Speaking afterwards, coach Edwards reflected on the performance ‘We have shown that Essex are in the top tier by right and having got close to taking a set of London Lynx that we are not too far behind the very best - roll on Stoke Mandeville!

Pirates on the rampage will now play in the top flight

Essex Pirates came away from the latest round of the Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix series unbeaten and knowing that in January they will be competing in the elite top five pool.

Kettering on a wet and cold Sunday morning with a squad half of whom had not played sitting volleyball together before seemed an unlikely venue for a spot of derring do. Yet the results was a triumph. Essex Pirates had several players unavailable so added Paul Bohannan, Ian Reeve and Anash Vora to the regulars Tony Wood, Steve Peacock and Ken Edwards to form a raiding band competing in Tier 2 of the latest British Volleyball Federation Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix Series. Having finished 3^rd and then 2^nd in precious rounds, the team changes might have been expected to scupper the chances of success and with it the chance to compete against the heavyweights in Tier 1. Teams at that level include most of the GB men’s squad that have already qualified for the Paralympics as well as the GB women who are fighting hard to gain a qualification place.

Sitting volleyball is such an inclusive sport that disability and gender are not restrictions in any way, and mixed teams of varying abilities are the norm, with the team with disabled players often the better one. Emphasizing this and with Vora being unavailable later in the day, Pirates had already agreed with the organisers to draft in Dave Williamson of Portsmouth, a double above the knee amputee, into the team and he played in the last two matches.

Pirates opened their campaign against Portsmouth who had won the first round of the series in October and last time played in the tier. This tough opposition was swept aside by a confident Pirates 25-13, 25-17, with no apparent problems from the new team members still learning the game. The second match against Loughborough Lions was a tougher affair as perhaps a little complacency crept in. After a 25-12 first set to Pirates, Lions bounced back 25-18 and the game went to a deciding set. Pirates kept their nerve with some good blocking and serving to take the set 15-10 to remain undefeated.

The third match was against Kent Wyverns who proved surprisingly resilient opponents. Again after a comfortable first set 25-11 to Pirates, the second set became a real battle with great recovery work keeping the Kent team in contention right the way to 15-15. Essex then changed gear and rattled off the final points to take the set 25-18.

With promotion all but assured, the final match was against a Wildcard team drawn from Volleyball England Youth Council. The classic battle of youth and experience went the way of experience as all the Essex team have played many years of volleyball albeit half the team were relatively new to the sitting version. 25-13, 25-12 to Pirates was the outcome.

Talking later coach Ken Edwards was really pleased ‘At last an opportunity to play the very top teams which we have been working towards all season. I know it will be tough and its ironic that we achieved this with several new players. I am sure not only they but also the returning Pirates will now be looking forward to January now it could mean some interesting selection decisions having to be made. Well that’s what every coach hopes for, real competition for places on court’.

20 November 2011 - Pirates continue to improve

Essex Pirates moved into the runners up spot in tier 2 of the latest round of the sitting volleyball grand prix series one better than in the last round. If they can continue this in the December event, they will be promoted to tier 1

The second national Grand prix of the season saw Pirates travel to Ashcombe , Dorking to compete against the top sides in the country. After finishing third in tier 2 last time, the side were looking to move up and join tier 1 where many of the teams include players preparing for the 2012 London games.

The team of Dave Gentry (capt), Ken Edwards (coach), Tony Wood, Phil Smith, Jessica Smith and Steve Peacock were missing a few regulars but were ready for their first encounter with the Welsh national team only to learn that they had scratched that morning. So the side played a warm up scrimmage match against Portsmouth, last time’s tier 2 champions narrowly losing the two sets played although both sides were experimenting with lien ups and tactics, so little could be read into the result.

Their first full scale match was against Lincoln Imps who had narrowly piped them last time for second spot last time out. The match was dominated by the outstanding service of the Imps captain whose power and accuracy just blew away the Essex defence. Set one saw him take the first nine points for a 9-0 lead and although Pirates fought back to 9-15, once he returned to the service line he continued to pull the Essex defence apart, Imps taking the set 25-11. Set two looked like it might just go the same way, but at 4-0 down, Gentry led a fightback and Essex were truly into the match. Although over the two sets Imps captain scored 25 points, at the end of set 2 it was a wicked net cord that played the decisive role in allowing Lincoln to take the game with a 26-24 set. It was no consolation to Pirates that Imps went on to win their other group games easily

So fighting for runners up spot at best, it was a somewhat frustrated band of Pirates that took the court against Kent Wyverns a side they are well capable of beating. Set one was a story of lost opportunities and poor covering as Essex almost allowed Kent to take the set 25-19. It was time to buck up their ideas and after a few line up changes, this is just what Pirated did. They took the next set 25-3, an overwhelming score and then closed out the results with a 15-5 deciding set.

Their final game of the day was against Loughborough Lions who were to prove difficult opponents. But by now Pirates were playing their best volleyball of the day and took the match 25-19, 25-22. The result left them in runners up spot behind Imps, rueing their slow start to the tournament.

Coach Ken Edwards was philosophical afterwards ‘We really have to learn to come out all guns blazing from the first point. Like last time it took us a few matches to reach our best and this is just too late at this level. We were unlucky to find Imps in so good serving form, but until we can deal with this we would struggle at the very top table, so we must find a way to do this. We did improve overall and it is my ambition that we play at least one round this season in tier 1 and measure ourselves against the top four teams in Great Britain. We are close to being able to do that.’

Anglia Ruskin University and Great Baddow High School share the honours

More locally sitting volleyball featured in the first Chelmsford ‘Massive- Sportivate’ games hosted by Anglia Ruskin University. Teams from Great Baddow High 6^th Form, Writtle College, Chelmsford College and Anglia Ruskin competed for tiles in both sitting and standing volleyball. Anglia Ruskin took the sitting title defeating all three opponents in a round robin series but met their match in the standing where their semi final against Great Baddow went to a deciding point having finished 10-10 in normal time. Unfortunately a serve into the roof by Anglia saw Great Baddow through to a final against Writtle, a match they won comfortably. Thanks go to Rees Warren, Volleyball development office, Volleyball England for arranging the event and for Steve Dupree at Anglia Ruskin University as host.

30 October 2011

The Pirates team that travelled to Kettering last Sunday had a new look with several familiar faces from last year unavailable because of illness and other commitments. However captain Dave Gentry and player/coach Ken Edwards were joined by birthday boy Russ Young, rookie from Australia Richard Lawrence and father and daughter duo of Phil and Jess Smith. With bonus points for Russ and Jess as their disability would make them eligible for the Paralympics the team started with high hopes against Portsmouth. The new format of playing three sets plus the changed line up saw Essex take some time to settle and although both sets were close it was Portsmouth that edged it at vital moments 23-25, 22-25.

Match two was against Lincoln Imps, a side that had always been in close games with Pirates in previous years. So it was to prove again as a slight line up change seemed to settle Pirates. A good run of serves by Lincoln in the latter stages saw them take the first set 25-21, but the second was an altogether closer affair. Chelmsford led at 8-6 and at 16-14 when under international rules there are technical time outs – a feature added to allow commercial breaks in televised matches – but Lincoln would not give up. In fact it was they who hit the serve into the net at the first set point 24-23 up. The two sides continued to battle as the score climbed with neither able to get the two point advantage they needed. It was a disappointed Pirates who in the end were unable to force a third set when they hit the ball just out of court to loose the set 31-29, the highest score of the tournament on the day by far.

After a short lunch break, Pirates were soon back in action against Kent Wyverns and played some of their best volleyball of the day serving accurately and hitting well when the ball was there to take the game 25-14, 25-8. This set up a final match against Loughborough Lions fresh from pushing Portsmouth to a close third set. In the event Pirates started well and just got better. Jess Smith recovering form a double leg operation now came into her own in attack and with Lawrence improving in every game placing the ball into gaps Essex stormed through 25-15, 25-21 never really looking threatened. In the deciding match in the tier Portsmouth narrowly edged out Lincoln Imps in three sets and will be replaced by Celtic Dragons, the Welsh national team, who will come down from tier 1 for the next Grand Prix in Dorking in November.

Wins against Portsmouth (25-20) Loughborough Lions (25-16), Kent Wyverns (25- 20), Lincoln Imps (25-21) plus three national team scalps Celtic Dragons (25-16), and the GB and Canadian national women’s teams both 25-16 were balanced by losses to Grand Prix champions London Lynx (17-25), competition leaders Surrey Gators (17-25) and the Canadian men’s team (16-25). The GB men and women’s squads were joined by those of Holland and Canadian later in the week for training and an international series won by Holland with GB runners up.

Played 9 Won 5

Sunday saw several Chelmsford players involved in the second Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix at Ashcombe Dorking where the team went one better than last time winning four of their nine round robin matches. They beat both Parabellas (GB’s 2012 women’s squad) and the current Grand prix cup holders London Lynx but lost by the finest margins against Loughborough Lions (26-28) and Battleback (the forces team) 25-27. The Battleback result was somewhat in doubt due to mix ups by the scorer’s near the end of the set and both sides felt they had won the match earlier. Only Surrey Gators the current leaders managed to overcome the Pirates attack to take a comfortable win.

Team - top Steve Peacock, Dave Gentry (capt), Charlotte Mower, Rob Pennifold
bottom - Ken Edwards, Pete Guernari (coach), Tony Wood.

Pirates off the mark at the Sheffield Grand Prix

Essex Pirates set off in the early light of an October morning to charge up the A1 bent on doing some damage to the other teams in the first of this year’s Volleyball England Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix held at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield.

The squad of Dave Gentry (captain), Pete Guernari (coach), Steve Peacock, Rob Pennifold, Tony Wood and Ken Edwards was supplemented by Charlotte Mower who is currently studying at one of the local universities.

The team were buoyed by the near perfect performance of captain Gentry who won all but the final toss to decide who serves first. The team did not fare quite so well winning four of their 9 games and showing a surprising ability to extend the best teams whilst surrendering early leads to teams of seemingly equal strength.

Teams form all over England and Wales competed with Surrey coming out top dog winning all their games. Essex took them to 15-15 in their last match and best performance of the day before falling away.

The competition was in round robin format with single set matches. Pirates results saw wins over Lincoln Imps 25-17, Para-Bellas 25-16, Portsmouth 25-22, and Kent Wyverns 25-12, with losses to London Lynx 17-25, Loughborough Lions 22-25, Celtic Dragons 15-25, Battle Back 16-25 and Surrey 18-25.

Essex Pirates had a successful time at the latest Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix which brings together men and women, able bodied and disabled to play in the country’s premier sitting volleyball event.

Two cars left Chelmsford and Colchester on a cold morning and braved the deteriorating weather on the A14 and M1 to get to Sheffield last Sunday. Arriving four hours later and having to go straight on court one might have expected a disaster but the game against Portsmouth Sharks saw Pirates win easily 25-13. Next up was Surrey, one of the contenders for the overall title, but after a poor start the combined power of Gentry and Wood at the net upset the opponents rhythm to such an extent that Pirates again took the game 25-13. Next up were Thundercats, who also found the Essex team at full power. Guernari and Tyler led the way with accurate and hard serving, Wearmouth was everywhere in defence and the outcome was never in doubt 25-7 and a third win.

Next came a crunch game against Loughborough Lions a tall and talented team who beat Pirates last time out. In the early changes it was all Lions and Pirates were at one stage 13-4 down. But Tyler and Guernari led the fight back and some excellent blocking by Gentry saw Pirates claw their way back point by point. Lions began to wobble and when they missed their first set point the Essex side at last got their noses in front. The game raged back and forth with many of the spectators leaving the other matches to watch. At the end Pirates triumphed 29-27 to remain unbeaten.

Match five saw a below par Wildcats, the Welsh second team, fall to the Pirates 25-10 to set an intriguing match against Battleback – a forces side based on servicemen and women who had suffered injuries in recent wars. These are hard matches as what their players may lack in skill and experience they overcome with effort and endeavour. Until the later stages the match was close but in the end the greater volleyball skills of the Essex side won through 25-17.

The next game was one of the best of the day against London Lynx whose team contains several GB Paralympic squad players but had earlier lost out narrowly to Lions. This was a high quality game where Pirates at last found their match. Led by the tournament’s MVP Jabbar Mustafa, the recovery work of the Lynx team was matched by Pirates but at the net the London team were just too strong. Pirates went down 25-17 for their only defeat of the day.

The last two matches were a little bit of an anticlimax and Essex had to make sure they did not let the intensity and effort drop. Kent Wyverns relied to heavily on Gabor their Hungarian international and clever serving limited his impact as Pirates took the match 25-8. The last game against the previous overall Grand Prix leaders Celtic Dragons could so easily have been the game of the day, but the Welsh team seemed badly out of sorts making far too many unforced errors against a workmanlike Essex side. Another 25-17 to the Pirates.

The overall ranking system is based both on results and the number of disabled players on court. For this outing player availability left Pirates fielding an all able bodied side. Essex Pirates were a little surprised that in the final rankings they ended up 6^th a result which echoed their last tournament when although they only won four of their nine matches, they also fielded Suffolk’s Jessica Smith

After just two weeks of minor training at Chelmsford club sessions, the team's first competitive outing was at the second of the monthly Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix on 24th January 2010 at Kettering.  The team of Tony Woods, Dave Gentry, Gordon Day, Pete Guernari and Ken Edwards all from Essex were bolstered by Phil Smith and his daughter Jessica from Suffolk.  Jessica had trained the previous day with the GB Sitting Volleyball Women and her Mum Kim was also roped in playing for Kent Wyverns.  Due to the points system, although the team won 4 of their 9 matches, they finished 6th of the ten teams with the title going to FDSW Celtic Dragons, a side from Wales. 

To see the team in action take a look at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnAc0pkkE-E   between 3.00-4.00 minutes.  We are the team in the bright red stripes!

Pirates results were