GB Men Sitting v Legends
Very pleasant afternoon at Graveney School (nightmare to get to though). I was immediately informed there was no coffee which was good as it saved me trying to find it. Brought back memories of my school days although we would have killed for a hall that big, Luckily the lighting was good (until the team photos). A very friendly match with the referee taking the trouble to explain things to the crowd and players 9well the legends anyway). A very reasonable crowd turned up and the Legends managed to make it a closer match than some thought it would be (although losing first 3 sets).
GB Men sitting v Legends 4-1 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19)

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ECVD Kettering 11th-16th July 2011
This is a very major sitting volleyball tournament. Very high standard teams are here. GB Men will hopefully learn a lot.
So far only first match is here mainly as the Brazilians talked to me.
Kettering now has half a hall of bright lighting, this only left the warm up courts looking dim, but they are ok it is only because other half is now so bright, only downside is it gets hot. Staff as friendly as ever and coffee is fine. There are 3 photos of Amy's hand getting in the way of a great attempt at a retrieva, such is life. There a quite a few photos of the opening ceremony, mainly because there was one, and they hopefully show what it was like. Some photos are there (Lenny) because I give in to threats as well as money. The crowd are also featured as they looked to be enjoying themselves.
I made it to 5 of the 6 days but had to leave early on a couple of days. Hot food was very good as was the cappucino. Court A was far better for me than B as it had the balcony above it. Angles at floor level not great due to positioning of courts, ie no room down the sides.

Faryl Smith was wonderful to listen to, pity they only gave her a five minute slot, but I did get to hear in her warm up 9pays to arrive very early).

GB Men held Brazil for a lot of the match and got two set points in set 2 (memory hopefully correct). Wonderful back court spike by Richard Dobell. Having seen ten of the eleven teams play the standard is very high but as most of the top 6 countires in world (I am yold) are here it is not surprising. The Canadians have one player at 7' 2" but Kazakhstan have one at 7' 5" (perhaps I should convert to metric, but that is the heights I was told). Many (well 4) gave me differing heights of both players. so I asked the Canadians. Their player is officially 7' 2" in shoes. At the recent world championships it was also talked about so they had a back to back and Canada won by about an inch.

Sadly I cannot find the final standings for this competition. There also appears to be nothing on the finals either in the VE photo gallery for the event or a write up.

Day 1 11th July 2011
First 50 cropped, rest uncropped
GB Men v Brazil 0-3 (15-25, 25-27, 17-25)

USA v China 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-20)

Ukraine v Canada 3-0 (25-9, 25-7, 25-16)

Azerbaijan v Russia 0-3 (10-25, 5-25, 7-25)

Kazakhstan v Bosnia I Herzegovina 0-3 (11-25, 8-25, 11-25)

Day 2 12th July 2011

Unfortunately couldn't do this day

Day 3 13th July 2011
Again court B is difficult to get lots of photos I like. Had to leave at end of set 2 for Canada v GBR unfortunately as what looked like being very easy win for GB turned out not to be.
I haven't had the time to go through what I have uploaded to get rid of those that aren't in focus enough etc etc.

GB v Bosnia I Herzegovina 0-3 (9-25, 6-25, 16-25)

USA v Russia 0-3 (14-25, 17-25, 18-25)

Ukraine v Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-15)

China v Egypt 0-3 (22-25, 18-25, 19-25)

Brazil v Canada 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-10)

Bosnia I Hertegovina v Ukraine 3-2 (24-26, 25-7, 25-16, 22-25, 15-10)

Azerbaijan v China 0-3 (14-25, 19-25, 13-25)

Kazakhstan v Brazil 1-3 (20-25, 22-25, 26-24,15-25)

Egypt v USA 1-3 (20-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-25)

Canada v GBR 0-3 (15-25, 16-25, 28-26)

Day 4 14th July 2011
Azerbaijan v Canada 0-3 (17-25, 18-25, 12-25)

Ukraine v Egypt 1-3 (18-25, 21-25, 29-27 - 29)

USA v Brazil 0-3 (16-25, 21-25, 12-25)

Not a good match from me for photos.
Bosnia I Herzegovina v China 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-20)

Sadly had to leave early but photos I like.
Russia v GB 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-11)

Day 5 15th July 2011
Sadly had to leave before the semis so only first 3 matches. Unfortunately one of the matches was on court B and getting lots of pictures I like on this court either requires a very long match or me to have a rethink. Consequently without the rethink and a short match Ukraine v GB not many.

Canada had a long hard fought match with the two tallest players on court but despite getting to 2-2 Canada couldn't keep Kazakhstan down for the final set.

Canada v Kazakhstan 2-3 (16-25, 23 -25, 25-17, 25-17, 5-15)

Ukraine v GB 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-20)

USA v China 1-3 (25-22, 21-25, 11-25, 14-25)

Day 6 16th July 2011 GB v USA for 7-8th A far better performance by GB than me. I will blame it on the American shirts which the cameras seemed to object to.
GB Men v USA 3 - 1 (25-23, 25-16, 7-25, 25-19)

Kazakhstan played Azerbaijan in the 9-11th pool
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan 3 - 1 (25-14, 25-8, 25-27, 25-16)

Ukraine v China for 5-6th place
Much better shirts than USA earlier, difficult to find out of focus photos here.
Ukraine v China 3 - 0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-20)

Russia v Brazil for 3-4th place
Lots of photos to choose from, Shirts and skill level probably responsible, or perhaps the end is in sight.
Russia v Brazil 3-1 (24 -26, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22)

Egypt v Bosnia I Herzegovina for Gold
Despite a very spirited fight and a long 2nd set BIH overcame Egypt 3-0
Egypt v Bosnia I Herzegovina 0-3 (11-25, 28-30, 18-25)

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CEV European League GB Men v Belgium 25th June 2011 K2 Crawley
GB men reversed yesterday result but it still went to five. Good solo performance by Spikey on the air guitar, someone should sign him up.
These have been cropped.
GB Men v Belgium 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11)

GB Women v Switzerland 25th June 2011 K2 Crawley
These photos have been cropped. Not many problems for GB women in this match.
GB Women v Switzerland 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-20)

GB Women v Switzerland 24th June 2011 K2 Crawley
3 photos have been cropped. A fairly straightforward win for GB Women marred by the final set ending with a yellow card.
GB Women v Switzerland 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 26-24, 25-23)

CEV European League GB Men v Belgium 24th June 2011 K2 Crawley
Cappuccino is so good here (and at a reasonable price) that whenever I could I queued to get some. discovered the scoreboards are provided by the TV people, pity they will therefore only be at televised matches. So these pictures (which are cropped) have more then before photos of the crowd, as some sections seemed keen to be photographed, together with photos of the score.
These photos have been cropped, just in case you didn't read previous paragraph..
As far as I am concerned the only down side for K2 is the dim lighting.
GB Men v Belgium 2-3 (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 14-16)

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CEV European League GB Men v Slovenia 10-11th June 2011 Ponds Forge EIS
As the 10th June match for the men had one of the largest crowds I have seen in GB for volleyball I have constructed this vast image. It is 11 photos stitched together. It is 20,178 pixels wide by 5797 high. The jpeg on the web site is 33meg in size. The only way you can zoom in to see yourself (or others) though is to download it and hope your computer can cope.
For some reason I didn't try the cappuccino at all this weekend.
I love the new "TV" score boards as they photograph beautifully. Hope they are at all Internationals. I cannot believe the energy the band have to keep going the way they do, perhaps they get it from Pukka Pies?
A truly enormous crowd picture

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11th June 2011
Again GB women proved too strong for Portugal after losing a close first set. Photos are uncropped and I have indulged my liking for sequences.
GB Women v Portugal 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-20, 25-15)

GB Men went down in 3 straight. Photos are uncropped and there are some wide angle shots to show what everyone else is doing. Even a Spikey dance sequence.
GB Men v Slovenia 0-3 (23-25, 21-25, 18-25)

10th June 2011
After a disastrous second set and being 6-12 down in the third a magnificent fight back (and saving match points0 saw GB men eventually win set 3. Sadly set four went Slovenias way. Photos are uncropped.
CEV Euro League Men GB v Slovenia 1-3 (21-25, 14-25, 33-31, 16-25)

A very straightforward win for GB Women. No cropping done on these.
Women GB v Portugal 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-15)

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CEV European League GB Men v Croatia 28th May 2011 EIS

An amazing performance by GB in front of one of their largest home crowds. therefore almost 400 photos here. They came from 2-0 and were within two points of losing 3-0 before coming back to win this. apart from two LJ photos these are uncropped. I say this in case anyone expresses an interest in what they would be like cropped. As the images are large a fair amount of cropping is possible.
GB Men V Croatia 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-4)
A very different match, Far fewer pictures reflected in the score. These are cropped. Highest percentage of middle attacks i think I have ever seen GB execute.
GB Men V Croatia 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 15-25)

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England v Scotland U20 Women 28th May 2011 EIS

EIS have removed the hot drinks machines but the replacement is a reception operated machine which produces, under their skilled manipulation, a very drinkable cappucino at a reasonable price.
For some reason took lots of pictures of serving and line judges. No cropping done and lack of time means not a lot of editing.
England v Scotland U20 Women 3-1 (25-14,25-9.24-26,24-26)
England v Scotland U20 Women 3-0 (25-15, 25-16 25-13)

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BT Paralympics GB v Ireland Boccia 26th May 2011 EIS

An amazing sport to watch. GB won this encounter and have hopes of medals at the paralympics.
GB v Ireland Boccia 10-1

To learn more try the GB Boccia web site.
GB Boccia homepage

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BT Paralympics GB v Netherlands Men Sitting VB 24th May 2011 EIS

As this is a major event the press get fed and provided with coffee,tea and water. Never found out if there was anywhere to get a cappuccino though.
This was a scratch game the night before the official demo game. First time use of weights to hold the net, hence lots picturres of the weights. So far don't know scores.
Filenaming went wrong! Photos have been cropped.
GB v Netherlands Men BT Paralympics

BT Paralympics GB v Netherlands Men Sitting VB 25th May 2011 EIS The actual demo game. A reasonable number of spectators. These photos have not been cropped.
GB v Netherlands Men BT Paralympics 1-3 ( 25-16.24-26, 22-25,16-25)

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Cup Finals Kettering 17th April 2011

Very different going from Mens Final yesterday to U16 girls. Same game but very different in percentage terms. Getting the timing right proved very difficult a lot of the time as the game goes at a very different pace.
I think there must be a rule that MVP cannot be a libero as I cannot see how the Newcastle Staffs U18 libero didn't get it.

U18 Men Newcastle Staffs beat Boswells School 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-19, 25-18)
U18 Ladies Newcastle Staffs beat Redhill Stourbridge 3-0 (25-20, 27-25, 26-24)
U16 Boyss Boswells School beat Newcastle Staffs 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 29-31, 25-21)
U16 Girls Tameside beat Wiltshire Mavericks 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-18)

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Cup Finals Kettering 16th April 2011

Keen to see how the new lighting was I have done this one (that was a while back now). Lighting good and promised to be be better. Am concerned that when it goes back to 2 or 4 court events the corners will not be very good.
Note I have been cropping most of these images.

VE Sitting Final Surrey Gators v London Lynx 3-0 (25-18, 28-26, 25-12)
VE Mens Shield Final Danes Watford beat Boathouse Dewsbury 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-18)
VE Womens Shield Final Newcastle (Staffs) beat Surrey Orcas 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-18)
VE Womens Final Polonia IMKA London beat Leeds Carnegie 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 17-25, 25-23)
VE Mens Final Sheffield beat Leeds Carnegie 3-1 (25-18, 19-25, 26-24, 25-22))

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Super 8 Playoffs 10th April 2011 Kettering
All 4 courts in use. Lighting now 2/3 done but rubbish. If you look at the photos you will see, especially on court 2 and 4 (the right hand pair) dark and ok photos taken 1/10 second apart. Lets hope when finished it works better.
The galleries are done on time basis.
I have included two dark/brighter pair (Jon4_Q8747 in hour 9:44-10:30 and Jon4_Q9439 in hour 10:38-11:41) so if you would like any dark image brighter send me the Jon4_..... name and I will see what I can do.

I am depressed by the output from this day, a combination of lighting, shirts and photographer have produced a very poor set of photos to work with (with one or two exceptions). I have included a few longer sequences than usual, especially Jon4_R3261-3267 in last gallery. For this reason there are a lot of officials and s"static" photos included. The other strange thing is that certain players proved almost imposible to get a photo of in focus whereas other players in same team no problem at all. It is certainly true that a lot of the kit makes it very difficult to get focus in the lighting at Kettering.
The setters are usually the easiest to get right because firstly they, and therefore I, got most practice and secondly because they get into a kind of still position as they play the ball. A lot of the libero shots should be similar but here I had major problems getting good photos of the liberos.
S8 Playoffs 9:44-10:30 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 10:38-11:41 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 12:00-13:02 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 13:04-13:41 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 13:45-14:39 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 14:44-15:41 10th April 2011
S8 Playoffs 15:44-End 10th April 2011

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Super 8s Playoffs Kettering 2-3rd April 2011
Kettering 3rd April 2011

Polonia men made every game go to 5, A few yellow cards to keep the crowd interested. Hopefully all the match results are correct.

M1/2 Men Sheffield v Leeds 3-0 (25-21,25-20,25-23) and Polonia v Malory Eagles 2-3 (23-25,25-21,22-25,27-25,13-15)
M3/4 Women Polonia v Swiss Cottage 3-1 (25-27,25-12,28-26,25-20) and Uni of Birmingham v Malory Eagles 0-3 (23-25,21-25,23-25)
M5/6 Men Polonia v Sheffield 3-2 (22-25,25-23,19-25,27-25,15-10) and Leeds v Malory Eagles 3-0 (25-14,27-25,25-20)
M7.8 Women Uni of Birmingham v Polonia 0-3 (21-25,11-25,23-25( and Swiss Cottage v Malory Eagles 3-1 (11-25,25-21,25-23,25-22)

Kettering 2nd April 2011

First time since redecoration which appears to be still in progress as management, for some reason, thinks that not putting temporary notices on the Ladies and Gents doors is a good idea.
Sadly cappuccino is not to be recommended now but the ordinary coffee is fine and I liked my prawn mayo sandwich at quite reasonable prices (but I do come from Cheltenham). Rumour has it two members of staff were rushed to hospital earlier in the week due to paint fumes.
More importantly (all right for me) the lighting has been partially upgraded. 4/9 of the lamps are a lot brighter which gives a bright left half of two courts and a gradually darkening right hand court for the left side pair of courts. Hopefully all finished by cup finals as the word is it won't be done by the last S8 play-off.

M1/2 Men London Docklands v London Lynx 1 3-1 (16-25,25-17,25-19,25-18) and Coventry & Warwick Riga v Team Northumbria 1-3 (16-25,25-16,21-25,21-25)
M3/4 Women Wessex v Ashcombe Dorking 1-3 (23-25,19-25,25-15,17-25) and Leeds v Tameside V.C. 0-3 (15-25,13-25,22-25)
M5/6 Men London Lynx 1 v Team Northumbria 2-3 (21-25,18-25,25-16,25-22,11-15) and Coventry & Warwick Riga v London Docklands 3-0 (25-17,25-17,25-20)
M7.8 Women Wessex v Leeds 3-0 (25-22,25-21,25-15) and Tameside V.C. v Ashcombe Dorking 1 2-3 (19-25,12-25,25-23,25-22,10-15)

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Super 8s Playoffs Ponds Forge 26-27th March 2011
Ponds Forge 27th March 2011
Again I enjoyed the food and cappuccino. Of the three main meals I ate over the weekend I could not finish any, they just give me too much and luckily I have gained the will power to only over eat a bit instead of a lot.
This day was the bottom 4 playoffs. My problem is I failed to switch with the way the bottom 4 play compared to the top 4.
Again matches done in pairs. I also missed the last match due to transport commitments. Thee is an odd colour balance on a few photos both here at Ponds Forge and later at Kettering. I don't know if it is the lighting or the camera getting the white balance wrong but it could be corrected if needed.
Will be even harder on the 10th April as all 8 men and women play at same time.

M1 Women Leeds v Wessex and M2 Women Tameside V.C. v Ashcombe Dorking 1
M3 Men Docklands v Riga 0-3 (22-25,17-25,18-25) and M4 Men Lynx v Northumbria 1-3 (18-25,25-21,18-25,22-25)
M5 Women Ashcombe v Leeds and M6 Women Wessex v Tameside VC
M7 Men Northumbria v Docklands 2-3 (25-16,21-25,25-22,24-26,5-15)

Ponds Forge 26th March 2011
I had a request not to publish a picture with someone leaning against the barrier in it. As it happened I hadn't intended to publish it. So I have with very subtle photoshopping. There are NO prizes for guessing who and to help those who just want to see it its name starts Jon4_P5
Remember I don't have the time to do much in the way of fine tuning which photos I put here. This means a few may be slightly off focus (but you have to know what I was focusing on). I do no cropping (maybe one or two out of 20,000) which will improve most a lot and I will do this if anyone asks for specific images to be cropped. There are too many repeats of officials doing the same signal (proves they are consistent though).

M1 Women Malory Eagles v Polonia IMKA London
M2 Women Swiss Cottage v University of Bormingham
Have given up splitting the games. All games now in pairs (as two courts were running at same time and I switched between the two). M3 Men Sheffield v Malory Eagles 2-3 (25-22,21-25,21-25,25-18,13-15) and M4 Men Leeds Carnegie v London Polonia 0-3 (16-25,22-25,23-25)
M5 Women University of Birmingham v Polonia IMKA and M6 women Malory Eagles v Swiss Cottage
M7 Men London Polonia v Sheffield 3-1 (26-28,28-26,27-25,25-19) and M8 Men Malory Eagles v Leeds Carnegie 3-0 (25-21,25-20,25-19)

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Harpers International Sitting Volleyball Stoke Manderville Stadium 23-25th March 2011

Friday 25th March In summary for the three days:
Coffee was great
Food was good
People were great
Oh and the volleyball was worth going for.

Main issue here for me was the matches ran together (unlike most matches on Wednesday and Thursday where only last matches overlapped.
On a photographic point I suffer the seeing what I want to see and don't therefore see players blocking the photo I intend. Luckily with the use of dogotial allowing me to take lots of pictures it doesn't in reality mean much for the end production, just means have even more to ignore. Given the large number of pixels in the camera cropping the originals quite a lot is now possible (I have put one in) without degrading the image too much.
Semi-final - Men Great Britain 3-0 Canada (26-24, 25-13, 25-11)
Semi-final - Women Great Britain 3-2 Canada (25-8, 26-28, 25-19, 23-25, 18-16)
Mens Final - Netherlands 3-0 Great Britain (25-20, 25-20, 25-20)
Womens Final - Netherlands 3-0 Great Britain (25-13, 25-15, 25-17)

Thursday 24th March This day was spent mainly trying to get individual pictures, something I rarely do. Consequently as I am better at guessing where servers are going to be it features lots of serves and other static shots. I took about the same number as yesterday but a far higher proportion are complete rubbish.

Match 7 Men - Great Britain 1-3 Netherlands (24-26, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15)
Match 8 Women - Great Britain 3-1 Canada (24-26, 25-16, 25-15, 25-15)
Match 9 Men - Canada 0-3 Netherlands (20-25, 17-25, 11-25)
Match 10 Women - Canada 0-3 The Netherlands (10-25, 17-25, 11-25)
Match 11 Men - Great Britain 1-3 Canada (26-24, 16-25, 15-25, 15-25)
Match 12 Women - Great Britain 0-3 Netherlands (9-25, 14-25, 14-25)

Wednesday 23rd MArch 2011
Luckily down to 2 courts from Sunday's 4 and only final 2 matches overlap (as long as they don't all go to 5 sets).
Women Match 1 GB v Netherlands 0-3 16-25, 18-25, 22-255 23rd March 2011
Men Match 2 GB v Canada 3-1 25-14, 25-18, 23-25, 25-12 23rd March 2011
Women Match 3 Canada v Netherlands 0-3 6-25, 7-25, 13-25 23rd March 2011
Men Match 4 Canada v Netherlands 0-3 18-25, 15-25, 17-25 23rd March 2011
Women Match 5 GB v Canada 3-1 20-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-8 23rd March 2011
Men Match 6 GB v Netherlands 3-2 6-25, 7-25, 13-25 23rd March 2011

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I have taken photos of VB for 6 of the last 8 days. The queue to process is now:
Second half Sitting Grand Prix, now only finished.
3 days of the Harpers Internations Sitting Tournament.
2 Days of Super 8 Playoffs at Ponds Forge.

Coffee Nation Update
On Wednesday at Stoke Maderville the machine was serviced (it took 3 hours, but I said it was big). The up side is the engineer explained it to me.
Firstly it does give change but if any of the coin tubes are empty then it tells you no change. Therefore me putting £2.00 and getting 20p back was due to the 10p tube being empty. Most drinks are £1.70 unless you press the Large button in which case they are £2.00.

VE sitting GrandPrix Stoke Manderville 20th March 2011
Firstly my appreciation for the hard work the ball boys did. Sorry how much ball retrieving the Refs and LJs did.
The first gallery is a very small sample. I took over 6,000 photos. Luckily some are out of focus, some the timing of the photo is rubbish but it will take me a while to get it to a target of less than 1500.
For those interested I took photos at ground level to start with but as I have found previously sitting is too crowded for a great success rate from floor level. Luckily Stoke has a balcony so matches 3-20 were shot from on high (with a slight exception). I will split the galleries by time period.
Now to the important bit: The coffee. Firstly the friendly staff made me a coffee despite being closed (open for breakfast to those staying) all I had to have was right money. The next experience was Coffee Nation. A huge machine that promised everything (everything apart from understandable instructions that is). First you choose the cup. Three available labelled £1.30, £1.70 and £2.00. The instructions said no change given. The £1.30 was obviously for expresso and as I didn't have £1.70 I put £2 in the machine and selected cappuccino. Strangely the coin acceptor then spewed out 20p. So I paid £1.80. Then the machine made amazing noises and eventually filled the cup with a frothy drink. One of the best machine cappuccinos I have ever had from a machine (and a lot of hand made). It is a very large cappuccino though so it was lucky I could take it to the gallery and park it on table whilst photographing. Wish every venue was like this.
I was also impressed by a lot of the teams' kit.
VE Sitting GrandPrix 20th March 2011

First proper gallery. Note time is precious therefore there are photos that are repeated (especially of the oficials) and some that are a bit off focus but it takes too long to bother getting rid of a few. let alone cropping them. These are pictures of the event as I saw things, note the action sequence of Steve W demonstrating the flag technique.
VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 1 Start - 11:09 20th March 2011

VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 2 11:09 - 12:40 20th March 2011

VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 3 12:40 - 14:40 20th March 2011

VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 4 14:40 - 16:09 20th March 2011

VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 5 16:10 - 17:46 20th March 2011

VE Sitting GrandPrix Gallery 6 17:46 - End 20th March 2011

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VE Mens Super 8 Malory Eagles v Team Northumbria 5th March 2011 Ernest Bevin School
Not quite what I was expecting, first Carol insisted on making me coffee. didn't know if it was an inducement to not publish photos of her or to do so, well I have, well a few. Sadly vending machine had run out of corn salt and vinegar but the cappuccino was very drinkable at a price less than a quarter of my Waitrose who now make an undrinkable cappuccino.

First set closeish with home team having an early lead but visitor turned it round to 9-8 and increased lead to 16-11 Malory fought back to 16-17 but something happened at 17-21 and the score became 16-22 and that was about it for the first set.
Second set really just went Malory Eagles way as they quickly got to 6-2 and then 11-4, but Nothumbria fought and got it back to 11-12 but Malory settled to win 25-20.
The third set was even for the first few points but Malory got ahead to 8-4 and then 13-7 but Northumbria didn't give in and closed to 15-13 only for Malory to increase their lead to 22-17 and at 23-18 most probably thought it was all over but Northumbria kept fighting andd got back to 21-23 and then drawing level at 24-24 and then going ahead 25-24 but then Malory had a go and got to 26-25 and then 28-27 before Northumbria finished at 30-28.
Perhaps set three was too much for Northumbria going down 1-5 rapidly followed by 6-15 and 13-21 as they lost it relatively easily 25-17 for set four.
This gave me yet another five setter. The last one the dramatic Docklands win over Leeds. And when Northumbria got to 5-2 it was looking that way. Malory Eagles had other ideas and were 8-7 ahead at the change over. Malory got a two point lead and kept it till 12-10 before winning the next three and the match
Due to the encouragement I received (ie more than one person said the last photos were good) there are over 280 of this match, even more than last Mens S8
VE Mens S8 Malory Eagles v Team Northumbria 2011 3-2 18-25 25-20 28-30 25-17 15-10

The womens match sadly wasn't as close and apart from a cameo line judging appearance from Mr Orton looked as though it would be very strait forward for Malory Eagles. Until set three when a changed Malory Eagles were 4-8 down at the first technical. They then got even more behind at 13-19 and the possibilty of a fourth set looked possible. The Malory coaching team had other ideas and with time-outs and subs won it 25-23.
VE Womens S8 Malory Eagles v Tameside 5th March 2011 3-0 25-16 25-10 25-23

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VE Mens Super 8 Docklands v Leeds 19th February 2011 Haverstock School
Sadly cafe was closed all day forsing me to walk the streets of London in the wet. First potential coffee shop was Salvation Army but they were padlocked up, forcing me to walk another 25m the the Coffee Loungs. Here though all was well. An excellent cappuccino for a lot less than I paid in my local Tescos yesterday.
Talking to the Docklands crowd before the match they were not expecting to win. However in the first set Docklands managed to keep it together to win 26-24. Set two was also close but Docklands again won a set a lot of us thought they would lose. Set three saw Leeds dominate throughout taking it easily. Set four looked like it was going to be easy for Leeds but despite having a good lead Docklands managed to get back to 20-21 before losing it 21-25. Set five was extraordinary. Docklands opened by serving into the net but then winning the next point for 1-1. then Docklands won the next 12 points (albeit with one yellow card helping) as Slawomir Omylski changed his serve (I think all his serves in sets 1-4 had gone into the net but I may be exaggerating a little) and took Docklands to 13-1. I am told he served at least 5 aces as Leeds completely fell apart. Consequently not many photos of set 5 mainly of Docklands looking happy.
Due to the encouragement I received (ie more than one person said the last photos were good) there are over 250 of this match.
VE Mens S8 Docklands v Leeds 19th February 2011 3-2 26-24 25-22 18-25 21-25 15-3

The women's match consequently started a little late and set one swung both ways as both teams had good spells to either get into the lead or pull it back. Eventually Swiss took it 26-24. Set two was very one sided. Swiss then changed a few players for set three and Wessex took advantage at the end to pull back and eventaully get a set point at 25-24. But by this time Swiss had brought back on a few of their opeing six and managed to close it out 27-25.
VE Womens S8 Swiss Cottage v Wessex 19th February 2011 3-0 26-24 25-16 27-25

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VE Mens Super 8 London Lynx v Sheffield and Div 1 Lynx v Richmond 30th January 2011 Whitechapel Sprts Center
Nightmare parking. Took 45 minutes from arriving at venue till I could actually walked through the door. Forced to use satnav to get back to car after.
Sadly no coffee at all. Nice receptionists say coffee machine due soon. Unlike Haverstock they have put the court in the middle of the hall. Perhaps Swiss/Docklands could get theirs moved?
I ended up with a program. Sadly no shirt numbers. If you look at international programs they put a lot of player info in. It would be nice if VE laid minimum contents rules, eg shirt number, height and age.

Venue lighting was good (again). Think the white walls caused some issues for the camera against the black of Lynx's kit but such is life, and I ended up with a reasonable number of acceptable photos. Two very quick matches. First the Lynx v Richmond Mens Div 1 match showed very impressive keep the ball in play from Lynx who also made far less unforced errors.

Sheffield beat Lynx in 3 but certainly in sets 2 and 3 it looked like Lynx could win at least a set as they got quite reasonable leads only to let Sheffield back in.
VE Mens S8 London Lynx v Sheffield 30th January 2011 0-3 21-25 13-25 22-25
VE Mens Div1 London Lynx v Richmond 30th January 2011 3-0 25-22 25-22 25-22

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VE Mens Super 8 Docklands v Coventry & Warwick Riga 22nd January 2011 Somewhere
The somewhere was Haverstock School but that is difficult to prove as the building doesn't believe in telling you anything even inside but luckily the staff are very friendly and obviously used to telling people where to go. I have never been in such a large building with no signs to anything.

There was no cappuccino but a drinkable instant at a reasonable price and unlike all other venues I have been to a plethora a post coffee shops within a couple of hundred metres.

Venue lighting was good (I am getting spoilt) pity they put the court at one end of hall thus preventing spike serves due to lack of room.

Given Docklands last result the first set must have suprised them as they were 15-9 down at one stage followed by 20-15 but Riga then failed to take a lot of opportunities and suddenly it was 21-21 and then 23-23 but Riga scrapped through 25-23. I think this was Rigas undoing as Docklands won the next two sets and I expected the 4th to be fairly straight forward but Riga put their minds to it and won the 4th. The fifth was close till 6-6 but then nothing went Rigas way and soon were 12-7 down. A double yellow card then took it to 13-8 and Docklands didn't take much time in finishing it off.
VE Mens S8 Docklands v Coventry & Warwick Riga 22nd January 2011 3-2 23-25 25-19 25-19 21-25 15-9

VE Womens Super 8 Swiss Cottage v Leeds 22nd January 2011 Haverstock School
Leeds again had only 6 players but despite losing they seem to enjoy themselves. Sadly (for me and Leeds) Swiss Cottage put in very long serving spells with virtually no return of ball. This was a match with almost no rallies.
VE Womens Super 8 Swiss Cottage v Leeds 3-0 25-19 25-13 25-15 22nd January 2011

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VE Womens Super 8 Malory Eagles v Leeds 15th January 2011 Ernest Bevin
Only two problems here. Firstly sat nav took to wrong school but luckily people there knew it was only a couple of hundred metres away. Secondly you feel really stupid standing in front of a door with Automatic in big letters written on it only nothing happens. Luckily didn't take that long to work it out.

Firstly the cappuccino. Very drinkable from the vending machine and at the price I could afford to have two!
The lighting. I thought it was reasonable and then they turned them all on. Why hasn't Kettering got this? Sadly of course it gives me very few excuses.
Very impressed by the keenness of Malory (and others) to step in and line judge for both matches. Hence photos of people not in uniform. Charlie thinks that perhaps if there is interval music between sets then all line judges should dance. Although I noticed he didn't follow the lead.
Leeds came with a minimal team and fought bravely but weren't together as shown in some of the photos with two players trying to dig the ball. None the less a reasonable match to watch with every one trying and not giving up which is what makes watching matches much more of a pleasure. Sadly I wasn't good enough to get an in focus shot of Charlie spotting K8841 had hit the antenna. K8972 was recovered for any interested which is why it is here (well apart from shot of apprehensive 2nd ref). K9021-24 show that some playes close their eyes on the block and other don't. The photos are about 1/10 second apart. K9147-52 was start of third set and I thought the 2nd ref had taken over the job of coaching Malory Eagles.

VE Womens Super 8 Malory Eagles v Leeds 15th January 2011 3-0 25-16 25-13 26-24

VE Mens Super 8 Malory Eagles v Coventry & Warwick Riga 15th January 2011 Ernest Bevin
Certain people at VE keep asking for photos of officials doing it properly. So I take photos of them either doing it well (in my opinion) or that entertain me (line judge dancing for example although you would have had to have been there). K9565-9 show the ball being blocked (for those having problems finding the ball. K9719-20 show the Riga setter being fooled by the dump. It took a second from the hit for it to get the second photo. Need a high level coach to say if it should have been picked up. Is K9757 due to volleyballs or football?
I would like to make black and dark blue kit illegal though unless it has lots of advertising on it.
Riga have looked to be improving of late but sadly it took them too long to get it together. The first two sets were very straightforward for Malory Eagles. Suddenly in set 3 though Riga were ahead 10-9 and were either level or one point ahead right till the end but relatively unforced hitting errors saw Malory Eagles eventually win 26-24.
VE Mens Super 8 Malory Eagles v Coventry & Warwick Riga 3-0 25-17 25-15 26-24 15th January 2011

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VE Womens Super 8 Polonia IMKA v University of Birmingham 11th December 2010 St Benedicts School
This time Polonia tried to force food and drink on me but sadly in an effort to survive Christmas was forced to decline the food apart from two small tomatoes. As expected the womens match against Birmingham was over quickly despite Birmigham fighting hard but with only 6 players they were up against it from the start. I even got a lesson in how to open doors without handles from the friendly caretaker.

Even better program (I get a credit).

VE Womens S8 Polonia IMKA v University of Birmingham 3-0 25-11 25-18 25-17 11th December 2010

VE Mens Super 8 Polonia v Sheffield 11th December 2010 St Benedicts School
The mens match against Sheffield was dramaticaly different to the last mens match I was at here against Leeds. The extra training had obviously worked. This match probably had the longest interruptions due to "conversations" between captains and referees I have witnessed which ended up as a 1-1 draw in yellow cards. Polonia kept getting ahead in the first two sets only to let Sheffield pull back but kept themselves ogether to win the first two convincingly. Note images K1437-K1442 although not the most in focus ones are here to show what happens if you think you have won the rally (Sheffield were guilty of leaving a lot of balls that landed in). It was the end of a long rally that Polonia's Andrzej Saller "miraculously" recovered one handed on the third touch and sent it deep to Sheffield's end line. The third set went to Sheffield although Polonia this time got back to within a couple of points near the end. The fourth saw Polonia dominate after recovering from a clever serving spell from Sheffield that forced Polonia into a sunstitution. The large (well by English standards) crowd were enthusiatic and most happy with results. If only they had better lighting, but apart from this (and the inability of the men to put up advertising banners) this is where Super 8 teams should be in terms of presenting volleyball to the public.
VE Mens Super 8 Polonia v Sheffield 3-1 25-16 25-19 21-25 25-21 11th December 2010

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VE Mens S8 Polonia v Leeds 20th November 2010 St Benedicts School.
's end line. First a word (well more than one) about the sponsors, Tyskie. After being asked if I could try and get their banner in some shots and as a drinker of foreign lagers I thought it incumbent on me as a supporter of volleyball to try the drink. In a short hiatus early on in the processing of these photos therefore I took the short walk (in the rain) to my nearest Polish deli. Sadly they did not sell alcohol (well not to obviously non Poles) but advised trying the Indian off-license next door. In obviously a spirit of international cooperation they did sell Tyskie. The cans were very cold so on returning to computer in an effort to cut down my carbon foot print I decided to drink one there and then so I didn't have to recool it later. It came in a large can and has a very pleasant taste but didn't taste very alcoholic. So it came as a bit of a surprise when reading the empty tin (large) that it was 5.6 per cent alcohol. Therefour any erors in thise phatos I blame entyrely on Tyskie, Polonia's sponsors.

The match had one or two notable events, some amusing, some not. The most amusing (to the officials and Polonia was the photographer being locked out half way through the match) but for health and safety reasons I will not go into details about this.

Polonia had done their research and immediatley I got there the team offered me a coffee of my choice which they provided by driving into town as there are no facilities at the venue. And an excellent cappuccino it was too. The program (many copies) was the best I have seen in a long time (nothing to do with one of my photos on the front). In colour and clearly printed. Wish all teams were at this level.

Firstly a few photos of the officals demonstrating they are on the same planet as the the players. It is good to see a complete corp of officials doing a good (if at times thankless) job. So whether they liked it or not there are photos of them here (no bribes offered, sigh).

Sadly the match was, to me, scrappy with neither team being very convincing and it wouldn't have taken Polonoia much of a raise in game to reverse the scoreline. I think the main difference was Polonia being weak in spells against the Leeds serve but both teams were making errors and being forced to return the ball weakly. Leeds did have a good blocking period at the end which sealed the last set as Polonia were looking to get back to level scores.

I was very impressed by the set up and friendliness Polonia have, all they need now are some lights. Chris was right about photos from on high, they need cropping but the floor is very good (compared to other England taraflexs) for lack of reflection. Without the croipping you do get a good picture of how the teams are lining up for serve and attack/defence. Forced to drop to 1/400sec using the wideangle (only goes to f2.8) which means the hand/ball blurring even more but I suspect need 1/1000 or better shutter speed which is a lot more lighting. If I get another opportunity to shoot from here I will go with the 50mm f1.4
VE Mens S8 London Polonia v Leeds Carnegie 1-3 22-25 21-25 25-18 20-25 20th November2010

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VE Womens S8 University of Birmingham v Ashcombe Dorking and Mens 1 University of Brimingham v Richmond.
Coffee excellent (but the fact I made it myself may have something to do with that rating). Everyone their usual friendly selves. The University women overwhelmed Ashcombe until near the end of set 3 when a Birmingham injury let Ashcombe close to 20-22 before Birmingham pulled themselves together. I like the Universities kit, makes taking pictures in the very dim lighting at Camp Hill much easier. Camp Hill also suffers the colour temperature changing that also afflicts Kettering so some photos look ok and others are yellow.
Sadly of course Birmingham are taking the Super 8 requirement "Match Day Programme" literally so none of the spectators got any info regarding who was playing as it appears the only copy was reserved for the referee to check.
The University Men then played a scratch Richmond team of 6 who showed great spirit despite looking as though they had never played as a team before.
No offers of payment to surpress photos was made so everyone gets published.
VE Womens Super 8s University of Birmingham 1 v Ashcombe Dorking 1 3-0 25-18 25-18 25-23 23rd October 2010

VE Mens 1 University of Birmingham v Richmond VC 3-0 25-17 25-20 25-12 23rd October 2010 2010

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VE Super 8 first season Women Ascombe Dorking 1 v Polonia 9th October 2010
Wonder if there are any vending machines here, haven't found any yet? Aside from lack of coffee a pleasant venue. Sadly (for me and Ashcombe) the match was very one sided and set 3 only went close due to Polonia. For those with more time to spare than they should have you may notice a complete lack of photographs of one official, that is only because they threatened to recompense me if I didn't show any. Time will tell.
Nice to have an alternative sport to watch at the same time, not an olympic sport yet though.
VE Womens Super 8s Ashcombe Dorking 1 v Polonia IMKA London 0-3 11-25 18-25 22-25 9th October 2010 2010


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Ponds Forge 3/4 July 2010 CEV Euro League
Got here very early as offered a lift (thanks) so was able to sample the food and drink at Ponds Forge again. still very edible and drinkable at a very reasonable price. Even tried a latte this time.
Due to no more matches for a while I have cropped, to my tastes, these photos. The women's second match against Serbia showed how well GB can play.
CEV Euro League GB Women v Serbia 0-3 (19-25 20-25 23-25) 4th July 2010

The men's second match was a very straitforward win for Spain with GB only looking close in the third set.
CEV Euro League GB Men v Spain 0-3 (12-25 17-25 22-25) 4th July 2010

GB Women v Serbia showed a determination and the fighting spirit of GB Women but wasn't until set three they managed to get it all together to really worry Serbia. For all you (ex-)international playes and very high level coaches perhaps you can answer this question:
The first photo is a composite showing two sets by Serbia. Can the players read this in advance and if they can can they do anything with the information. For what it is worth GB didn't/couldn't. follow up question does anyone believe players can be taught to read this and be quick enough to use the information.
As I take lots of sequence photos it has become apparent, even at GB men's level, you can tell a tip is coming, as yet I haven't analysed the timing info in the photos to work out how much time ahead of the actual contact there is to try and work out if it is usable. Of course I am talking about viewing from the side which isn't a viewpoint the opposition get but the arm swing is also different which may be discernable from across the net. It is certainly true that photos of attacks from the back end of defense court don't show anything.
CEV Euro League GB Women v Serbia 0-3 (15-25 11-25 20-25) 3rd July 2010

GB Men not able to get a set despite pushing hard. Spain claimed it was virtually the side, bar 1, that would represent them in the finals so on that basis a good performace.
CEV Euro League GB Men v Spain 0-3 (23-25 20-25 17-25) 3rd July 2010

Some photos of the line judges from both days
CEV Euro League GB Line Judges 3-4th July 2010

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K2 Crawley 19th June 2010 CEV Euro League
Women's match sadly very one sided. I think reflected by the photos.
CEV Euro League GB Women v Bulgaria 0-3 14-25 14-25 14-25) 19th June 2010

First visit to K2 but failed to sample the cappuccino, other than that it is a good venue (well it would be if they had more lighting).
GB Men started indifferently losing the first set but then played the next 3 much more as we expect from them now.
CEV Euro League GB Men v Romania 3-1 (21-25 25-18 25-18 25-16) 19th June 2010

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EIS Sheffield CEV League EIS 5/6th June 2010
Lots of "what happens next" shots here some even showing how good the GB Men's block is.
A very impressive demolition job by GB men giving them on overall points win over Slovakia
CEV League GB Men v Slovakia 6th June 2010 3-0 25:23 25:21 25:22

Despite the 1-3 end score GB Men are looking good and getting to 23 in the other sets is something they could only have dreamed of a year ago.
To speed up upload these photos are much smaller than normal (well there are a lot of them) so if anyone wants any of them email me and I will put the large version up.
CEV League GB Men v Slovakia 5th June 2010 1-3 23:25 25:19 23:25 23:25


Even hotter than yesterday, over 29 deg C. A lot of photos even though it was 0-3 but a much better performance by GB as reflected in the scores
CEV League GB Women v Romania 6th June 2010 0-3 22-25 20-25 20-25

I am trying a fast crop tool here so images have been cropped. Stil takes time so probably won't do it very often.
Very hot but EIS now have hot drinks available at desk, because, as helpful lady said, drinks machines keep breaking down.
CEV League GB Women v Romania 5th June 2010 0-3 19-25 15-25 15-25

Here is a gallery that won't interest most as it is photos of mainly line judges.
EIS 5/6th June 2010 Line Judges

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CEV Euro Championships Ponds Forge Sheffield 29th/30th May 2010
People with flags
Ponds Forge 29/30th May 2010 Line Judges

The Israel v Slovakia match has been cropped.
CEV Euro Championships Israel v Slovakia Ponds Forge 30th May 2010 3-0 25:21 25:21 25:22

CEV Euro Championships GB Women v Ukraine Ponds Forge 30th May 2010 0-3 10:25 18:25 15:25

CEV Euro Championships GB Women v Israel CEV Ponds Forge 29th May 2010 1-3 17-25 12-25 25-19 22-25

CEV Euro Championships Slovakia v Ukraine Ponds Forge 29th May 2010 3-2 21:25 25:20 23:25 25:20 15:11

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Regionals Kettering CC 23rd May 2010
Another pleasant day at Kettering. Even good weather going and returning. Both finals went the distance so day was a fair bit longer than anticipated. Just for Denis I have included photos of officials doing things, hopefully correctly.
Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 9:30-10:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 10:30-11:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 11:30-12:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 12:30-13:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 13:30-14:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 14:30-15:30

Regionals KCC 23rd May 2010 15:30-END

GB Men v Azerbaijan EIS Sheffield 15th may 2010 GB 3-0 AZE (25-18,25-12,25-18)
The best performance by GB Men I have witnessed (so far). Needing to win 3-0 and not let Azerbaijan get 60 points the whole team played with confidence and maturity making very few unforced errors and with a demonstration of how to serve that all teams in England (as I haven't seen Irish or Scots teams play) would do well to learn from. Even when Azerbaijan pulled back to 14-14 in the third set they kept it together and made it one of the shortest matches I have been to. Coach Harry Brokking said the season's experience in pro leagues by the players had improved their play considerably. Of particular note was the success of the GB block.
EIS have installed some automatic doors so I kept trying to push them open as they retreated from me. Must be a sign of advancing age. Other than that EIS was looking good.
European Championships GB Men v Azerbaijan EIS 15th May 2010 GB 3-0 AZE (25-18,25-12,25-18)

Sadly the Womens game was cancelled due to ash and played a "friendly" against Middlesborough Men.

Inter-Regionals 1-3 May 2010 Kettering Conference Centre
3 days of multi court volleyball. When I put the photos up they will in time order with no hope of idenifying individual matches. Luckily teams have their names on shirts.
The galleries on done on a time basis. Saturday I was only there until 17:00. The Sunday and Monday are just about complete.
The lighting is not only dim at Kettering it varies a lot (faster than the eye can pick up but the camera does, also the it varies around the hall so a few images are very yellow and some are darker than the rest. These can be corrected if anyone particularly wants a specific photo). Rumour has it VE are going to improve the lighting at Kettering. I really hope they consult with someone who knows what they are doing.
Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 16:00:-END

Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 15:00:16:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 13:40:15:00

Stopped for coffee.
Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 12:00:13:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 11:00:12:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 10:00:11:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Monday 3rd May 2010 9:00:10:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 19:00:20:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 18:00:19:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 17:00:18:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 16:00:17:00

Boys Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 15:15:15:55

Girls Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 13:20-END

Girls Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 12:00-13:20

Girls Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 10:30-12:00

Gilrs Inter-Regionals Sunday 2nd May 2010 9:00-10:30

Girls Inter-Regionals Saturday 1st May 2010 15:30-17:00

Girls Inter-Regionals Saturday 1st May 2010 14:00-15:30

Girls Inter-Regionals Saturday 1st May 2010 13:00-14:00

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Crystal Palace National Finals 24/25 April 2010
Lots of photos to process so will take a while. Only downside of venue is lack of cappuccino. Other than that the food and normal coffee very good and everyone I came across helpful and friendly. Lighting good. Definitely need more practise at sitting, it all happens so quickly.
To make life easy for me here are the results (stolen from VE of course):

Sunday 25 April 2010
U18 Mens another 5 setter so almost same number of photos as the U18 Women. For those who look at them I do know that a lot of photos look very similar. Reason is simple it takes too long to cut out the almost identical photos and the more consistent the player is the more likely pictures of them will look the same.
U18 Men Newcastle Staffs beat Wessex 3-2 (25-16, 23-25, 25-16, 24-26, 15-5)

Problem with 5 setters is you end with lots of photos. Late on in gallery are 3 images much the same just so I can see what cropping does to them.
U18 Women Ashcombe beat Wessex 3-2 ( 25-20, 20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-12)

U16 Boys Wessex beat Boswells 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-22)

Sitting England beat Wales 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 28-26)

U16 Girls final, Lots of them.
Tameside beat Newcastle Staffs 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-20)

Saturday 24 April 2010
Some of the Womens Final photos have been cropped. This takes a lot of time so is the only match where I have done it. If you want specific photos cropped let me know.
Sitting Final East London Lynx v FDSW Celtic Dragons 3-0 (25-10, 25-5, 25-10)

Sitting 3/4 East Midlands Lions beat Portsmouth 2-0 (25-15, 25-11)

Sitting East London Lynx v East Midlands Lions 2-0 (25-16, 25-16)

Sitting FDSW Celtic Dragons v Portsmouth 2-0 (28-26, 25-19)

Women's Shield Middlesborough College v Team South Wales 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-10, 25-22)

Men's Final Malory Eagles v Polonia 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-22)

Women's Final Polonia v Leeds Carnegie 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-13)

Men's Shield University of Birmingham v SGTV Solent 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-15)

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U15 Finals 20/21st March 2010 Camp Hill School Birmingham Truly wonderful venue, long may it be available. Lighting very good and the school staff I met were outstandingly friendly. Sadly no cappuccino but the coffee was very good and the catering showed what can be done at very reasonable prices. Due to another huge number of photos taken it will be a while before they are up.
It was interesting to observe how often coaches were calling balls out on the end line that landed in.
Most now up. As before if anyone is particularly interested in a photo(s) but doesn't like the exposure, colour balance or cropping please let me know.
Warning: Boys Gallery 5 is very large. Finished Boys, Gallery 6 is even bigger.
All done. I really liked some of the kit, sadly some of the kit is not good to look at.
Presentation photos are here:
U15 Finals Camp Hill Presentations 21st Mar 2010

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 8

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 7

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 6

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 5

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 4

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 3

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 2

U15 Girls Camp Hill 21st Mar 2010 Gallery 1

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 6

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 5

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 4

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 3

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 2

U15 Boys Camp Hill 20th Mar 2010 Gallery 1

Sitting Mile for Sport Relief
Finished, Hopefully a sample of what happened and the enjoyment, with a bit of pain thrown in. Very impressed by the players and the staff etc who make it all possible.
Sport Relief Sitting Mile 13th March 2010

U16, U18 and Senior Semis Kettering 27/28 Feb 2010
First visit to KCC, Very pleasant experience. Cappuccino very reasonable price and very drinkable. Staff very helpful. Only slight downside (for me) is dim lighting but luckily I have bankrupted myself with Canon's latest and greatest. Due to the large number of games (32 Saturday and 28 Sunday) putting the pictures up will take a while and happen chronologically. It is very unlikely I will have individual match folders, at least to start with.
U18 done. White balance can be improved in some photos and as stated below will do this if requested for specific photos.

Eighth and final. U18 Last 8 Kettering 8th gallery 28th February 2010
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Seventh. U18 Last 8 Kettering 7th gallery 28th February 2010
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Sixth. U18 Last 8 Kettering 6th gallery 28th February 2010
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Fifth. U18 Last 8 Kettering 5th gallery 28th February 2010
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Fourth. U18 Last 8 Kettering 4th gallery 28th February 2010
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Third. U18 Last 8 Kettering 3rd gallery 28th February 2010
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Second. U18 Last 8 Kettering 2nd gallery 28th February 2010
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First. U18 Last 8 Kettering 1st gallery 28th February 2010
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Senior Semis finished

Senior Semi 3rd gallery. Senior Semis Kettering 3rd gallery 27th February 2010
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Senior Semi 2nd gallery. Senior Semis Kettering 2nd gallery 27th February 2010
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Senior Semi 1st gallery. Senior Semis Kettering 1st gallery 27th February 2010
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At last the U16s are "finished". Now for the Senior Semis and U18s. It is taking so long I have decided the Senior semis and U18 will not be cropped. If you see a photo you are interested in but think there is too much "nothingness" in it let me know and I will see what I can do. I can get the photos down to about a quarter and still have a reasonable image.

Eighth. U16 Last 8 Kettering 8th gallery 27th February 2010
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Seventh. U16 Last 8 Kettering 7th gallery 27th February 2010
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Sixth. U16 Last 8 Kettering 6th gallery 27th February 2010
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Fifth. U16 Last 8 Kettering 5th gallery 27th February 2010
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Third. U16 Last 8 Kettering 4th gallery 27th February 2010
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Third. U16 Last 8 Kettering 3rd gallery 27th February 2010
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Now the second. U16 Last 8 Kettering 2nd gallery 27th February 2010
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Going very slowly so here is first. U16 Last 8 Kettering 1st gallery 27th February 2010
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C&W Riga v Polonia Men. Very close first two sets but C&W Riga threw away opportunities to win them both.
EVA NVL 1 Men Coventry & Warwick Riga v London Polonia 0-3 (23-25 28-30 21-25) 23rd January 2010

C&W Riga v Polonia Women. Close first set but Polonia then took control and made it look easier and easier.
EVA NVL 1 Women Coventry & Warwick Riga v London Polonia 0-3 (25-27 15-25 17-25) 23rd January 2010

University of Birmingh Women v Dulwich Tuskers at Aston University. Friendly staff and excellent cappuccino at very good price. Sadly the colour of the walls causes problems for photographs.
EVA NVL 1 Women University Birmingham v Dulwich Tuskers 3-0 (25-10 25-9 25-16) 5th December 2009

UKSG 2009 Volleyball NIAC Cardiff 4-6 September 2009 

Ponds Forge 11/12th July 2009
Food still very good at Ponds Forge.
GB men can certainly play well in spells but keeping it going for whole sets needs more experience at this level. Spain are a very good team and showed it on the Sunday as the scores reflect.
Jurys Inn is best hotel I have stayed at in Sheffield so far, staff good and friendly and hope they keep this standard.
GB Men 0-3 Spain (18-15, 16-15, 15-25) 12th July 2009

GB Men 0-3 Spain (20-25, 20-25, 22-25) 11th July 2009

SportsPark UEA, Norwich 27/28th June 2009
A great venue, possibly best in England for volleyball (pity they changed the rules in 1999). Best choice of food so far, and since when have potatoes not been vegetables (must be an eastern thing).
I guess the scores tell it all. The most telling set for the men was the first on the Sunday, at this point in their development they have problems keeping it together right till the end.
GB Men 0-3 Turkey (28-30, 23-25, 20-25) 28th June 2009

GB Men 1-3 Turkey (25-21 18-25 21-25 17-25) 27th June 2009

GB Women 0-3 France (21-25, 11-25, 9-25) 28th June 2009

GB Women 0-3 France (19-25 18-25 16-25) 27th June 2009

Edinburgh, Meadowbank Stadium 13/14 June 2009
An almost 40 year old stadium built in the "brutal" style (quote from man leading campaign to save it). Despite it's age everything old working very well. People very friendly and food good.
Edinburgh itself is worth a visit, but beware the road works as they appear to be digging up most of the streets to put back a tram system they took out in 1956.

GB Women 1-3 Romania (21-25, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25) 13th June 2009

GB Women 0-3 Romania (17-25 13-25 21-25) 13th June 2009

GB Men 3-0 Croatia (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) 14th June 2009

GB Men 3-1 Croatia (24-26, 25-18, 25-16, 25-18) 14th June 2009

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EVA Cup Finals Ponds Forge Sheffield 18-19 April 2009
I do not understand how they can claim Ponds Forge is an International venue, no working scoreboard and lighting that looks like they aren't replacing bulbs as an economy drive. The spectators were better lit than the court. On the plus side the food was excellent as were the staff.
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EVA Men's Cup Final Sheffield bt London Malory 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-14)

EVA Men's Shield Final Middlesborough College bt Sheffield II 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-18)

EVA Women's Final Swiss Cottage bt City of Wolverhampton 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 27-25)

EVA Women's Shield Final IMKA London Polonia bt Polonia Ladies 3-2 (25-17, 12-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-12)

EVA U16 Boy's Final Newcastle Staffs bt Wessex 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-18)

EVA U16 Girls's Final Tameside bt Ashcombe 3-2 (25-19, 15-25, 25-14, 25-27, 15-7)

EVA U18 Men's Final Boswells bt Wessex 3-0 (15-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-21)

EVA U18 Women's Final Tameside bt Wiltshire Mavericks 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-13)

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EVA Senior Cup Semi-Finals University of Nottingham 7th March 2009
Another dim venue, sadly with no cafe.
EVA Men's Cup Semi: London Malory v London Polonia 3-0 25:22 25:22 25:20

EVA Women's Cup Semi: City of Wolverhampton v Coventry & Warwick Riga 1 3-0 25-18 25-14 28-26

EVA Men's Cup Semi: Sheffield v Newcastle 3-0 Won 3-0 25-19 29-27 25-20

EVA Women's Cup Semi: Swiss Cottage v Ashcombe Dorking 3-0 25:18 25:15 25:18

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NVL Mens 1 London Docklands v Coventry & Warwick Riga 3-0 25-21 25-15 25-22 31st January 2009

NVL Womens 1 Swiss Cottage v Coventry & Warwick Riga 3-0 25-18 25-23 26-24 31st January 2009
Truly rubbish lighting at Docklands.

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