They simply called it VOLLEYBALL DAY !!

On August 30, 2023, the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball team set a new world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska with a crowd of 92,003.  The previous record was set in April 2022, when 91,648 fans in Barcelona, Spain, gathered to witness a UEFA Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg at Camp Nou.

There have been some spectacular staging for volleyball matches. Horse Guards Parade in London for the Beach Volleyball at the 2012 Olympics, Italy opening this years Women’s Euro Volley tournament in an outdoor amphitheatre in Verona but in terms of scale this tops the lot. The news coverage around the world has certainly grabbed attention for women’s sport in general and volleyball in particular.

VbDC has changed its programme to bring qualified tutors into the gym or to accompany athletes on social and cultural outings; if desired, they can also work in a private setting on one-to-one language tutoring at the athlete’s dormitory before or after training hours.
Building conversational skills in surroundings in which English is the lingua franca for all athletes, coaches, chaperones, dormitory and restaurant staff, sports performance analysts, guest speakers, street vendors and service providers is known as “immersive” tutoring. It enables the athlete who seeks to improve his or her English language skills while playing their favourite sport.
Students will receive:
* Access to a registered language tutor for 12 days.
* Group sessions with the tutor, as well as language support on arranged outings and activities and at volleyball training sessions.
* English language course materials.

Volleyball is now one of the sports that a student can choose for the Physical Education GCSE  course with the practical performance exam element amounting to 10 percent of the overall grade.

The practical can be done remotely with the student’s performance assessed from a video recording. Now, for the first time, students have the opportunity to attend our Skillz camp and also record the practical training and match play element for their GCSE.

Numbers are limited at this camp so that the coaches will have time to give individual attention to each participant, having successfully run the second of these camps over the Easter holidays we will be planning future dates, please contact us if you are interested in this camp.

Former Volleyball Development Camps coach Will McDonald is currently working as Technical Coordinator at Georgia Tech Volleyball who have already made a strong start to the NCAA season and are presently sitting amongst the Top 10 teams in the country.

Will initially came to our camps as a player and he quickly showed an aptitude for coaching, working with us initially as a trainer, then Assistant Coach and finally as a Head Coach, along the way establishing our Blue Print for coach development. Outside of VbDC he has coached at Ashcombe, Richmond as well as England Cadet Girls Assistant Coach and former Interim Head Coach for the England Junior Women’s beach volleyball team.

The VBDC Under 15 girls team didn’t quite manage to cause an upset in the national final against Richmond, but they certainly got pulses racing and the Richmond coach reaching for the timeout button in a close first set. It was good to see campers featuring for Richmond, Urmstone and of course VBDC over the weekend

The match, and all the other finals are available to stream on the Volleyball England YouTube channel.