Q-Camp

Welcome to our Q-Camp page

While we cannot be together for a physical camp we thought that we can at least have a virtual Quarantine Camp

The aim of this page is to bring together a variety of content both developed and written by ourselves and from around the web which will be useful both with playing and training impossible due to Covid-19 and looking ahead to the time when we are able to get back on the court.

We will be adding and updating content frequently so please check back here on a regular basis. Scroll to Test Anchor

First Stepz/Pathways Weekend

October 23, 2021 @ 10:00 am - October 24, 2021 @ 2:00 pm

Volleyball training requires a disciplined approach to the sports. At a young age, from 10 to 12 for instance, attention spans tend to be short and energy tends to be boundless, so discipline can be a tall order on the court. A year or two later, after a bit of exposure to the sport, the young athlete is ready to take on more complex challenges as he or she prepares play structured games. In both cases, it takes a coach familiar with the ways of [...]

Training at all levels – including the highest ones – involves reinforcing ball-handling skills, so that aspect of your game won’t be neglected. But at this camp athletes who are planning their volleyball future to progress into the higher levels of the game will begin to polish up the skills and techniques they must absolutely have mastered in order to compete in performance volleyball. While it is about making sure your ball-handling skills are technically correct, it will also teach you to know how to recognise and focus on the tactical skills you will acquire as your game progresses.

Mid-Season Boost: Fine Tuning for National League Athletes

December 20, 2021 @ 9:00 am - December 22, 2021 @ 1:00 pm

Who couldn't do with a boost This is real volleyball, where points are all that matters; where there’s no mercy and no regrets. Those first few games might have been a bit shakey, so how about dedicating a little mid-season training time to fine-tuning the parts of your game that were causing you concern? This is no generic camp. It is your chance to take a specific skill issue you want to remedy and work with National League team coaches, players and officials to fix it. Who it's for This camp is aimed at athletes competing at a National League Level, if there is sufficient interest, we’ll open up a court for county league athletes, too. Age c16 - 22+ (ADULTS Welcome)

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First Stepz / Next Stepz

August 15, 2022 @ 9:00 am - August 16, 2022 @ 12:00 pm

First Stepz as the name suggests is for young athletes, typically aged between 8 and 12 years old just starting out on the volleyball pathway. Fun is the key to this camp, it is taught in short, energy-filled sessions over consecutive weekends (13th and 20th March). The playful atmosphere is intended to foster enthusiasm while the first building blocks to proficiency are laid down. Coaches who are experienced in working with a younger age group and are qualified with the FIVB, Volleyball England or the American Volleyball Coaches Association use innovative drills from around the world to help young athletes start a rewarding participation in recreational volleyball.

Videos

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.

Deb Pickens, VbDC-Club

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 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.

Bob Pickens, Your Content Goes Here

USA Volleyball players describing the ways they are working out during this enforced break

Interview with Kim Hill for THE CUORE PROJECT

Italy v Brazil from the 2018 VNL with match commentary from Mr Clayton Lucas

The first of two videos of yoga exercises designed to increase flexability for volleyball

The second part of the yoga workout to improve flexability for volleyball

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It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog

Archie Griffin, American Footbal

Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost..

Martina Navratilova, Tennis Player

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While the halls are empty

When we can't play or train

We always have our Q-Camp

Q-Camp
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TRAINING

THAT TAKES YOUR GAME

TO THE NEXT

LEVEL ...

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... FROM THE FIRST STEP

ON THE COURT TO THE ELITE

COMPETITOR

Easter Skillz and GCSE Camps

April 2 @ 10:00 am - April 4 @ 3:00 pm

The Skillz and Skillz Plus camps have been designed as a further bridge between our two day camps and the week long programmes we offer and will offer an insight into the training demands of the performance camps. Athletes will have a stronger physical structure, know and can follow the principals of attack and defense, have begun to acquire a sense for the tactical game, and are already playing competitively for their school or club.

Pre-Teen Camp

April 20 @ 2:15 pm - 4:15 pm

New Kids on the Court - Pre Teen volleyball for next generation of volleyball stars. Created to introduce volleyball to UNDER-12 athletes along the lines of similar programmes already well-established in The Netherlands, Germany, Japan and the USA. Coaches from The Netherlands and the USA who have developed these courses in their home countries will be visiting to introduce the latest innovations in teaching techniques for the young beginner to both athletes and interested coaches.

Pre-Season Boot Camp

August 12 @ 1:00 pm - August 16 @ 5:00 pm

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.