Sharks continue to win in their own style 24th January 2012

The New Year saw the Sharks return after having consumed a little bit too much turkey and Xmas Pud and it showed in the first set of the Home fixture to Dolphins 2.

The Sharks were left the set with an empty feeling of being stuffed like the Xmas Turkey. Excuses were made and a plan put in place. A different Sharks emerged onto the court and dominated the next two sets, taking the lead 2-1.

Then as with all good meals we relaxed and began to doze as if the Queens speech was on TV. Dolphins came back to level the match at 2-2 and it went to the deciding set which Sharks finally won.

Sharks travelled to Adur Panthers with the magnificent 7 of Paul, Baz, Nigel, Jon, Jan, Rich and Tim (having just landed from a weeks skiing holiday).

The match started well with Sharks taking the lead in the first set with great hitting through Jon and Baz. The Sharks kept their form and easily took the first set. The second set followed suit and the sharks were looking for a 3-0 win and an early finish. Then it all went wrong for the Sharks. No cover on the blocks, not being positive with hitting. With this Panthers came back to 2-2 and for the second time this year we were into a 5th Set.

We dug deep and on the receive of serve took the point and Paul H served 7 points to give us a steady lead. Sharks played to the 4 hitters taking pressure off Jon and Baz who had been our main attackers.

Finally match point came for the Sharks and with the points poised and almost in our grasp Baz leapt with all the grace of a hippo in a tutu and hit the ball towards the Panthers Setter. The ball landed just before Baz, which was a result as Baz then decided to not only put his who foot over the line but switched sides. Panthers challenged the point but the point stayed and a confused and relieved Sharks team came away the victors.

Next Match Sharks Vs Jets 12.02.2012 at 1800. WHS

Sharks v Jets in five-set thriller 16th November 2011

It was the match all had waited for. The young bucks of the Jets Vs the Mighty Sharks. Could the Jets take their revenge for the sets lost during club training nights and teach the Sharks a lesson?

The Jets started by sabotaging Richie R’s car by making him put petrol in his tank instead of diesel and with Rich having to cancel the Sharks team numbers dwindled to 5. Danny is being rebuilt and will come back able to jump higher than Bernard, Jon G is injured (another jet tactic)

Paul Best took to the court to make the numbers up.

The Sharks pushed all the way and took the lead during the first set but the Jets dug deep and fought back taking the first set 28-26 with some great hitting from Josh. The Sharks came off court looking for reasons as to what went wrong.

The Jets were not making it easy though and, through great team spirit and finding the large gap at 5, they pushed forward. Sharks had to dig deep into their socks to come from behind through steady serves from Baz and some “skilfully” placed advanced shots from Nigel. By the way, Nigel is free to give advice at the next training session on how to play the” back hand cross court smash whilst having your eyes closed”. The second set closed out 25-20 to the Sharks.

Paul Best was working hard through the middle and with the speed of the hits was making holes in the Jets defence (there were a few holes in the back walls as well) and the Sharks sneaked the third set 27-25.

With the Sharks 2-1 up, the fourth set went to the Jets 25-22 and the the scene was set for a gripping 5th set.
Sharks won the serve and then lost it immediately. The Jets pressed on again Ross providing a steady serve and causing confusion and frustration within the Sharks. It was 8-7 Jets at the break.

However The Sharks fought back and took the lead and the set through Baz’s steady hand for serves. Nigel G took the last couple of points and the Sharks took the match and came off court feeling relieved (and more than a little tired!). The Jets played well and have begun to become a strong force within the league - The rematch should be very interesting!

No 3 from 3 for Sharks 31st October 2011

Sharks looked to build on the promising start to the 2011 season. Storrington Scorpions were the opposition for the night and fielded a very young team in comparison to the Sharks. With this possibly being Danny's last outing of the season we went out with the view to make it a good send off for him.

The first set saw good steady, simple volleyball but with the Sharks unable to gain confidence in smashing the ball the Scorpions were able to easily pick the ball up and make it count. Sharks fought back and took the set to the wire but were unable to finish it off.

It was the story of the night for all sets and, in tribute to Sir Jimmy Saville, "it was close but no cigar". Thoughts of using a Libero are coming to mind to assist with the pick ups at the back.

We all wish Danny the best of luck with his operation and hopefully see him, if not on the court certainly at a club night soon.

Demons lose fight against powerful Battlecats 25th October 2011
by our "slightly less lurid" tabloid reporter Nigel

Adur Battle Cats 1 v Demons, 23 Oct, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-18)

Team: Aly, Debs, Dorothee, Meggie, Rebecca, Sandrine, Sophie. Coach: Mickey.

Demons were without Petrina, Lorna and Lucy for this match so Rebecca came in to set in her first match for the team with a performance that won her the player of the match nomination.

A very spirited team performance from Demons meant that the teams were very evenly matched for the first 2 sets. The passing in to Rebecca was consistently good and apart from a few misunderstandings there was good cover from the whole team. At times Demons held the advantage but unfortunately just lost out towards the end of each set. For the third set the team tried a different approach (not to be recommended!) ... allowing the opposition to open up an early lead of 6 or 7 points ... unfortunately Battle Cats held this lead throughout the set to finish 25-18.

Dorothée hit some very good left handed winners but perhaps the difference between the teams was that Battle Cats had a little more hitting power.

A 3-0 loss wasn't a fair reflection of how well Demons played but the overall performance augurs well for the rest of the season

Jets in Marathon Match24th October 2011

Kings proved a well-organised team in the Shark's first match of the season and, although they lost to a veteran Sharks team, they were always going to be a tough test for the inexperienced Jets. To add to the challenge, the Jets were missing both Matt "Teach" Wilkes and the super-spingy Bernard and so had no natural opposite hitter. A reluctant Iain "no worries" Taylor took up the challenge of filling the gap, with Andy L on the sidelines coaching and Andy W adding some experience at libero.

In contrast to their previous match, the first set started very steadily with some good hitting from the off. The teams traded points with many service errors from both teams until the Jets had a quick serve-receive wobble at 18-18 allowing kings to pull into a 4-point lead that was never recovered from. It was a cagey start to a game, with great back-court coverage from Dan "y'all ain't tipping on my court" Wright keeping the team in the chase all the way, but the Jets could never get the string of quality serves required to claw their way back into it and lost 22-25.

The second set brought Matt "Smiler" Lay into the proceedings for his league debut through the middle. The set followed a similar pattern to the first with neither team really clicking completely, but the first signs of superior net play started to show from the Jets. Both middle hitters started to impose themselves at the net a little which, along with some good blocking from Ross, started to make Kings panic themselves into errors. Improved pressure on the serve from Iain (yes, you really did read that correctly!) at 17-18 down and some good hitting outside from Kishan and Josh gave the Jets the edge they needed and the set was won 25-23

The third set again was close the whole way, but the wiley Kings started to vary the play more successfully, making more tips and line hitting more intelligently to negate the Worthing block. With another change of rotation this set, the Jets focus may have been a little lost at the crucial middle section, giving away a free side-out for a rotation fault, and losing a few points from lack of positioning. With the good passes into the setter drying up, Ross tried to force the Jet's pace a little too much and errors started to creep into their game. Kings took full advantage and, despite a fightback at the end of the set, took it 23-25.

It's a good job the Jets are a bunch of (mostly) youngsters, as an hour and a half had already been played when the fourth set started and, whether it was the greater fitness, or just miraculous simultaneous team focus, the Jets really got their act together. They do say ("they" being people who really know!) that defence wins games, and some inspired pick-ups by Andy W and Josh seemed to provide the catalyst for the rest of the team. The two middle players, Josh and Dom were in great form playing deep six position and were picking up everything creating the platform for some great attacking play. With the ball on his head, suddenly Ross was able to keep the opposition block guessing and set up some really effective attacks. Iain and Matt both got in on the big hitting act and the Jet's block started to look impenatrable. Five bigs serves from Dom followed by equally big blocks, meant the set was only going one way and, despite taking 2 time-outs to try to stem the tide, the Kings were beaten 25-18.

The question of how such an young team would handle a fifth set looked to be answered as Kings raced into a 1-6 lead with everything looking distinctly nervy from the Jets. They rallied to 4-8 down at the turn, but it's not too often that sort of lead gets reversed. Then at 4-9 down, young Smiler Matt started to serve....six points later and the set had been turned on its head through the medium of some massive blocking, patient attacking and controlled serving from the home team. The crowd (all 8 of them!) were going wild and the confidence was almost tangibly flowing out of the Kings and into the Jets players. With the opposition drained, the Jets turned the knife and won the set 15-12 to post their first win. It may have taken 2 hours, 19 minutes, but boy, was it worth it! Iain hit very well for most of the game, especially playing out of position, and took the man of the match honours.

Jets following their maiden victory

Devils and Sharks both move to 2 from 2 16th October 2011

A depleted Devils teams hosted Kings Ladies and won 3-0, although perhaps without the performance they would have been hoping for. Whilst the Devils were missing skipper and coach (both sunning it up somewhere!) and also both Emma and Theresa, the team contained plenty of raw power that never really functioned fully at first.

The first set started very slowly, with points traded with a very inexperienced Kings team and no team taking control of the game. Communication was at a premium as the Devils struggled to find the setter, the setter to find the hitters and, in particular, the hitters to find the court! However, a late serving rally, and superior firepowever eventually told and the set was won comfortably.

The next two sets followed a similar pattern, although the Devils did settle somewhat during the last set on the back of some excellent serving from Lucia and Zuz. Agata's hitting through the middle also improved greatly as the game wore on, earning her player of the match. Whilst the end result was satisfying and the team did start to gel towards the end of the match, there are much better opponents in the league this year and the Devils know they will need to up their game if they are to challenge for the title.

The Sharks also faced a weaker team in the form of the Adur Panthers. Sporting a new look, but ultimately inexpexperienced, six, Adur proved little resistance for the in-form Sharks. Coach Paul used all of his 9 players in the game, with 5 players playing outside hitter at one time or another, but the result never looked in doubt and the team cruised to 3-0 win. Despite limited court time for the outside hitters, the ever-improving Jan managed to do enough to get the player of the match award with some fine hitting and defence.

Of particular note to all our stattos (or maybe just me!), at one time the on-court total age for the Sharks was, very briefly,332 - just one short of the all-time record. With Baz's birthday coming up next week that record will surely fall during the season.

Vipers start comfortably 9th October 2011

The season started, at last, for the Vipers with a 3-0 win over Llamedos Saints. Whilst Saints do not pose the biggest threat this season in division 1, they are a tricky team to play against...not least due to their flourescent pink tutus!

With Mark electing once again to coach, not play, and the experience of Nigel missing through the middle, the first set started a little scrappily. Moments of quality were marred by by too many out-balls and inconsistent serve receive. At 16-17 it could have gone either way but Jimmy "Skipper" Carey rallied with some good serving and opened up a 4 point gap that Llamedos coudn't claw back, Vipers winning to 21.

The second set was noticiably better from Vipers - partly as the middle started to open up, and partly due to much better blocking. Capitalising on their big block will be important if the Vipers are to challenge this season, so it was good to see Andy C starting to dominate the net in a way that we have not seen in a while....and while the middle hitters were taking more block, Mickey and Jimmy were finding much more success through the outside. After a 7-point run of serves from Paul with some big blocking from Damien and Andy C, the set was won to 15.

The tone of the third set was laid down in the first point - a decent ball in made all the opposition's block going with the obvious quick middle attack, and Andy L utilised Jimmy to put the ball away outside. Together with some excellent cover defense from Richard "still only 18" Jennings and much improved back-court hitting from Damien (which earned him the Player of the match award) the set was always under control. A mild lapse in concentration allowed the opposition to start opening up the middle a little towards the end, but the set was won to 19 in some comfort after another long run of serves from Paul.

A good win for the Vipers without 2 of their key players which shows the depth of the squad this year. Kings are next up on 31st October.

Vipers in action 2010

Promising start by Jets, Sharks open convincingly 3rd October 2011

The Jets welcomed Dolphins 2 to Worthing High on Sunday evening. Out of the 8 players on court for the Jets, 6 had never played a Sussex league match before and, if truth be told, it did look a little like that in the first set. Whilst there was no lack of endeavour, there were too few cool heads on the court (and off it!) and a more experienced Dolphins team quickly took advantage of the Jet's defensive frailties.

Set 2 saw the introduction of Matt "The Teach" Wilkes who immediately settled the team down in both front and back-court. After a slow start, Ross started to find his hitters and Iain, Josh, Dan and Dom started to do some hitting damage. Despite a strong finish however, the 2nd set went the way of Dolphins.

In a great display in the 3rd set, the Jets dominated from the start. Huge blocks by Bernard "Springs" Li and Josh "Wall" Kennard started it off and it was followed up by hugely improved hitting from both Iain and Kishan who both found some confidence through the outside. The set was well won by the Jets - was an upset on the cards??

The fourth set started badly with some big serving from Dolphins which Jets finally broke with better use of the backcourt attack. This was probably the best set of the match for the neutral, with some long rallies and a some great defense, particularly from Bernard, earning him the Player of the Match award from the opposition. However, the head-start given to Dolphins was too much to overcome and the Jets went down 3-1.

All-in-all, it was a really promising start from the very new Jets side and to quote a Dolphins player "we won't look forward to playing them later in the season!". Thanks must go to Andy "assistant coach even though I'm not on the scoresheet" Lay for some sound time-out advice.

By contrast, the (vastly) more experienced Sharks team have probably never started a season in more emphatic style. Taking on a stalwart Kings outfit, new coach Paul (shown opposite) kept things simple, but effective, throughout, taking the first set in style with some big hitting from Jon "Don't get too comfortable at opposite Damien" Gauntlett and some very organised setting from Tim and Paul.

The second set started much the same as the first, but went a bit wayward in the middle when the team forget how to serve-receive for a while. Bas found some space through the middle and the unfamiliar outside hitter known as Richard also found some success, and the Sharks ended up taking the set comfortably.

The third set threatened to be a typical case of relaxing too early and Kings generated a small lead early in the set. Dani then struck with a run of good serving and, together with some strong left-sided defence from Jan and Nig (using arms, shoulder and head!) brought the set back in Sharks' favour. Big hitting at the end from Jon knocked the final wind out of King's sails, earning him player of the match, and the set was won 25-23.

It was probably the best "first game" performance from a Worthing team in some time - no team will look foward to meeting the Sharks all the time they stay fit and upright! It was also a great debut for Jan, who looks to have settled into their team excellently bringing steady hitting and, much needed, back-court speed to a useful looking team.

Paul gives us his best digging face

Devils hold firm against Demons, whilst Scum prevail...just! 26th September 2011

A new look Devils team (complete with new coach!) made a good start to the season with a 3-0 win against the experienced Demons. After a good start from both teams, the Devil's more powerful serving eventually started to count with Demons unable to launch really purposeful attacks from their serve recive. The second set followed a similar pattern until a barrage of serves from Agata led to the Devils again opening up a gap that was too large to close. The third set was initially very even and the Demons reached 7-7 in good shape with some great team defence, particularly from the diving
Dorithee, but a similar decline in the serve receive from some ferocious Devils serving meant the Demons ended empty handed.

Meanwhile, the Vipers took on "Scum's Six" in a match that turned out to be very entertaining for all involved. The Vipers won the first set with some great defence, big blocking and a long run of serves from Jimmy at 23-17 down. The more experienced Scum came back in the second set, making maximum use of the height of Dee hitting through the outside. The game saw some of the longest rallies ever seen on the Worthing court - a great credit to both sides' defence - but eventually Scum took all three remaining sets to win 3-1. Despite the loss, Vipers should enter the new season in good spirits and, for a first game together, played some entertaining and dynamic volleyball. Once a bit of confidence starts to flow through the squad I think the rest of Sussex will find the Vipers very hard to stop! Credit must also be given to Sandrine for a fine performance in her first game in the ref's stand.

Demons and Devils in action 2010


Vipers in action 2010

Record Training attendance 20th September 2011

It's now official! Worthing Volleyball club is now bigger than it's ever been. Not only do we now have over 50 members, but 42 turned up to the Tuesday Training session tonight. Whilst this can cause a bit of a headache for the coaches, it is a credit to the friendliness of the club that more are more people are wanting to join.

Especially big welcomes should go out to our new members, namely Meggie, Jan, Keiron, Kishan, Josh, Matt, Matt, Bernard, Dominic, Dan & Agata, most of whom have played little volleyball before this season and will soon be starting in the Sussex League. Of particular note is how most of these new members will be bringing the average age down considerably which can only be a good thing (no offence Dani!).