Help to Support Club Storm’s International Aspirations
“Club Storm in Portugal
Founded in 2024, Club Storm was co-created by female athletes and coaches with the common goal of increasing opportunities to train in high performance environments. The squad is comprised of 13 under-19 female athletes who aspire to train and compete at an elite level both nationally and internationally. Fundamentally, the team’s ethos is centered around empowering young female athletes to take leadership roles within volleyball both on and off the court. The squad is led by 2 female coaches, Catarina Machado and Katelynn Slade who hope to increase the longevity of young females in volleyball. Club Storm also offers opportunities for athletes to become future coaches and team managers once they become too old to compete in under-19 age group.
In late December 2024, Club Storm attended a 6-day training camp in Rio Maior, Portugal. The team was based in Rio Maior Sporting Excellence Centre which hosts high performance athletes from a range of sports. Athletes had the opportunity to train twice a day, access to a purpose-built team strength and conditioning gym, competition against 4 top Portuguese clubs, and video analysis sessions. The camp enabled athletes to experience an elite environment which was both physically and mentally demanding. Throughout the camp, there was a steady progression in skill as well as team cohesion which contributed to the team’s success on court.
In their opening match, Club Storm were hosted by Madeira Torres Voleibol who brought an exciting home crowd which created a fantastic atmosphere for all involved. In the opening 2 sets, Club Storm struggled to contain the strong serving and defensive play of Madeira Torres and consequently lost the first 2 sets. However, the team was determined to fight back and showed great resilience to secure an exciting reverse sweep and secure a 3-2 win. In their second match of the day, Club Storm were then hosted by Lusofona Voleibol who fielded 2 teams which offered the flexibility to try new styles of play both technically and tactically. The team started strong an won the first 3 sets. With fatigue beginning to build, Club Storm dropped sets 4 and 5 but were able to push through to win the final set and the scrimmage. (Club Storm 4 – 2 Lusofuna Voleibol.
Later in the week, Club Storm were hosted by Portuguese national champions, Benfica Voleibol. The team was treated to a match in Benfica’s main arena which has a capacity of 2,400 and has hosted CEV Volleyball Cup senior club teams. With most players never having played in such an arena, the opportunity to do so was perhaps one of the highlights of the camp. As expected, Benfica were also a strong serving and defensive team which provided similar challenges previously faced. However, following focused training sessions and previous match experience, Club Storm went 2 -2 with Benfica, unfortunately, running out of time to play a 5th set. In their final match of the camp, Club Storm were hosted by Belensenses Voleibol U21 where the team experienced another big arena. It was evident that throughout the camp, athletes showed steady skill progression and began to dominate the game where the focus became on running our middles with good success. Club Storm 3 – 1 Belensenses U21.
The team are now continuing their preparations ahead of the Cornacchia World Cup 2025 held in Pordenone, Italy later this year. All athletes and coaches are self-funded which is often a barrier to being able to access and experience high performance environments. In addition to on court duties, the players are also working hard to fundraise and continue to be able to follow their volleyball aspirations. The team would like to thank their sponsors, Dryrobe and Collctiv, as well as everyone who has donated to their GoFundMe campaign. If you would like to support current and future Club Storm athletes, you can do so by donating here or sharing our page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/eng-storm-volleyball
You can follow the team’s progress via their Instagram page, @engclubstorm”
Good Luck Guys!
