Invicta -Six beautiful flood lit beach courts standing empty!

1.  Tell us a bit about your club
​Our club has a very short history but the history of volleyball in Canterbury is far longer.

A number of our members have previously been part of successful Canterbury volleyball clubs which have dominated the county competitions and competed in the National League in years gone by but were ultimately unsustainable for one reason or another.

Our biggest achievement has been rebuilding a presence for volleyball in local area with opportunities for lots of different groups to enjoy volleyball. We have a men's and women's team of experienced players who this season have played friendly matches with teams from across Kent and Surrey and been very competitive. We did not enter a league this year as we did not have the numbers to commit when the deadline fell. We also have thriving adult beginner and junior beginners sessions which are seeing lots of people give volleyball a try and quickly fall in love with our sport.

2.  How has the COVID 19 impacted on your club?
​The impact of COVID 19 has largely been on potentially damaging the momentum our club was building in terms of player engagement.

We were looking forward to an active beach season as our facility has six beautiful flood lit courts. These courts are in a very busy area and would have put our sport in a highly visible position to the local community, so the marketing opportunities missed here may hurt us a little.

However, in some respects putting on the brakes as we have had to may not be a terrible thing. Our sessions were becoming crowded and difficult to manage so this extra time has allowed us to look to solutions to those problems such as looking for alternative venues to build a better provision for our members when we return. I am a little concerned about our junior membership. We had a lot of new younger players who are not yet fully invested in volleyball and I do worry that they may find other hobbies and not return.

3.  What have you been doing to keep in touch with you players/ members?
​We have been trying to keep active on social media and have asked our members to reflect on their experiences with our club so we can improve when we return. We asked members to complete a survey and we got back 44 responses, we used these to produce a report and plan ahead.

We have also award Player of the Year Awards to recognise players who have contributed positively on and off the court to our club. This year these awards were won by Sara Tomkin and Dan Robbins and we awarded a Most Improved Player Award to Megan Hardy.

4.  Tells us about any of your clubs members who have gone above and beyond during this difficult time?
​Like most clubs, we have a diverse membership base with members from all sorts of backgrounds and professions. We have a very large number of NHS staff and carers and of course we are very proud to have these people as part of our club.

5.  What do you think will be the biggest challenges when returning to the court?
​Managing uncertainity will be the biggest challenge.

What competition we will return to?

How many players will we have?

How significantly might things change from week to week.

Not being able to make commitments and plan events makes coordinating the activities of a club very frustrating.

6.  What support could the foundation offer clubs once the lockdown is over?
I think that the biggest problem will be competition. We may not have time for a league as we have come to know them so I think that in the first season back we should look to organise lots of small local tournaments to get people competing, giving them a chance to represent their clubs again and without the commitment of a season long programme that might not be fulfilled or for which we simply do not have the time to organise without knowing when it can start.

Thank you Luke Thomas - Head Coach.

To find out more about Invicta go to http://www.invictavolleyball.com/