The driving force behind the Masters Volleyball Tournament - Ian Towers

1.       How did you first get involved in Volleyball?

I guess you could say I was lucky that I went to Purbrook Park School in the very early 80’s. The volleyball set up there was huge and the main sport in the school. We had a lot of success in schools’ competitions and gave Joel Banks his education. Some of my old classmates still play each year in uniform at Whitefield. At the time I think we were training about 20 hours a week. Before school, lunchtime and after school as well as any holidays.

2.       Why did you set up the Masters Volleyball event? .

A couple of people to blame. Dave Rijvers for one as he started the Richmond Tournament in 2011. After playing all day Saturday with a lot of socialising in the evening, waking up on a Sunday morning and being met by a 6ft 5 inch 19 year old didn’t seem fun when you had just turned 40. 

I had dinner with Jefferson Williams, Carol Gordon, Danica Grade and Dave Roberts that evening. We started talking and the idea came about. Dave was a massive help getting the event up and running and  we held our first event in 2012 with about 45 players.  At that point Karen Shilton who was running the VEBT tour and involved with the LOCOG team  at London 2012 got on board and pushed the event forward to what it is today with about 100 players. 

3.       What have been the biggest challenges over the years?

Most would say the Sunday morning after the tournament. The main idea of the tournament is for everyone who enters to gain new team mates as you don’t enter as a team. Everyone enters individually and then we get the task of selecting the teams, ensuring each one has a captain to look after them. So, to get those teams right is always difficult to ensure it is a close event and no one team wins easily. So far so good as the consensus is the teams are all really quite equal. Its only when you get unfortunate last minute drop outs it can be frustrating as two per team would make it difficult on the six remaining.

4.       How have you managed the challenges this year?

I think we are fortunate that we have an indoor event and as such the set up of the event is easy. However, suppliers being shut may have an affect if we do go ahead this year.  We have put off any further entry’s until we know really what will be possible if anything at all in September. If it needs to be re-scheduled then it is just the hotel and Sports hall in Sheffield that need to be available together. Then get entries in. We have players from Belgium, Holland, Scotland and even the USA who attend so flights etc would be very difficult to confirm.

5.       What is your aspiration for the Masters event?

My aspirations on a personal level have already been met.  The whole idea was to get those players who may have drifted away from the game back into it even if just once a year.

It’s given players like Natasha Chedgy, Alex Smith and Yvonne Sykes the opportunity to get back playing after years outwith Tasha and Alex heavily involved In National league squads now.  To see Nancy Dome every two years come over from California to join us is just brilliant. We cannot really get much bigger unless we move venues or increase the days playing which for some of our players is not a great attraction.  

It doesn’t need to grow any bigger as the social aspect is all very much centred around a single hotel, so we have a good-sized event now at the 120 mark including officials, support team and friends of players. With new players every year becoming eligible there is no reason this event can’t continue for decades to come.

6.What do you think are the best elements of the Masters ?

It is no longer a volleyball tournament as such. Yes, we do play and yes it gets competitive especially when Jefferson attends, but it is more about the Volleyball family coming together each year.

As we select the teams you never know who you will be playing with until the Friday night. The friendships that have started at the masters is a great sign of how close everyone is. John Mcluskey who moved to Belgium in the early 90’s came over alone in 2017. A year later we allowed him to bring a full team from Belgium who although playing together that time said that the following year, they wanted to join in with the team selections. 

To see the amount of master’s shirts at matches, tournaments and even out shopping is really pleasing as I do feel that players feel part of a bigger group as opposed to just being part of a team.  One player even told me it saved their life and that kind of thing makes it all worthwhile. 

Thank you Ian Towers - another example of our Volleyball Family coming together.

To find out more about Masters Volleyball go to http://www.mastersvb.co.uk/