jcbvolley@gmail.com

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

In line with almost all sports in every country in the world, Volleyball Development Camps have suspended all training and match activity.

Volleyball Development Camps is committed to follow UK Government and World Health Organisation guidelines on the coronavirus and of course the well being of our athletes, coaches and their famalies is the most important thing to us. Likewise, we are committed to our sport, and to continue providing opportunities for volleyball enthusiasts to participate in the game to the best of their ability.

VbDC will carry on with preparations for scheduled training programs. With circumstances changing daily, we are also making adjustments to our calendar as the situation evolves. Our intention is to resume a sustained schedule of training sessions as soon as guidelines permit.

While we may not be able to play the game we love for a while we will certainly be active in other areas which we will share with you both here and on our Facebook page in the coming days and weeks.

The Under 15 girls narrowly missed out on qualifying for the semi finals of the Volleyball England Under 15 National Championships. The team have visibly improved through each match, rapidly gaining in confidence as they progressed.

U15 Tournament Results
1st Boswells
2nd Newcastle Staffs
3rd VbDC
4th Ashcombe Dorking

We are all looking forward to an exciting 2020 with some great new projects and events which are in the development pipeline.

For now though booking for our first set of camps is now open (more will follow shortly) offering some great Early Bird discounts.

It’s not about winning at volleyball… it’s about enjoying the game

You don’t have to be an elite athlete to enjoy volleyball, but you will get more pleasure from it at any level if you follow

EIGHT SIMPLE RULES

By popular demand, Volleyball Development Camps is offering a two-day workshop for adult recreational volleyball players who want to start the coming season with improved confidence in their skills, and a better understanding of the teamwork required to play a satisfying game. We call it Eight Simple Rules, or 8SR.

The new 8SR workshop takes place at the ACS Cobham International School Sports Arena on Saturday 21 September and Sunday, 22 September. The workshop begins at 10 am and concludes at 4 pm both days. Deadline for registration is 20 September.

Have you recently started playing volleyball? If so, ask yourself these three questions:

• Would you like to step your game up to the a higher level?
• Is being more satisfied with your on-court performance a personal goal?
• Would a better grasp of the fundamental tactics for an effective game help you improve?

8SR is not a team developmental camp, nor is it coaching individual ball-handling skills, although we’ll provide advice on those if you want it. 8SR is a 10-hour session of informal instruction geared toward adults. It follows eight points identified by VbDC Director of Curriculum John Biddiscombe which, if followed, can quickly help a recreational player find a greater degree of personal satisfaction from their game.

BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW

Time for a news update as there are so many exciting things happening for our former campers, mentors and coaches.

• Ben Lucas won his first England senior cap against Scotland at the beginning of June, successfully making the often difficult step up to the senior squad.
• Alice Brand and Carla Hulme paired up as one of the two England teams competing in the MEVZA (Middle European Volleyball Zonal Association) U20 Beach Volleyball Youth Cup along with another camper, Leah Blight in the other team for the competition in Slovenia.
• Coach Will McDonald had a busy weekend of coaching with Richmond at the National Finals in Kettering where they were represented in every age group and along with several campers, winning 2 out of the 3 girls finals.
• Another of our coaches, Rachel Hynes, managed the difficult role of Player/Coach to steer Dartford ladies to the South East Region championship.
• Hannah Carey, a great friend of VbDC who has now settled the USA, battled back from an injury to compete at the USA Volleyball Nationals Women’s A division in Columbus Ohio and come a very credible 31st place, considering there were 482 teams.
• One face that we sadly probably won’t be seeing this summer, but who’s voice we hopefully will be hearing a lot of is Clayton Lucas as he is busy providing, seemingly non-stop, english language commentary for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL).
• Finally Ailsa McDonald who started as a camper, progressed to become a mentor and then a coach, currently working towards her level 2 qualification and culminating her time at the University of East London (UEL) was recently awarded the Service to Sports Award, no doubt taking into consideration the work she does with GB Sitting volleyball. Incidentally Ailsa’s multi talents also stretch to filming and producing the videos on this site.