Return to Play at Tettenhall Tigers Volleyball Club
We’re back playing and it is fantastic to see all of our young people in action and enjoying their volleyball.
COVID arrived at exactly the wrong time for our club. We had just waved goodbye and wished a lot of our eighteen year olds good luck as they headed off to university. The season was progressing well with youngsters relatively new to the game playing their part, they were learning fast but were not quite there yet. And then we had to stop.
Eighteen months has been a long, long time for our young players who have missed a big chunk of developing their skills and understanding of the game. Many who were looking forward to competing in our 4v4 JuVoTo tournaments as Year 9 students were left wondering how that tournament and the national U15 championships passed them by? They are now trying to get up to speed for the U16 six-a-side competitions.
But we’re back! And what is more we now have more club members than before lockdown! Liz and Dave, who run our Facebook page, spent lockdown posting daily snippets about our club, it’s members and a host of other volleyball related material. It kept all of our members still feeling part of the club and attracting new ones as well.
Returning was going to be a problem particularly in terms of equipment. How can we safely run sessions and share equipment? That is where Sport England and the Volleyball England Foundation came to the rescue. With our grant we have been able to purchase balls, bags and ball carts as well as lots of hand and ball sanitiser to help keep us as safe as possible.
We now have a separate set of balls, all of appropriate weight, for our five groups. We have littlies from age 6 through to our 18 year olds all playing and enjoying the game.
Having new, high quality equipment has made the world of difference in terms of how the players value the game they are playing. It’s still early days in the season but we’ve already taken part in several 2, 3, 4 and 6 a-side tournaments focusing on playing and learning. Nearly forty players have been involved so far. We start playing in the West Midlands league next week and it will give our more senior junior players a chance to test themselves against experienced opposition.
So things are looking good. Thanks to all of our volunteer coaches and helpers who have really helped us back into action. And of course a big thanks to Sport England for providing our grant and to the Volleyball England Foundation for supporting our bid. Thank you.
Nick Shaffery
Tettenhall Tigers Volleyball Club
