All of our camps comply with strict COVID guidelines.
In the event that the government “Road map” to easing of restrictions is delayed our camps will be rescheduled as necessary.
Camps
Team-based performance training for 16 to 18 year olds with open-ended drills simulating game situations. Designed for athletes committed to year round participation in volleyball through clubs that compete in county, regional, or national competition, or who intend to eventually try for a place on their national squads. Highly disciplined and physically demanding, this 5-day camp begins to prepare the athlete for true elite-level training.
Serious training for serious volleyball athletes who have already entered the elite level of the game. The training touches on the finer points of technical form, but the main emphasis is on teamwork, tactics, pre- and post-game preparation and care, stamina and mental concentration. This camp is for athletes aged 16 to 22 years old who compete in national league teams, for universities, for national squads, or who have been invited to train with their national squad.
An intense 5-day camp for players aged between 15 to 18 years old who who want to "hit the ground running" for the coming season and are serious about their pre-season preparation, whether for a national, regional or county league, or a school varsity-level team. The camp will ensure that all the fundamental skills are in place while refining techniques prior to the commencement of formal club training.
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Emerging Elite is led by one of our experienced coaches and takes place in West Surrey’s best volleyball facility and features a coach-to-player ratio of approximately 1:6; all coaches are either experienced at national team or national league level, or participate in US university volleyball or national league clubs. The camp is international and will include residential players from other countries, many of whom attend to take the English language tuition that is available as an option.
For the elite athlete, the camp concentrates on specific skills for each position, game preparation, and tactical awareness. It is for players who have several years’ experience in competitive play and who want to refine their skills and tactical awareness in order to play at club or university level.
The week long camp will test the athlete in a high intensity training environment under the watchful eyes of our coaches
The curriculum is designed for those who have decided they want to make volleyball one of their regular athletic activities and who are prepared to commit to long- term training.
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About us
Deb Pickens – VbDC Finance Director
Deb has been a volleyball player all her life, although in her high school years in Lamoni, Iowa and Blue Springs, Missouri, basketball competed for her sports attention, too. When she was offered a place on the Graceland University volleyball team, that became her main sport. After two years there she transferred to the University of Missouri, and played on the pre-Title IX varsity squad – when the team travelled to away games by bus and made their own uniforms.
She graduated with a degree in education, and started her career as a coach in the rural Grain Valley, Missouri schools, taking the high school team to the state playoffs in her second year there. She was soon recruited by an international school in England, and in 1980 she and husband Bob left Missouri to start a new life abroad.
Deb spent her first two decades building up the school’s varsity program, as well as raising two sons who played volleyball at a high level – one of whom managed to pay for most of his university degree with a sports scholarship and has, himself become a leading club and school volleyball coach in St Louis, Missouri. In recent years she has set up a “seamless” volleyball program at her school that enables youngsters to enter the sport at age 8, and work their way through to the varsity level by progressing through a series of linked interscholastic and club activities. The school’s club permits students, faculty, members, parents and alumni to all play in local leagues and tournaments.
Deb’s main responsibilities at VbDC involve sales and logistics, coaching, and managing the VbDC finances. She is also leading the effort to introduce a sports scholarship search service which is currently being piloted, and will be offered to the public in 2014.
John Biddiscombe – VbDC Technical Director
Like many people in the UK for John the exposure to volleyball in school was limited to only a few PE lessons. Badminton and squash were the main sports that he played, but in 1986 the desire to take part in a team sport saw him sign up for an adult education course in volleyball.
Fortunately within weeks of the course finishing a new club was just starting up in Guildford and he quickly signed up as a member. The club grew quickly and John volunteered as a committee member serving in several roles eventually becoming club chair person.
Starting in 2000 Guildford hosted several events for Volleyball England such as European Championship matches and Cup Finals which John was instrumental in successfully managing. Continuing his work with Volleyball England he served as Marketing Director on their board for 2 years.
John is active in local volleyball with roles on the committee of both the Surrey and South East region associations. He has played for Guildford in the National League, is a qualified referee and coach, having coached Guildford womens team in the National League.
He was active at the London 2012 Olympics as part of the team providing statistics for the indoor tournament at Earls Court, the highlight being to “stat” the Womens final between Brazil and USA.
John’s main duties with VbDC are as a coach, with a special interest in technology having had a series of articles published in 3-Touch magazine and also helping with the logistics of running the camps and managing the VbDC website.
Bob Pickens – VbDC Marketing Director
Bob had only had a passing awareness of volleyball as he grew up in Mississippi, but while attending the University of Missouri a chance meeting in a car park introduced him to a player on the Mizzou varsity women’s team who agreed to a date, showed him the game and eventually became his wife. After graduation Bob and Deb played in local leagues in the Kansas City area, and in 1980 he took a leave of absence from his job as a newspaper reporter and followed his new wife to Britain when she was offered a job as a volleyball coach at an international school. Soon after he was asked to edit a newspaper, and he and Deb have lived in England ever since.
During that time he has helped form a club in Farnham, Surrey, where they live, raised two sons in a volleyball-minded household who went on to play for the England juniors and England national league teams, and became involved in local leagues. One of his first activities was to join the Farnborough Volleyball Club, a small group of players in a work-based club at the Defense Establishment Research Association, and as the club’s chairman created a plan to take the club into the community, tripling its membership and establishing it as the major volleyball club in north Hampshire. He also became qualified to referee national league matches and obtained his coaching certificate.
Bob works with the South East Volleyball Association’s regional youth development programme by coaching beginning boys’ teams, and has chaired the Surrey Volleyball Association for two years, concentrating on efforts to revitalise the SVA’s infrastructure, bring new area clubs into its competitive schedule, and introduce a plan for junior development in the county.
Bob’s main duties at VbDC involve working on external communications and marketing, and providing logistical support for the growing number of camps, and helping as an assistant coach.
Who is eligible to attend VbDC activities?
There has been a lot of confusion about the covid 19 regulations concerning the age limits for attending indoor sports event since the summer, in part because Government guidelines have undergone several revisions since the pandemic began. We have occasionally been asked “to make an exception.” The answer to this request is always “no”. VbDC strictly follows the guidelines set by Government and our sports’ governing body, Volleyball England.
As of 2 December there has been a slight change and very welcome to the age rule regarding Under 18s as follows:
exemption to the rule of six … appl(ies) for U18s, disabled athletes and sport for educational purposes. Supervisors and coaches are allowed into junior sessions, but spectators are not. The definition of U18 includes young people who were 17 at the start of the academic year (1 September, 2020), even if they turn 18 during the remainder of that year.
Please help us to keep our training programmes and competitive events safe, and within the law, for all who take part by following this age guideline.
Back to Business with a Bang
It’s been 5 long months but we are on the verge of getting back to playing some volleyball.
Starting on Monday 17th August we will be running not one, not two but THREE camps all strictly adhering to Government, Volleyball England and venue guidelines.
Given the long break and the restrictions on numbers training together at one time it is no surprise that the camps are pretty much sold out.
There has been an awful lot of work going on behind the scenes to make sure that everything is ready for the “new normal”, Risk Assesments have been written, all the necessary screening paperwork has been completed, sanitisation arrangements have been made and off-court social distancing procedures have been implemented.
We are ready and cannot wait to welcome you back
CoronaVirus Update-3
This is the one we have been waiting for.
Volleyball England have had approval from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for the resumption of most volleyball activity including indoor, under certain restrictions and guidelines.
This means that we are now able to push ahead, working with our venues and coaches in planning for a safe return to sport for our camps in the middle of August.
There is still much to be done, fortunately we started planning for a return many weeks ago looking at the different possible scenarios. There are one or two points that still need to be clarified which we will be working through in the coming days.
This “Green Light” is what we all have been waiting for, so we can now look forward to welcoming you back to one of our camps.
Q-Camp Update
We continue to update our Q-Camp page with content during this lock-down period with workout exercises for fitness and some ball handling drills that can be done at home. We have just added a second Coaches Classic match, this is where our coaches recommend a match and highlight some of the more subtle points to look out for.
Meanwhile our Facebook page features some of the more quirky ideas and features
BREAKING NEWS
The FIVB have announced that their Volleyball TV channel will be available for FREE between 8th May and 31st August 2020.
This means that Full Match replays of hundreds of matches from the VNL 2018 and 2019,the 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championships, plus the FIVB Volleyball Club World Championships, can now be watched for free, which of course includes these two matches.
You still need to signup, but simply use the FREEPASS promotional code to subscribe.
CoronaVirus Update-2
Like you, we at Volleyball Development Camps have been closely following developments in the coronavirus crisis. The pace of events has been so rapid that it has been impossible to chart a path for our forthcoming activities, and only last week it seemed like some small sports activities might be able to resume after an initial two-week closure of schools.
However, with the Prime Minister’s announcement of the unprecedented measures that we must now take to protect our society and our lives, we now know that we will be unable to hold the Easter Break Skills Camp at the time originally scheduled.
As we await further government instructions on sports gatherings, VbDC will continue to offer volleyball training. But you won’t have to gather in a group to train. Virtual training to help athletes maintain their volleyball skills are being created for the VbDC Q Camp – Q for quarantine – which is now live on the VbDC website and will be updated on a regular basis.
Have a look at the Q Camp, we may have to stop our physical training and competing as part of our contribution to the global effort to stop the coronavirus pandemic, but it doesn’t mean we have to stop enjoying volleyball – the best sport in the world.