bellamy, Ruth Gurgul, Sophie Plant, Harriet Roberts, Jess Roberts, Emma Shelley-Hitchen, Lizzie Stuart
- under 15 boys - Cameron Rhodes, Chris Ashton, James Chadwick, Jordan Adelburgh, Richard James
- under 17 boys - Roo Scott, James Goodwin, Alex Liebeck, Will Roberts, Sam Shenton, Kacper Stefanowicz, Michal Hawiar

The Newcastle (Staffs) Volleyball Club Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 7pm at Newcastle Community High School in the Westlands of Newcastle.

The digital strategy of Newcastle (Staffs) VC moved a step closer to be fully up and running with the launch of its' Wikipedia page. Following on from 'Castle News, www.nsvc.co.uk, our Facebook pages and www.youtube.com/user/NSVC1 the Wikipedia page further increases the profile of the club and will ultimately become a great historical record of the club.

Check it out at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_(Staffs)_Volleyball_Club

On a dramatic weekend for NSVC teams, the club has two National Cup Finals to look forward to, and has an impressive record of having featured in at least the semi-finals of national competitions at u16, u18 and senior levels with both the female and male sides of the club this season!

Hundreds of photos from all of the weekend's matches can be found via the Volleyball England Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/VolleyballEngland?ref=ts (all photos courtesy of Jon McGugan) and 'Castle specific content will soon appear on our own YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/NSVC1

This weekend (23rd and 24th January) 'Castle's junior players again took to the court in style showing tremendous form for the second successive weekend. After the u16 girls and u18 boys qualified for the Top 8s weekend without dropping a set, this time it was the turn of the u16 boys.

On the 27th and 28th March at Port Hill Park Cricket Club there is the opportunity for all young people aged 14-35 to get thier heart checked out, FREE OF CHARGE. Every week in the UK at least 12 'fit and healthy' young people die of heart conditions.

Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) recommends that all first-degree relatives should be referred by their GP to a specialist cardiologist where there have been other young sudden deaths in the family or when a young person is experiencing the following symptoms:
- chest pain (exercise-related)
- breathlessness
- palpitations
- dizziness

Today, Sunday 10th January 'Castle launched its own TV Channel through YouTube. To check it out and the videos on there so far go to http://www.youtube.com/user/NSVC1