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SPIKE MAGAZINE June 2002 View from the bench Sometimes it’s difficult to concentrate on two things at once. Driving and talking on the mobile for instance has proven to be a considerably difficult to task to negotiate if you wish to remain attentive, patting your head and rubbing your tummy less so but still not without a certain degree of concentration, playing Gran Turisimo and supping Stella, again, difficult if you don’t want to spill anything. Right now, walking and chewing gum would severely test my mental ability!. It is 11:30pm on a Sunday evening and I have just
finished everything that I need to do for work tomorrow. The rest of the day has been
spent either on court working my arse of with the rest of the area men’s team,
screaming myself hoarse cheering on the area ladies (again with the rest of the area
men’s team) or navigating ourselves the 200 odd miles home trying our best to avoid
all the traffic jams that the M1 had to offer. I’m sure there is a medical term for
what I’m feeling but a short, sharp expletive sounding not entirely dissimilar to
‘plucked’ seems to adequately express myself right now. Was it fun, did we enjoy
ourselves, would you do it again?? absolutely. Did we win??? Well, find out inside. So that is my first year as editor of Spike. Seems to have gone quick doesn’t it. I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading the nonsensical ramblings of myself and the rest of the Essex contingent. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who’ve submitted articles, with special thanks to my regular contributors: Ken Edwards, ‘Super’ Sue Douglas (didn’t realise why they called her ‘Super’Sue til Leeds!!) and the ever buoyant, Prozac. Finally, apologies for the delay in this mag. The issue of finding a suitable printer looms large and has yet to be resolved. Please see inside the mag for suitable solutions. The general way of thinking seems to be to move the Essex Handbook and Spike onto the Essex Website. This will mean a lot more people will be able to view this and it results in a significant saving in production/printing costs. Once a final decision is made I shall let you know. As ever, if anyone would like to submit an article then please forward to 91 St. Michaels Close, Aveley, Essex RM15 4SY or email: elvie@cluttons.com See you on court Elvie -2- REGULARS CONTENTS View From the Bench Another season over 2. Chelmsford battle on Partners season takes another blow. 3. Who’d be a Referee Curious outcomes decided by the guy (or girl) on the platform 4. Eastern Region U15’s boys Impressive performance at the Regional Championships, Stoke 5. Czerkawski & Wilson Hit the Sand!! The Estonian pairing begin their beach campaign 6. End of an Era JB heads for the sunny shores of Bexhill. 7. Readers Lives See what the rest of the Essex contingent are up to 8. Chelmsford toil hard....... ...and maybe keep themselves in Div 3. 9. Knee Injuires Carrying on this series of common court injuries. 10. That Was the Season That Was Round-up of the all the Essex Divisions. 13. League Tables NVL & Local League standings 14. Leeds 2002 Reps from all teams that took part, comment on the weekends play. 15. How we should run the Association? Your chance to say how best The Sports Federation Ball Prozac gives us a little insight into his extensive social calendar. 21. Welcome win for Chelmsford Partners Ladies stave of relegation woes. 24. The Cambridge Tournament The first of the summer tourneys? Always cause for celebration. 25. League Champions too strong Chelmsford Ladies struggle against Dulwich Tuskers 28. Keen and Green Rambo, Commando and Bridge over the River Kwai - yup, it’s paintball again! 29. Prozac’s A retort on last issues ankle injuries and a word from our Czerkawski & Wilson go from Strength to Strength The popular beach pairing making their presence felt at Poole Like proud mothers, aren’t they. I give you the Area Cup coaches 31. Elvie’s Eye on the World The legal complications of a bizarre death 33.
-3- Chelmsford Battle to no avail Chelmsford could make no impression on promotion hunting Tonbridge or home side Guildford International in their latest round of league matches losing 3-0 to both sides. Former Guildford star Philippe Pernstich led a spirited fightback in the match against his former club, but it was setter Matt Marriot than sneaked the Mallinson award for best Chelmsford player. Tonbridge are contesting a promotion place and fielded their strongest line up for these matches. Chelmsford arrived to see the end of the Guildford v Tonbridge encounter which Tonbridge easily won 3-0. With player coach Paul Bohannan sidelined by injury, he opted for a one setter playing line up based on Matt Marriott. Brother Nigel played opposite with Braddick and Turkoglu hitting outside and Parkinson and Peacock through middle attack. Partners caught Tonbridge cold in the early exchanges and were contesting the rallies well scoring point for point. Up to 10-10 it was anybodies match as Chelmsford found the gaps in the Tonbridge defence that had eluded Guildford. The real problem was Tonbridge’s middle attack with Leroy almost impossible to pick up. It was him that gave Tonbridge a four point advantage in the middle of the set and although Partners reacted well, they never quite made up the deficit. First set 25-21 Tonbridge. Heartened by their relative success in forcing errors. Partners stayed with the line
for the second set only to see it all fall apart. At 11-6 down, Pernstich replaced Peacock
and at 20-9 down Edwards came on for Nigel Marriott but all to no avail as Tonbridge raced
away taking the set 25- 10. In this set the power hitting that has been a feature on
Tonbridge’s play was awesome and Partners just could not get into the set. The referees conferred and chose Matt Marriott for the Mallinson award, but most of those present would have awarded the trophy to Pernstich who made a strong impact on court. Partners will need to improve if they are to do better next weekend when they play their final league matches again meeting Tonbridge and this time Cambridge, with whom they had a close five setter earlier in the season. -4- WHO’D BE A REFEREE? More curious volleyball rules from the FIVB Casebook.
decision by the first referee?
4.14 The Chinese blocker Lai Yawen was blocking American attacker Tammy Liley. As Lai was blocking, Liley’s spiked ball drove the net into Lai’s forearms. The first referee did not signal a touch of the net even though Lai was in the action of playing the ball. Is this correct? The first referee was correct. If the net is hit into the blocker, there is no fault. If the blocker hits the net during the blocking action, the blocker commits a fault. Rule 12.3.3 4.17 The USA Men were playing Cuba in a crucial match in the Men’s World Cup. Cuba was on offence and the US players were preparing to block. Cuba ran three attackers toward the net and the Cuban setter, Diago, set a very deceptive ball to his attacker in position four. The USA block deflected the ball and it was played in the USA back court. At the same time as the Cuban attacker hit the ball from position four, an American blocker hit the net trying to block the Cuban attacker in Cuban position two. The second referee whistled for the American blocker touching the net while trying to play the ball. Is this the correct response for the second referee? No, the second referee was not correct. The attack was from Cuban position four and the net violation was in Cuban position two. Since neither the attacker nor the blocker were in any way involved with playing the ball, and the touch of the net did not interfere with play, the touch of the net is a legal action and play should not have been stopped. Rule 12.3.1 4.20 The Japanese men’s team was running a quick combination play with two attackers in the middle of the court. Instead of setting to the middle, the Japanese setter set the ball to an attacker in position four. As he did so, the Korean middle blocker touched the net while attempting to stop the combination play. The first referee whistled the Korean middle blocker for a net fault. Is the first referee correct? Yes, the first referee was correct! The Korean middle blocker was in the action of blocking the ball when the Japanese setter cleverly set the ball to position four. Hence the Korean blocker who touched the net is considered to be playing the ball and to have committed a "net fault". Rule 12.3.1 -5- U15 boys play above themselves to reach 2002 finals The Eastern Region under 15 boys squad coached by Gordon Day and Tony Pennock just got better and better in the Regional Championships in Stoke on May Bank Holiday weekend (5th-6th May 2002) finishing as runners up to South West. The squad this year was selected from over 30 juniors who attended training sessions in Chelmsford that started in the depths of the Essex winter. Over the weeks this was reduced down to 12 of the regions best young boys with Essex, Herts and Cambridgeshire represented in the final choice. Coach Gordon Day asked Matthew Howe from John Mansfield School to act as captain with Andrew Simons from Tendring as deputy. Both grew in their responsibilities and did not let this added role affect their game. East knew that were in a strong group and indeed were drawn against South West in their
first match. Their opponents are based heavily on the Wessex squad and coached by Lynn
Allen in her last year at the Regionals. South West came out all guns blazing, and East
took some time to lift their game to a level most of them have never experienced. They
were improving all the time when the final whistle came at 25-15, 25-16 to South West.
South West went on to top the group without losing a set. The final reward for the squad was an invitation from England Cadet coach Carol Gordon for several of the squad to join the High Peaks training camp in August where the national coaches test out emerging talent for grooming through to the senior international squads. Carol said she would ideally like to be able to take the whole squad, so even those not selected this time could well find other opportunities in the future to impress the England coaches again. The coaches and management (and band of loyal parents who travelled up to support) saw these players come of age. Squad – Matthew Howe (capt) from John Mansfield;Phil Shaw from St Clement Danes; Simon Cowing, Wayne Davies, Graham Howlett, Ricky May, George Petrakis, Stewart Tomkins, Jonathan Roberts, Andrew Simons (vide-capt), Philip Stallard, Jacob Wickens from Tendring. Coach Gordon Day, Asst coach Tony Pennock, Managers Nonie Day, Ken Edwards. -7- CZERKAWSKI & WILSON HIT THE SAND!! ROUND 1 UK BEACH GP SERIES – BOSCOMBE 1ST /2ND JUNE 2002 Words: Paul Czerkawski - Essex Estonians The weather was fine and things looked good for a weekend of volleyball. Ben and I got down to Boscombe on Friday the 31st May for our first beach practice since the previous summer – not ideal preparation! We played against a couple of Kent lads who were also in the Challenger Event. We gradually got into the swing of things and beat them in all of our warm up games. Pete Preiser later informed us that no Essex beach team has ever lost to a Kent pair, and so we were glad we didn’t let the side down! We took Friday night relatively easy and just had a few beers in Bournemouth. Got to Boscombe Pier at 8.30am on Saturday for registration and were on court about 9am. We played a couple of local youngsters first off, and although dropped the first set after leading by about 8 points, we won 2-1. We were still trying to find our ‘beach legs’ but the signs were positive. Next we played Joe Mildred (England and Mallory) and his experienced partner, Olding.
Ben and I started shakily and were put under pressure by this experienced duo. We were
beaten in the first set 15-11. Determined not to lose we decided we needed to really put
some effort in. With some great jump serving by Ben, and some aggressive hitting by
myself, not to mention the beautiful blocking on Mildred, we took the next two sets 15-6,
15-6. Saturday night saw Ben and I sampling a little more of the Bournemouth nightlife, but again we managed to remain relatively sober for our big match on Sunday. As fate would have it, we were drawn against Peter Preiser and Mike Fetters, who just managed to scrape through their pool…! The match kicked off around 9.30am in fairly good weather. The match started tight, but Ben and I played some good shots and went into a 12-8 lead in the first set. Not being used to being ahead in the first set, we lost our concentration, and the experience of the two old boys was too much for us to cope with. We lost 2-0, 15-13, 15-11. We were out of the competition, but still played for fifth place in the Challenger Event. We played against two Poles, Marianski and Miarkowski. With no pressure on us, and our ‘beach legs’ starting to come out and play, we beat them 2-0 with some great hitting by both Ben and myself. After finishing a respectable fifth, Ben and I decided to celebrate, and went out into Bournemouth where we represented Essex with our best performance of the weekend! -8- END OF AN ERA And so it is that we must say a fond farewell to John Bartlett: The poison dwarf, the scourge of many a referee and sworn enemy to the Gimps. Somehow he has managed to spit and bite his way through the past twenty years of volleyball in Essex without getting lynched!. Having played alongside him for all of those years, I can tell you, you will rarely
find a more wretched mind full of scheming villainy in such a small and unassuming frame
and yet, somehow, he managed to couple this with an enthusiasm and compassion for the game
that serves as testament to himself. Towering onto the court at a heady 5’6"
(apparently, at 5’6" the extra half inch makes all the difference) a successful
block was always cause for celebration. However, coming few and far between, it always
seemed to be the penetrating setter who bore the brunt of JB’s lack of height
(normally smack in the face!) as Lisa Briton found out time and time again in one
particular Bath tourney. Ditto for the collosal spiking ability of the boy. Quite often
hitting ‘10 brickers’ off the sports hall back wall with alarming regularity
that attacking volleys to 5, turned out to be the order of the day. If ever there was a
shot of his own it was the second touch reverse set attacking dump, Jump volley (to give
it’s full, official title) which was always good for at least one point per set and
normally at the most important time. His contribution to the Romford ‘trophy’ collection should not be ignored. On his first London Youth Games in ‘86, he was instrumental (well, at least part of) one of the greatest ever heists when the Havering side ‘acquired’ a 10ft Carlsberg sign off the edge of the hockey pitch and displayed it down the side of the coach as we left Crystal Palace!. Trying to top his antics the following year though, he was pulled up for putting a 4ft Cafeteria sign in his sports bag. Funny then to think that by 1994 he was coaching the youngsters to take part in that very same competition and did so for the next seven years displaying every attribute that is good and wholesome about the game. A reformed character indeed. So for those who knew him, I hope you remember him as a committed, competitive, reliable pain in the arse and for all those who only saw him from the other side of the net well....... I guess you only saw the pain in the arse side of him. As for me well, I remember the overweight kid at school who would kick you in the knackers if you crossed him, with the road weary cool-box filled with Bulmers West Coast Cooler. Singing Showaddywaddy at the top of our voices to anyone who dared to go to Sandwell with us in the car, having a fine selection of sweets on the dashboard of the Orion on the way to Harlow VC on a Friday night and the bastard filling my Jim Beam with Tabasco Sauce at the restaurant in Estonia. It will not be the same Romford Rascals with him gone. He will be sorely missed. Elvie -9- READERS LIVES ...and so here he is. For the last time in Essex, I give you the ‘poison dwarf’ - John Bartlett Biggest mistake as a child: When I was nearly three running around with a big pair of wallpaper scissors, managing to snip the entire bottom part of my nose off and having it stitched up without an anaesthetic, cos I was too young. Have you met all of your childhood dreams: No – Never became a chef, forensic scientist, spy or millionaire. Occupation: Official Title – Senior Rent Arrears Officer, but most people are convinced that I collect the money from the Old dears sitting on my deckchairs and then sell them an ice cream. Could you bore people senseless at a dinner table: Without a doubt, pick a topic and I will give it a go. Worst Habit: Passing obnoxious smelling wind as I lift my leg clearly indicating what I am doing with a really proud look on my face What music would we find in your car: Sixties, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, swing and a little bit of rock Name your top five albums: 1) Queen – A Kind of Magic If you had to give a young relative a piece of advice, what would it be: If you want a good time play volleyball, if you want a really good time, go the tournaments and play volleyball, but for gods sake don’t get drunk and be driven home from the pub in the boot of your own car!. Don’t drink too much at your first Bath tourney and hurl in your own tent or strip naked and play cards/volleyball at the Cambridge Tourney in the rain. Get caught by a Police battlebus driver with a full size hanging basket in your hands and try to convince them that you found it in the road and, being the good Samaritan that you are, were moving it so that no cars hit it. Don’t drink very cheap local beer of different strengths while playing cards with the coach of another team and then fall out of bed to play volleyball for the YMCA while in Europe or get caught acquiring a four foot cafeteria sign. If your fifteen year old brother gets talked into having a drinking game with Bud at Elv’s housewarming party, do try to stop him (or get a mop - Ed) but most of all don’t miss out on playing volleyball with such a great load of people as Romford. We’re not the most technical of sides, or have necessarily the best players but Jeez, we have a good time, both off and on the court. Certain teams, especially the Gimps I think forget this and lose out on the better parts of this beautiful game. Unfulfilled dreams?: I always wanted to be over five foot seven, but never managed it. I did however manage to get married to the lovely Lisa, have a beautiful son, Joshua , with another due in July. Having just bought another house, I seem to have ignored Clads advice completely. Sorry mate. You’re in a train compartment approaching a tunnel with Jeremy Clarkson, Paxman and Beadle. Absolutely sure you could get away with it, which one would you hit: Funnily enough if you see worst habits above, I wouldn’t hit any of them but could still inflict pain on all three in one go. Where’s my stagnant pond water, pickled eggs and vindaloo beans cocktail?. What would you be doing if you weren’t a volleyballer: Is there anything else to do ???????? -11- KNEE INJURIES The knee is a potentially unstable joint in that the two bones (tibia and femur) that form the joint rely almost totally upon ligaments and muscles to maintain stability. The bones themselves do not interlock to form a stable bony joint. There are four main ligaments in the knee. The two collateral ligaments (medial and lateral) stabilize the inner and outer aspects of the joint, while the cruciate ligaments (anterior and posterior), which lie deep inside the joint, maintain anterior-posterior stability i.e. the control the limits of forward and backward movement, while the collateral ligaments control side to side movement. Active stability of the knee (during movements) is provided by contraction of the muscles around the knee. These are mainly the quadriceps and the hamstrings. Any injury to one of the knee ligaments must be taken seriously and carefully assessed to see that the knee has not become unstable as a result. The particular ligament injured will depend upon the mechanism of injury. The is usually either a direct impact injury or a twisting injury by a person weight-bearing on that leg. Contact sports such as rugby and football often result in direct impact injuries. Twisting injuries can occur in almost any sport where a person pivots on one leg (squash, basketball, football) and this form of injury is very common in Alpine skiing where inadequate binding release on the skis during a fall is a major cause of knee ligament injuries. The injury can be classed as a sprain, partial tear, or complete tear (or rupture) where the is marked instability of the knee. COLLATERAL LIGAMENT INJURY The medial ligament which lies on the inside of the knee joint is the most frequently injured. A fall, blow or tackle which forces the joint inward or the foot outward will stretch and tear this ligament. A less common injury is that which forces the knee joint outwards or the foot inward and this sprains or tears the lateral ligament. Twisting injuries in skiing and football frequently cause medial ligament sprains or tears. CRUCIATE LIGAMENT INJURY These ligaments can be torn in a severe injury of the type described above. An impact onto the front of the knee joint which forces it backwards (hyperextension) will often cause a cruciate injury as well as damage to other tissues around the joint. Tears of the posterior cruciate ligament are less frequent and tend to occur in severe impact injuries. The anterior cruciate is frequently sprained or torn in twisting injuries and the diagnosis is often confused with a torn cartilage (meniscus). A typical injury occurs when a player pivots sharply (as in a rapid change of direction and speed). SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS Pain: This is usually sudden and often severe at the time of the injury, but may ease
for a while afterwards so that the player can often continue with activity. Severe
ligament injuries are too painful for this. CAUTION Proper assessment of a significant knee injury should be carried out by a doctor. The presence of swelling inside the joint which has come on rapidly, pain on movement or a loss of movement, severe pain or tenderness, and a feeling of looseness or instability in the joint are all signs that should alert the athlete or sportsman to the need for a medical opinion. TREATMENT For an acute injury, rest, ice, compression and elevation (RICE) are very important in limiting the swelling. Mild and moderate sprains respond well to physiotherapy and a rehab program. Severe ligament injuries may require the application of a splint or plaster cast for several weeks. Complete ligament rupture usually requires surgical repair. Pain killing tablets and anti-inflammatory tablets are useful. Ligament injuries are often misdiagnosed or ignored initially and repeated injury with inadequate time for healing can give rise to pain, tenderness and instability. Treatment for such chronic injuries is physiotherapy, extensive muscle rehab and occasionally surgery (for chronic instability after anterior cruciate rupture). There are several knee support and braces available for people with chronic knee instability. These are often bulky but may be the only alternative to surgery where other measures have failed. They are also useful in the post-operative period following a ligament repair, to protect the knee. CAUTION Movement of the knee joint should be full and pain-free before returning to sport. The thigh muscles must be strong and it is essential to do quadriceps muscle exercises early on in the rehab programme even when the leg is immobilized in a plaster cast. CARTILAGE INJURIES The cartilages (menisci) of the knee are like ‘spacers’ between the two bones of the knees joint and function as shock-absorbers, as well as contributing to the stability and control of movement at that joint. Because of their anatomical position, they can be ‘pinched’ between the two bones (tibia and femur) in certain movements and a tear can result. The tibia rotates slightly on the femur in full extension of the knee and this increases the likelihood of a cartilage begin ‘pinched’ and torn. These injuries can occur in almost any sport but are most likely in contact sports such as football or rugby. The medial meniscus at the inner aspect of the knee is torn about four to five times
more often than the lateral meniscus at the outer side of the joint. The tear usually
occurs in a twisting injury with the players foot being fixed to the ground. Forced
bending or hyperextension of the knee can also tear the meniscus. Medial meniscus tears
and medial collateral ligament injuries often occur together and may be confused with each
other. This also applies in some cases of anterior cruciate injury. There are many types
of meniscus tear and in some there may be a mobile fragment of cartilage which gets lodged
in the joint, thereby blocking movement. This is called ‘locking’ and usually
occurs with the knee bent and the player being unable to bend or straighten the knee. The
‘locking’ may be momentary or persist until the leg is gently manipulated (by
expert hands) free of the obstruction. TREATMENT Rest, ice, compression and elevation will help in the acute situation. Major tears with ‘locking ‘ require immediate medical assessment. In the past, a torn cartilage involved surgery and removal of the cartilage but this is no longer the case. Partial removal of the torn piece of cartilage is often enough and is more desirable since there is evidence to suggest that complete removal of a cartilage (total meniscectomy) may increase the risk of developing degenerative arthritis in later life. The diagnosis of a torn cartilage is confirmed either by an X-ray with an injection of dye into the joint (arthrography) or more accurately by looking directly inside the joint with a small viewing scope (arthroscopy). Repair, partial removal or total removal of the torn cartilage can then be carried out although more formal surgery may be necessary. The rehab programme should be started almost immediately in order to prevent weakening and wasting of the thigh muscles, whether surgery takes place or not. Training for sport should not be considered until knee motion is almost normal and the strength of the thigh muscles is adequate. -9- CHELMSFORD TOIL HARD FOR NO REWARD In their last matches of the season, Chelmsford Partners men worked hard to gain consolation sets against Cambridge and Tonbridge in 3-1 defeats, but must think they could have taken more from the Cambridge match. Tonbridge, who won both games, are into the play offs for a Division 2 spot. Of the teams converging on Tonbridge on Sunday, only the home side had a league
position which could be affected by the outcome, as they chased a promotion place. It was
therefore somewhat surprising that Cambridge raised their game twice to level the scores
before running out of steam in the fifth to allow Tonbridge to win 3-2. The rest of the game became a question of whether the Cambridge stamina would last. Drained by the Tonbridge game, they were clearly the harder hitting team but their speed around the court was suffering from having only a bare six players. In the third set, Chelmsford were unable to convert set point and paid the price losing 26-24. This seemed to give Cambridge heart and in a long and even set they ground out a slender lead 19-18 in the fourth. Sensing the need for a final effort, their next server, the left handed Moog went for broke. It paid off as they took the set 25-18, to the disappointment of Partners who felt that if they had taken that tight second set they could have taken the game. Tonbridge knew that they needed the win over Chelmsford who in this match reverted to their conventional two setter system, this time bringing on Edwards to set opposite Matt Marriott, Steve Peacock as a middle player with the remaining spots going to Carl Gough, Graeme Fryer, now as hitter and Nigel Marriott. Tonbridge were to rely heavily on their float serve, where the ball moves in the air and can be very difficult to receive. However, in the first few exchanges it was clear that in Reid they also had a power attack and it was he that led the scoring as Tonbridge took the first set 25-18. The next set came in two parts. In the first, Chelmsford battled well to contain the rotation that saw Tonbridge’s strongest front court and trailed 10-6 as Reid moved back to serve. A few minutes later after a service master-class, they were 24-6 down. In only a few of those points, did Partners get the ball anywhere near the setter and the usually solid receivers were caught out by the late movement Reid was able to put on the ball. The final 25-7 scoreline was a formality. It would have been easy for Chelmsford to just roll over at this point, but another series of changes and the team spirit saw Partners compete hard for the next set. With Fryer and Braddick giving the lead, Pernstich patrolled the back court and put in some great blocks as Partners matched Tonbridge point for point. By making every effort to prevent the home team going into a run of serves, they frustrated Tonbridge and even saved a set point before converting the third they held at 27-25. Sadly this effort seemed to have been the final one as in the fourth, Tonbridge re-established command to take the set 25-18 for a 3-1 game. The referees were unsure between Fryer and Braddick for man of the match, and it was gallant of Fryer to agree the Mallinson award went to captain Eric Braddick in his last game for the club before retiring. Chelmsford will finish 7th and must reflect on an early season promise that did not carry through, with several results slipping away. However the squad is now stronger overall and if they can improve fitness and skills, can look forward to a better 2002/2003 season in Division 3. -13- THE SEASON THAT WAS Division 2 sees Comets ‘85 go up once more. Always a difficult side to play, they managed to maintain their consistency throughout the season to take promotion. Wildcards, Romford’s 2nd team, were delighted to find themselves in the runners-up spot with what had been a chequered first season for themselves, narrowly edging out the impressive Redden Court who have achieved so much this season with their Handicap and Tachikara Plate success. Harlow finish a credible 4th while Brentwood Buzzards and Lions occupy the bottom half of the league with Exiles. Brentwood Divas seem to go from strength to strength. Dominating the Ladies Division
from the first ball, their grip on the league was rarely in doubt. Dropping just the one
match and only five sets in all is impressive indeed. This left the rest of the league to
fight it out for the runners-up spot. Terriers, eventually came through with St. Edwards
in third closely followed by SEEVIC on nothing more than sets for and against pushing them
to third. Looking forward to the 2002/03 season, Essex Estonians are looking to further their squad and establish themselves into the London League. If anyone feels that they have the game to play at this higher level then they should speak to :- Greg Brown Tel: 01702 719577 07956 911830 email greg_brown55@hotmail.com.They are also looking for a more central training location within the London boroughs so if anyone can help or suggest an alternative venue then again, contact Greg. -14-
ESSEX VOLLEYBALL LOCAL & NVL TABLES
EAM PLAYED WON LOST FOR AGAINST DEFAULTS POINTS
14
-15- Maybe the omens were already there. Maybe we just end up doing this every year and, certainly in the Area squads camp, getting lost on the way to the tournament seems to be an annual event. This year however, we found ourselves going straight to the university ........... just the wrong university, that’s all. We knew where we wanted to go but it wasn’t where we should’ve been. In a four car convoy, we naively followed the leader and with a few deft changes of direction and a healthy dose of sods law we found ourselves in the car park of the county squads venue. Not to be outdone, county had done exactly the same and ended up at ours!! Bugger!. By the time we’d arrived at the correct venue with barely five minutes to spare
(we didn’t want a warm up anyway) the second mishap occurred. It could’ve been
down to nerves or just excitement of the upcoming competition, either way, at least two
people couldn’t park correctly which resulted in a collision. Now, normally I
wouldn’t point the fickle finger of blame but as everyone knows it was Gayle who
reversed into Fish’s car there seems little point in pretending otherwise. Thankfully
no damage was done and we all had a good larf about it but not even that could prepare us
for the next clanger. The team strips, yes all of them had the word volleyball incorrectly
spelt. It must take some skill to be a dyslexic t-shirt printer. In fact, you can imagine
it now when the printer receives the artwork, looks it up and down and tuts to himself as
he says ‘silly bugger - look, he’s got an ‘e’ in volleyball. Well,
we’ll soon whip that out’. At the beginning of the tournament we saw this as an
easy ice-breaker for through the net conversation - by the second day it had become a
mental weapon for the opposition! So, we concluded that we couldn’t navigate, drive
or spell and all before a ball was struck. And for the matches themselves? I’ll let
the others tell you about that. -16- Essex fielded a slightly less experienced side for the game against London (or may be slightly more experienced with the inclusion of veteran setter Dave Fenech in the side) Essex began well with some good combos and hitting from John Pennock, Tony Clark and Alan Banks playing Opposite and Outside respectively. With Ian Bailey and James Phillips blocking well in the Middle and libero Ben Wilson making things easy for Dave Fenech, Essex were unlucky to lose the first set 25-22. The first sets good performance by Essex surprised London who came out a little stronger in the second set, with GB setter Richard Dobell scattering the ball around for some strong hitting by the London side. Essex battled on but couldn’t quite take the set. Still, there was a lot of positive play and coach Greg Brown was happy with the teams resolve. Essex changed things for the next game and comfortably beat a fairly weak Sussex team. Setter Nick Davies supplied some first rate balls for power hitters Ben Wilson (Outside) and Paul Czerkawski (Opposite) to kill. The accuracy of the Tony Clark left-handed top-spin spectacular was too much for the Sussex defence to cope with. And with Pete Preiser and Andy Tuck (Middle) with impressive blocking and quick (or not-so-quick) attacking capabilities in full flow, Sussex were bludgeoned to a 25-17, 25-8 loss. The next game was always going to be a tense affair vs England Junior Men, with several of the Essex squad previously involved with the England Junior set-up. Essex lined up with Davies Setting and Czerkawski Opposite, Tuck and Preiser in the Middle, and Clark and Pennock as the Outside Hitters. Simon Fortis was playing libero. Both teams started well and it was close in the first half of the set. Essex employing clever use of the Middle and positive serving by Davies before taking control of the game with heavy hitting from front and back court, Czerkawski, Clark and Pennock hammering the ball home evenutally taking the first set, 25-17. Essex flew out of the traps in the second set with a sublime team performance. The young England team buckled under intense jump serving from most of the Essex players. Andy Tuck and Peter Preiser providing some excellent quick attacks in the middle coupled with convincing blocks. The outside attackers were constantly providing powerful hitting with devastating effect. Nick Davies setting was again providing all the hitters with some great opportunities and Fortis was an unstoppable force picking up every attack that the Juniors could muster. Fenech and Wilson replaced Czerkawski and Davies late on to continue the pressure. Essex won the set 25-20 to give Greg Brown reason to believe Essex stood a good chance of winning the tournament for the first time since 1986. With a Semi-Final vs West Yorkshire, Essex lined up with the same formation as the Quarter Final except for the skill and finesse of Pennock being replaced by the more powerful Wilson. Essex started well, and although the first set was quite tight, the team pulled away towards the end. Again, the blocking and defensive cover was impressive and the Northern outfit had no answer to the front court attacking of Wilson, Clark and Czerkawski. Essex won the set 25-18. The second set didn’t start too well. The first pass that Nick Davies was used to for most of the tournament deteriorated and the teams attacking ability compromised. Unforced errors crept in and allowed Yorkshire get a foothold in the game. Sensing all was not well within the Essex camp, Yorkshire capitalised on the mistakes to win the set 25-15. On countback, Yorkshire scored three more points over the two sets and so went on to the final. Essex were understandably distraught. The 3rd/4th play-off, after Essex’s disappointing performance in the previous set, saw Greg Brown off the bench and into the action. Brown started along with Banks on the Outside, with Phillips and Bailey in the Middle and Fenech and Pennock setting and opposite. The team performed well, showing the bench how to play volleyball! There was some great blocking by Phillips in the Middle and some strong hitting by the outside players. Fenech displayed another solid performance that made the crowd wonder just how young he really is! Brown used his wily experience to make the Kent block look silly, and Fortis was again at his best, covering the court like a man running round a pool table with his trousers round his ankles! (this needs explaining - Ed), the players secured a well deserved 25-17, 25-23 victory and earned Essex a respectable third place in the tournament. (Paul Czerkawski - County Men) -17- Having been up to the County Tournament in Leeds for the last few years, I knew what to expect, but there were quite a number of ‘county and area virgins’ being blooded in this year and it turned out to be quite an eventful weekend both on and off court… There were only five teams entered in the county ladies competition this year, which was immensely disappointing as this is normally a tournament that attracts substantially more competition. Regardless, we played on against each of the four other teams in a round robin format before deciding the semi finals. After we finally found our venue having seen much of Leeds town centre in the process, our first match was against the eventual winners, London. They had some powerful hitters and were a well drilled side, so when we took the first set reasonably easily, we were ecstatic. However, once the sleep washed from their eyes, they came out strong in the next set and although we fought well again, they overturned us to take it into a third. A prolonged service run in the final set saw them take the first match 2-1 and although our heads were down, we were generally pleased with the way we had played and looking forward to the next match against old rivals, Sussex. Now, we always seem to play well against Sussex but they came out strong in the first set and took it to leave us feeling a little despondent. We fought back well to take the next and take it into a third and a close third set to 15 saw Sussex just pip us to win 2-1. With no wins under our belt but feeling pleased about the positive way in which we were performing and coming together as a team, we went into the third and final game of the day against hosts, West Yorkshire, still feeling confident that we could win. With the sun streaming into our eyes from the fanlights that didn’t make for easy setting, you could sometimes have been forgiven for believing that we were actually playing outside! However as the sun started to set, we utilised the conditions to take the first set at the more difficult end. Buoyed by our performance, despite looking rather tired at times, we took an early lead in the second, only for them to come back at us. Again we pulled away and this time when they came back, it was too late. We won the second set to give us a 2-0 victory against a side that had earlier beaten our local rivals, Kent. We now had a real chance of reaching the semi-finals. We got back to the hotel and after showers and a quick drink in the bar, the two county teams headed off to the local Chinese restaurant for a well-earned meal, just as the area teams started arriving back from their competition. I have to say, that the meal was first class, one of the best Chinese eating experiences I have had. Much laughing, chatter, food and of course, drink later, some headed off for the Student Union bar in Leeds while the rest of us loitered around the restaurant for a while before going back to the hotel for a few more drinks. Sunday morning arrived much too early for many of us. We all crawled down to breakfast at various times throughout the morning, although us ladies had to be at our venue at 9am compared to the much later times of the other teams. We arrived at the venue well in time to be able to warm up properly for our match against local rivals, Kent. However, despite this, we succumbed relatively easily, going down in our first 2-0 defeat, the late night perhaps taking its toll! However, Sussex’s 2-0 defeat of West Yorks meant we did indeed make it through to the semi-finals where we would meet London again. Recalling how we had beaten them in the first set of the tournament, we went out and
started well, matching them all the way to about 15 or 16 points. But then a poor service
receive rotation saw them pull away to take the first set. As we changed ends we were
still confident of a win, but they came out stronger still in the next set and despite
resistance, especially from the strong hitting pairing of Surma and Bartlett, we went down
2-0. (Claire Sparrow - County Ladies) Well it all started with training at the Brentwood centre, working hard and trying to catch Warren’s eye. Failing that buying him a couple of drinks, so he puts you’re name down by mistake. This is how I got in! The weekend arrived, and the squad is named. The girls to carry Essex’s volleyball reputation up to Leeds were as follows: me (Sue), Farge, Ciler (her real name honest!) Lesley, Tanya, Lisa, Sorrel, Rachel and Gail. We all made it up to Leeds and Essex had arrived! After all meeting up at the happy towers hotel we had a few drinks before going to bed early...... well some of us did anyway. Up nice and early on Saturday and ready to go. After a bit of toast and stuff, we were all issued with our official Essex team shirts; nice style, nice colour, WRONG SPELLING!!! No not Essex, but the crucial word - volleyball, which the printers had managed to spell VOLLYBALL. Doh!. Anyway, off went the Essex dyslexic squid to ploy wolleyball, and hop the udder team were rubish at spilling, so thay couldn’t lagh at our shits too mutch. A big result to start with as we managed to find the venue on time, in fact this year we managed to find both venues and still arrive on time - Warrens navigating must be getting better. Now I am not going to bore you with points, sets, teams etc, but we played our arses off vs other teams from other areas and did as well as we could. We won one game against the scousers (are you watching Liverpool) and came close in a few others. Warren wasn’t pulling his hair out too much, shouting or going red (bloody area mens were, though - ed), so we thought we were doing OK, the area squad did think we would have done better though if our coach had come properly equipped with a clipboard (Ash had one!). The days play finished and it was back to the hotel for eats and a change of gear. In the evening, the other area players made me go to the student union bar. I didn’t want to go but they made me, my arm is still hurting me from being up my back! Once at the uni bar though, we all had a great time, how could you not at £1 a pint and Graham Norton look-a-likes to chat to. Later, it was time for a bit of a boogie. Now everybody has a different way of getting down on the dance floor but I think Jackie took this a bit too seriously and did just that, by ending up flat on her face!. She recovered fantastically well and the judges on the balcony gave her 5.9, 5.9 and 6.0 for artistic impression. At about 3am, we all decided to have an early night! Next day and up for breakfast. All of us made it although some of us looking worse for wear (Farge, are you reading this??) and off we went to play our two remaining games. The weekend was rapidly coming to an end and there is no doubt that both area squads had given it there all. If nothing else we were definitely the most noticeable (t shirts) and the loudest. To end it all Warren surprised the area squad women with a touching awards ceremony. Ciler won the award for the best celebration on court, (imagine a spider having an epileptic fit, and you have the right idea) and I won the award for the M.V.P. (most visible pantieline??). I knew if I bought him that pint, I would get something out of the weekend. All too soon the weekend was over. My thanks go to everybody in both squads for a great weekend and especially the other members of the woman’s area squad for letting a demented old loony run around the court again and play with them. Special thanks for both coaches for giving up there time, and also a special mention for Tony for all the hard work that goes into this weekend. Well I am ready for next year. Warren here’s my tenner! (Sue Douglas - Area Ladies) -19- Return of the Bench Boy It was that time of year again and after many weeks of intense training (well, any training is intense if you are a member of a Romford club), we were all heading up the M1/A1 to Leeds for the Area cup. Would it be 2 days on the bench...... lets hope not. This years team saw 7 from Romford (Puggs ,Fish, Elv,Danny,Tom,Wookie and Me), Mark from Highwoods and Reece, Ricky and Eastway from Brentwood, with Paul of Tigers and Cleaver acting as Coaches/ Motivators. We had the pleasure of staying at the Budapest Hotel again and the sun was shining. It didn’t start too good did it? We had to play Merseyside in the dreaded low ceiling hall and it seemed the only thing we were good at was hitting those bloody rafters. (25-14 25-13). Things got better with the second game. We also got to move to the larger hall but we still struggled and, even though it was a very close first set, we lost to Manchester 25-23, 25-18. Another close game: North Yorks 25-23, 25-13 finishing with Cheshire 25-14, 25-20. It had been a disappointing day results wise but great fun. Although, Area did have something to cheer about. As last year the bond between the mens and ladies side was high and the high-light of the whole day was watching the ladies triumph with Essex first and only win of the day. I cannot comment on the evening as I had my two boys with me. We went to see the Scorpion King and had a pizza. (Please, let me briefly re-cap for you. Ahem; basically, everyone got drunk, some even danced, a couple got laid, one person got his car broken into and another was running around the pool table with his trousers round his ankles for not potting a single ball... apparently! - Ed) In the morning I got all the news. Lesley (forever to be called ‘Mum’), could
not move her neck – never found out why?,Fish Had his car broken into and Ben/TP had
made ‘friends’ with people. (by ‘friends’, Clad means Ben and TP
shagged them senseless all night). Off to the University and were surprised to find we had
so many games, seeing we hadn’t won a single point yesterday, so back into the
battle. For the second day, the order of play was just the one set so we needed to get off
to a good start. Didn’t quite pan out for us in the first match. Started as we
finished with N.Yorks and lost 25-19 and then it happened.......... Unfortunately, the form couldn’t be maintained. We followed the only win of the weekend with losses by Manchester 25-19 and Berkshire 25-19. Another year over but we had at least won a game this year and my arse was not numb (that needs explaining - Ed). My thanks go out to Paul and Ashley for the training, Tony Clark for all the organizing, Mum and Auntie Tanya for the food, Sue for being such a screaming nutcase and all the guys in the team for a great weekend. (Ian Cladingboel - Area Mens) -20- How should we run the Association? Every few years we seem to run into a similar problem with the Association. There are too few volunteers willing to come forward and fill posts and much of the planning work and good ideas of those who stand gets wasted and lost. People become disillusioned and activity dries up. Essentially, everyone just wants to get on with playing: no one wants to actually run, arrange or administer anything. You may even recognize this in your own club! This season has again seen such a moment and the membership of Essex needs to look afresh at the situation and decide at the 2002 AGM what, if anything, to do about it. Your Executive puts forward three options for discussion. Option 1 – do nothing at all This option says, lets continue as we have in the past. After all, someone (else) will run the competitions, the county teams, arrange an AGM, County finals, create a referees list, produce a handbook etc. If no one comes forward to fill roles, let the activity just not take place. So for instance, if no one stands for Competitions Secretary, a post becoming vacant this season, let clubs arrange their own matches between themselves. If there is no interest in referees courses etc, let clubs live with the dwindling band they have, or pay for people to come from other counties. In effect it says, if the clubs and players do not show any active interest in doing something about it, there is not the demand, so let the supply fail. It challenges the membership to put up or see things drift. In the past, we have relied on a few who believe things need to be done and on them to do it. The risks of continuing on this basis include insufficient volunteers and therefore things not getting done, volunteer burn out, meetings not being attended, giving the illusion that things are under control. Progress can be slow and has been observed for several years, volleyball in the county is shrinking – less clubs, less geographic coverage. But, it cannot be all that bad as we lasted over 25 years on this basis. Why change? Option 2 – same committee, different way to operate Under this option, those elected agree at one meeting what individuals will do and then leaves everyone to go out on their own to deliver. By doing away with meetings, a lot of time administration and effort is saved, leaving people time to just do the job in an informal way making their own decisions. After all, if the members elect someone to do the job, let us trust them get on with it without any interference or need to talk to anyone else until the next AGM. Let them take the responsibility. Risks include things not getting done, people unable to benefit from discussions from others and decisions made which the majority of people disagree with. Some element of monitoring could be done by phone call from the Chairman, and people would be free to consult if they wanted to. Option 3 – small centre, but everyone lends a hand This option seeks to move away from the present elected member being solely involved in their area of interest. Each would expect to recruit a small sub group who would do the work. The elected member would just manage those people, rather than do the work. It envisages only three elected voting members – Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, other posts being removed. This group would appoint volunteers to run things e.g. a group of say five who would each take the job of running one event e.g. Div 1 Open, Div 2 open, Women, Cups and Finals day. To work this requires an increased number of volunteers, but each doing less and more informally. The people would not need to attend meetings. The risks include not getting enough volunteers, people not wishing to take on the more difficult tasks, uncoordinated activity and managing larger numbers. This approach would require constitution changes which have been drafted as a contingency. Concluding Observations The options are not mutually exclusive and the way a new executive would operate may
include elements of each. Your executive committee have tried to operate option 1 and
found for them it does not work. They will not be standing. -21- SPORTS FED BALL Now, some of you may be thinking, "So what? Prozac would start jumping round the room if you gave him a Cadbury’s creme egg." Well, that may be true, but for those uneducated peasants amongst you who have no idea what a sports fed ball is, it’s generally considered the best event in the uni’s VERY extensive social calendar. It’s a very swanky black-tie affair as you’ll notice from the pictures, I generally don’t adhere to this (except in court - Ed). Having met up in the local boozer and added a fair few items to my growing slate behind the bar ("I’ll pay you next week, honest… chuckle-chuckle"), we wind our way to the posh Kent County cricket club. The doormen turn out to be the same guys from the union bar, so make an immediate beeline for yours truly and confiscate my painstakingly concealed beer-filled super soaker, boo! After the usual pleasantries inside, dinner is announced. Into the huge hall we go with balloons everywhere and all sorts of shiny silver stuff all over the tables (those naive fools). It’s at this point that I realise what an impressive turnout the volleyball team has put in. Usually we’re stuck between tiddleywinks and sand castle building at one of the little tables at the back. This year, my ever rowing tribe is escorted to our very own centre table, something usually reserved for teams like football and rugby. On top of this, as I pick up a programme from the table, one of the girls excitedly draws my attention to a page at the back upon which our happy little team is named as one of only three nominees for the coveted ‘team of the year’ award. A tear appears in my eye as the waiter turns his back and the food-fight with the badminton club begins. After the last remnants of desert are hurriedly cleared away before someone identifies it a potential ammunition, the official and important people trot over to the microphone and begin announcing the colours (sport awards). The way they seem to be doing it this year is to get the team captain up to dish out the colours in his/her team. Crap. That meant I had to get up and give out the volleyball ones, I knew I should have gone to that meeting last week. My attempts to rapidly sober up were interrupted by Lynn, the president of the rock-climbing club, announcing that little old me had got full colours for excellence. It wasn’t until I had received my shiny certificate in one hand and gone to shake the principal’s hand with the other that I discovered I still had my beer in it and realised what Lynn was sniggering about. At the end of the alphabetical list of sports came good old volleyball. John, our sports sab, calls me up to dish out my team’s colours and also announces that I’ve got another full colour for excellence in volleyball (we’re only a mid-table county league team, but I was chuffed anyway). With the volleyball awards done, the team crosses its fingers as we wait for the team of the year award. As it turned out the hockey team pick this one up for the second year running (to unified cries of ‘fixed’), we weren’t too fussed as we were happy just to have been nominated and hadn’t really expected to win anyway. One last happy surprise was little me getting the ‘sports personality of the year’ award. Meant I got a big trophy that we later discovered could hold two and a half pints of beer! The rest of the evening becomes a little difficult to remember for some inexplicable reason. Our ‘unofficial’ awards took place, I know that coz I didnt’ get a single vote for ‘nicest person in the club’!! although, my better half, Jade won that so that was nice. One of the last things I remember is taking part in the pint-downing competition for which they wisely laid down a large plastic sheet to catch the spillage. As I recall they left it there for the rest of the night where it became the ‘puking corner’. Most of the camera films had been used up by this stage, plus there weren’t many people still capable of ‘getting their finger to hit the little red button on the flashy thing’, so there’s not much in the way of photographic evidence to jog my memory. I do dimly recall one of my team (quite possibly me) trying to steal a life-size statue of some cricket hero and getting it about 10 metres down the road outside the fire escape before the club owner (and several bouncers) politely requested its return. I’m also sure that my cherished trophy got drunk out of by myself, puked in by a plastered team mate, and pissed in by half the rugby team. Not totally sure it even happened in that order. The evening, I believe, finally ended with our token lightweight Anthony (aka, ‘Skippy’) getting so intoxicated on about three Bacardi Breezers (not an exaggeration, this guy just cannot drink) that it took pretty much the entire team just to control the little sod. It only needed one of the girls to restrain all 5ft nothing of Anthony himself, but the rest of the team was required to keep several other teams that he had annoyed not only that night but many nights previously, from lynching the little creep. All in all, everyone had a superb night, and I even got my super soaker back at the end. Oh, and if Anthony ends up coming along to the Cambridge tournament, gets drunk and starts annoying everyone, you all have the permission of the entire team to stake him out on one of the courts and let him drown in the inevitable Sunday morning flood. Prozac .Absolutely Bladdered! -23- BEACH VOLLEYBALL GRAND PRIX 2002 Dear Players, This years GP Entry Form is now available from the web site http://www.beachvolleyball.org.uk/ Richard Cannon richard@rcannons.co.ukBoscombe 1 st - 2nd June Any number of events can be entered. The cost of entry to each event is 24 per team. The Beach Commission reserves the right to enter wild card teams if appropriate. Teams may not be changed for the duration of any one event. The team rankings and draw will be posted on the Beach Commission web site 2 days before the commencement of the event. Grand Prix Format Each event will allow for 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams in the main draw, and 24 men’s and 12 women’s teams in the Challenger. The event will run on pool play with four teams per pool followed by Knock Out for the top two teams. At Boscombe the seeds into the Pools will be determined by results from any of last years beach events. For the remainder of the season the seeding will come from previous Grand Prix finishes/points. Tournament Prizes Grand Prix Series Points will be awarded to Grand Prix and Challenger teams on an individual basis directly related to finishing positions in each event. Players may play with different partners throughout the series but only one per event. The total number of points achieved in all events will form the basis of the final rankings of the Grand Prix. More info and entry forms from http://www.beachvolleyball.org.uk/OTHER TOURNAMENTS 22-23rd June Croyde Beach Tournament Denis Tuohey 01271 890676 -24- WELCOME WIN FOR CHELMSFORD Words: Ken Edwards, Chelmsford Partners Chelmsford Partners won an edgy game against fellow strugglers Sussex 3-0 to maintain a foothold in the Division and keep their hopes to escape relegation alive. With both sides sitting towards the bottom of the table and seven of the teams in the Division mathematically able to be relegated, this was a must win game for Partners. With a full squad including Simone Blackmore and Lucy Boulton available, coach Angela Hill at last had all the necessary firepower. The starting six of Aysha Daout and Sally Morris setting, Boulton and Kath Harris through the middle allowed Blackmore to fill an outside attacker role along with Laura Taylor. For this first time this season Hill had the luxury of being able to use a libero player as a specialist back court substitute and the role was ably filled by Janelle Catzim throughout the game. Chelmsford started well but never seemed to settle and had to show their spirit to take the first set 26-24 in the face of a Sussex last ditch effort. In the second set Emma Cox came on for Harris and Sara Heaton for Morris but still Chelmsford were not at their best. Blackmore and Boulton were able to win points when the ball was in the right place, but the usually solid Partners first ball was pulling the setters all round the court and they were all too often forced to use the outside where Sussex were strongest. Although the set was won 25-23, it was not vintage Partners. In the third, Morris and Harris returned and with Shona Angus filling an outside attacker role, at last the team clicked and really started to play. The change of personnel and lines of attack at last troubled the Sussex defence, with the line hit ball from Angus particularly effective. Partners cruised to 21-14 up forcing Sussex to call time out. The response from the home side was a barrage of hard aggressive serves which left Partners grasping as the ball went by. Not until Sussex had seized the lead at 21-22, did Chelmsford scramble back the ball. Having regained serve they recovered well to take the set 25-22, but they really should never had let Sussex back into the set. The Ken Pearce player of the day award went to Blackmore who playing her first full game of the season after returning from becoming a mum. The 3-0 win takes them off the bottom, but the remaining away matches will be critical. They are against London Polonia who lie mid table on 24th March and then have a final game against Tonbridge who are just behind the leaders on 7th April. This last game could yet prove the key for Partners to stay in the Division and avoid bouncing straight back to Division 3. -25- It’s always the same isn’t it. The Friday night before Cambridge, you never quite know which way the weather is going to go. You can be pretty sure of one good day and one pretty horrendous downpour. Many, many times I’ve found myself playing out on court in the howling wind and the pi... err pouring rain for the chance to finish top of, normally, the second best pool in Men’s 3. Would it happen again?? Well, things were looking good as I left for the M25. Hadn’t really decided to play til about a half hour previous and then realised the absolute rollicking I’d get for not turning up so it may’ve been more for an easy life than anything else. Still, as I turned into the rugby field just over an hour later, it was comforting to see clearing skies and the sun just setting. The rest of the ‘Romford’ teams were either already in the curry house or just putting the finishing touches to their tents. Didn’t take long to get mine up (oooh errr) and catch up with them on the way to the restaurant. Now, something should be said about the ‘India House’ in Cambridge. The nearest curry house within walking distance to the rugby ground, the poor souls there have put up with us and our childish antics for a good many years now. Typically, we had our ‘usual’ table in the corner (as it’s the only place where they can seat 16 of us!!) and, yes thank you very much, they provided an excellent meal and managed to put up with the half dozen conversations going on at once, all trying to shout over the top of each other! Several Kingfishers and Chicken Tikka Masala’s later and everyone’s either an expert or philosopher in their chosen field of bullshit as we trudge back to camp. Piggy back fights all the way and everyone displaying their latest ‘trophies’, we carefully sidestepped any embarrassing encounters with the mobile kebab van and headed for the rugby club bar. Here we see many familiar faces of tournaments past and of Essexfolk alike. Tall Paul is the self titled Chairman of the drinking games that followed and there was a hearty greeting as Iain ‘Fat Bloke’ Farnill made his way towards us. Honorary Rascal and all round good bloke, it was nice to catch up with old friends. The evening drawing to a close, we stagger back to the tents. Here the clear night was working against us. Just a little bit too cold to be truly comfortable, I think I turned in by 2am to a flat airbed and an uncomfortable night sleeping on my keys. PSSSHHHHH........ this sounds very familiar. PSSSHHHHH....... ‘Elvie - up - play’. Typically, the pros far outweigh the cons of inviting Prozac along to tournies (and as he organised the Romford sides you have little right to leave him out of this one!!) but if you’re not a good morning person (I’m not) the last thing you want is a compulsive hyperactive with a super soaker outside your tent at 7:15am. As I make my way up, still trying to adjust to the early morning sunshine (my fault for facing my tent due east) I see Prozac, not 2 ft away, surrounded by a halo of light with the nozzle of his water cannon inches from my face like some sick H2O 12 in rendition of Resevoir Dogs. -26- The image is burned in my psyche and I can’t help but think that one day I’m going to be explaining that moment to a therapist! Still, it wakes you up. Dressed, fed and cleaned we survey the days play. Two things strike you as you make your way to your court - it’s sunny and it’s blowing a gale. Is this the good day?? God smiles down on us with golden rays of cosy cancer-causing sunshine! Normal sort of thing: ref one, sit out one, play one etc. etc. With the side we had, we conveniently fell into very familiar roles.... except me. I was determined to check out what all the fuss is about this setting lark. Having had enormous earache for about twenty years from JB about how he is in fact, the pivotal player that makes me look good blah blah, I thought I’d check it out for myself, so with a fierce wind and blind optimism we went into our first game. Thankfully, it was against one of the not so good teams which gave us some breathing space for a whole host of ridiculous errors from ourselves, mainly of the trying too hard variety. Needed to chill, just relax a little, forget about any pass above, say, 8ft because the wind would just take it and use the quick attacks as much as possible. Steadily we turned our game around and recorded the first win of the day. Elsewhere we had Ben, TP and the Gimp amongst others in the Estonians team, Prozac’s Uni side somewhere in the mixed divisions and Brentwood just a couple of courts down so there was a fair amount of support floating around for each other. And so the day went on. I was starting to kid myself that I was going to be lucky - I’m here on the good day. The sun was strong but not so much to burn but the wind wouldn’t let up and the promised thunder storms crashed around us by about midday. Following a mass exodus to the bar, car or tent for fifteen minutes or so, everyone slowly returned to court to continue the days play. Ok, so now you’ve got sun, wind and slippery grass to cope with but, to be honest, the conditions weren’t that bad and the courts dried out quickly due to the organisers having the forethought to get the grass cut the day before the tournament. Prozac’s Flying Circus, for that was what we were called, continued to make steady
progress through our pool, easily outplaying the next two teams with some solid, if
unspectacular volleyball. Having watched the games take place and reffed a couple of them,
it was easy to see what teams were going to give us trouble. We could only see us having
problems with Kent as they had also breezed their three games. Sure enough, when we met
there were sparks, a little bit of grudge, a lot of through the net antics and, in between
the shot making, the psychological war wore on. Kent taking the first set in impressive
form silencing the PFC. We came back strongly towards the end of that set and carried that
form into the second. This we took with equal ease. Due to the wind, one end of the court
held a very obvious advantage so when we lost the toss for the deciding set we knew that
to play the first half with the wind in our faces would prove to be difficult. Imagine our
surprise then when we changed ends 8-5 up. Unable to hold on to the three point cushion we
were nonetheless happy to be leading 13-12 in the final set - two more points would clinch
it. So that was my Cambridge. Ever eventful, not without it’s disappointments but bloody good fun. The Estonians managed to win Men’s 1 (and carve up the rugby pitch in their cars by the sound of it), Prozac’s Uni team happily played the weekend and then soaked everyone as they left (apparently, they all have these super soakers) and the PFC didn’t win another game!. Next stop by our calendar should be the Bath Tourney in July. Wonder what surprises that’ll throw up (sorry Danny - no pun intended). Elvie -28- SPIKE MAGAZINE NEEDS A LITTLE HELP!!!! Ok, the problem is basically this. The Essex Committee have budgeted approximately
£500 per season to create, produce, print, fold, staple and distribute Spike Magazine to
the 400 odd people throughout Essex and beyond. Over half of this fund is spent on 2nd
class stamps alone, envelopes are scrounged by an unknown source as was the copying up to
now. Commercial printers are asking £250 per issue bringing us to a grand total of
approx. £1,250 per season if we wish to carry the magazine on in it’s present state.
This is clearly too much money and, rather than asking individual clubs to stump up the
excess, I have come up with a number of alternatives:- Option 1 Someone can provide a cheap source of copying By this I mean someone who is prepared to print off 8-10 sheets of A4, both sides,
staple and fold 400 times for £250 per season. I can still do the distribution. Typically, a nominated member (Gen Sec or Chair?) from each club will receive artwork through the post from which they can produce as many copies as they feel necessary for their own club and then distribute to their members at their own discretion. If an alternative arrangement doesn’t present itself then this is my most likely solution. Option 3 Receive the Magazine via email and employ a commercial printer Unless you can successfully open Adobe Pagemaker 6.1 or better, a commercial printer could print straight from the email for about 4p per side (certainly what I’ve been quoted). Of course if you can open Pagemaker then print and distribute as per Option 2. There has also been discussion of putting Spike and the Essex Handbook on the Website
and letting everyone print off their own copy. I’m sure that has been arranged for
the Essex Handbook but until I find a way of putting Spike on the Website then that
isn’t going to happen unless (Option 4?) someone knows how to put Pagemaker into a
format suitable for internet viewing. This is something that I hope to eventually get to
the bottom of but, with the mag taking the time that it does, it’s becoming a slow
process. If anybody can help in this situation or suggest a viable alternative then please email: elvie@cluttons.com Elvie -29- KEEN AND GREEN (and covered in Paint!!!) Mission: to dress mean, meet up and turn into steely eyed, gung ho S.A.S.commandos, then go and cover anything that moves in paint! No not a decorating session round my house, (although I have had days like that) this was PAINTBALL!!! So as with anything that Brentwood organise, summer tournaments, days on the beach, anything outdoors, we met on a day when the rain was coming down like stair-rods, we should be used to it by now, anyway we all turned up (see picture for names and faces)to do battle. Next we were all kitted out in kharki boilersuits (very flattering) and then came the good bit THE GUN! not quite an AK47 but big and heavy enough to look and feel the part, now this had a very strange effect on everybody, all of a sudden we all started standing and acting like marines, you know grunting a lot and looking mean, (no change for Tony there then!). After a safety bit and the issue of a safety mask, which made everybody look equally good looking, we were let loose in a number of different scenarios like, urban combat, western combat and one in a big field filled with straw bales, I think this one was farmer combat! Anyway, the object of most of the games, is to cover the opposition with as much paint as possible, therefore killing them, and not to get any paint on you, wherein you survive. My claim to fame for the day was capturing the enemies flag on the first mission (OK game) my thanks to Tony for covering my arse!, not an easy task. As the day wore on we won some missions, lost some, and got totally mullered on others. Some questions that remained at the end of the day were things like: • How did he/she get around the back of me, shoot me to s_ _ t and I never even saw them? • Why isn’t this bale of hay bigger, or my bum smaller? • Who told me that getting hit doesn’t hurt? • Why didn’t I bring a change of clothes, as I have to drive home in these? • Does my bum look big in this? • And did Dulux invent paintballing? In one day I spent more money on paint, than I spent on decorating my house! Thanks to Fluffy for organising everything, and for a great team day out and a good laugh, you can’t beat PAINTBALLING!!!!!!. Cheers Sue (Brentwood Divas) -30- The World according to PROZAC Ankle injuries. The bane of so many volleyballing lives. Everything good old Uncle Elvie said in the last Spike pretty much backed up what I’ve been taught about ankles, what can go wrong with them, and how best to treat injuries. But here’s an idea - how about not getting injured in the first place? Most players quite sensibly perform a warm-up routine before training or competing. In most cases these warm-ups include stretching exercises around injury prone areas such as the ankle. This is an excellent way of increasing the chances of injuring it. No, that wasn’t a typo. There is an untold amount of research floating around scientific journals, all drawing the same conclusion. One of the main reasons for warming-up is to do just that, increase the temperature of the working muscles. Amongst other things, this decreases the likelihood of a muscular injury. It’s like the old rubber band analogy; pull a cold rubber band and it will snap, whereas a warm one will stretch. Gentle progressive use of the muscles (jogging, jumping, etc) is all that is necessary in a warm-up to achieve this muscular injury preventing effect. Stretching exercises do not only stretch the muscles. Tendons and ligaments are stretched as well. This is fine around joints like the shoulder where a wide range of movement will be required (if I didn’t stretch my shoulder before playing, my rotator cuff would go after my first serve), but stretching exercises around joints like the ankle can lower the joint’s essential stability. The more flexible the ankle joint is, the more readily it will move into positions that will result in injury when weight is applied, and the longer it takes for the body’s natural stretch reflex to correct the joint’s position, this increases the window of opportunity for injury to occur. As one Australian sport scientist wrote in a recent article, "excessive range of movement in joints of the lower body, such as the knee or ankle, can be a real liability and injury risk in court sports requiring rapid changes of direction and lateral movement." Sound like any sport you know? Our good buddies at the FIVB promised us faithfully at the turn of the millennium that they will not muck around with the rules before the 2004 Olympics (hooray). This evidently did not apply to the beach discipline. Several rule changes were implemented on a trial basis and subsequently adopted for implementation. We now have a rally point scoring system, best of three sets to 21 (15 in the 3rd), and have reverted back to the ‘old’ red and yellow card sanction system, yellow for warning, red for penalty point, etc The latest rule change to be approved (as of April 3rd) is the new beach court size of 8m x 16m. I personally heard a lot of opposition to this when we first heard the news, and I must say I agreed. However, I didn’t actually hear any convincing arguments as to why it was such a bad idea. Now, a lot of people I speak to (who play in the EVA beach grand prix) seem to be a little more in favour of the idea, saying that they have experienced better rallies and more enjoyable games when they have played on the new sized court. I myself have decided that I like the idea. Every year I take my Uni team to the beach and try to introduce the beach game to them. Players who have never tried the beach game before, as well as complete beginners, have all made far more rapid progress on the smaller court. I find it harder in practice to hit the ball into the smaller court, but in a game situation, I have found that the better quality of receiving and setting on the 8 x 8 court more than make up for this. I know this subject has been mentioned in Spike before, but let’s find out what most of Essex thinks about it. After all, there are some beach tournaments around that are organised to their own format that may be very interested in what we have to say. -31- CZERKAWSKI & WILSON GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH ROUND 2 UK BEACH GP SERIES – POOLE 15TH/16TH JUNE 2002 After the previous tournament, Ben and I had high hopes for qualifying for the main Grand Prix Event (the top 16 pairs) in this Challenger Event. The weather wasn’t quite as good as three weeks previously, and we arrived late Friday night hoping for a no wind or rain. The first game of this Challenger Event saw Ben and I play Mildred again, but this time partnered by the new England Setter, Matt Pierce. The wind was far stronger this weekend, and we initially found this difficult to cope with. Again, we lost the first set, 15-10 due to our errors more than anything else. Yet again we decided that we did not want to lose to these boys, and pulled ourselves together with good defence and blocking, and sound attacking shots. Ben had a couple of excellent power shots and I was finding a good cut shot when unable to kill the ball. In all this was too much for the England pair. We took the second and third 15-9,15-6. Next up was Lamont, with new partner Humberstone (from Polonia). Conditions weren’t great again, with a fairly strong Easterly wind hitting the coast. The first set was quite even with both teams finding the conditions difficult. Control of the ball became very important, and there were a lot of cutting and placement shots by both teams. Unfortunately we lost the first set 15-12. We battled through the second set and managed to take it after a similarly dogged affair as the first set, 15-14. Lamont’s jump serve came into play in the third set, and using the wind to his advantage, our opposition went into a 6-0 lead. With the prospect of missing the England Denmark game too much for us to bear, Ben and I grafted with some great defence and clever shots. We managed to scrape the third 15-13. The last game of our pool saw us play two lads from Ireland, who had very little beach experience. With a lacklustre performance, Ben and I beat the Irish guys 2-0, and again topped our pool and got into the Quarter Finals! Peter Preiser was less fortunate, and after finishing fourth in Boscombe (which usually resulted in qualification for the following GP weekend), had to play in the Challenger Event, where Fetters and Preiser unfortunately lost all their games. Saturday night saw Ben and I out in Bournemouth with the GP crowd. After an evening of drinking and debauchery (which ended at 3am) we got down to Sandbanks at 9.30am. The weather had worsened and it was very windy, cold and spitting with rain. Not ideal weather to play beach volleyball (and recover from a small hangover)! We played Bettell and West in the Quarter Final, both experienced beach players. We started reasonably and the game was very tight. Even in the bad conditions, we managed to control the ball, and both Ben and I had a couple of good kill hits. However, due to the wind, service errors were prominent from both sides. We were 14-12 up in the first set, but lost 15-14. Bettell and West were clearly enthused by this first set victory, and Ben and I found it particularly difficult to lift our heads due to this loss and the terrible weather. We battled on but lost the second set 15-10, and were again knocked out of the competition at the Quarter Final mark. The weather gradually became better, and an hour or so after the Quarter Final, we played for fifth place against GP relegates, Crowe and Constantinou. Again, with no pressure on, we played a relaxed game and controlled the ball well to beat the opposition. The highlight of the game was a run of great jump serves by Ben in the second set, and the scores were 15-10, 15-9. Overall another fairly successful tournament, and both Ben and I are looking forward to the next event in Bournemouth on the 6th and 7th July. Words: Paul Czerkawski, Essex Estonians -32- LEAGUE CHAMPIONS TOO STRONG FOR CHELMSFORD In their last home game of the season Chelmsford Partners women came up against
recently crowned league champions Dulwich Tuskers in no mood to drop their first set of
the season going down 3-0 to worsen their relegation worries. Coach Hill made a change for the next set using Blackmore opposite Morris and using
Harris through middle. This strengthened both the defence and the attack and Boulton was
again released to hit hard. Partners adapted to the line-up and recovered from 8-4 down to
level at 12-12. The next ten minutes of play were some of the best Chelmsford have played
all season and Dulwich were at one stage 16-14 down and had used their first time out of
the match. Partners were winning on merit with a memorable block by Cox in the middle a
proud demonstration that Chelmsford can live with the best in the Division. But it was all
to no avail as the bullet serving again came to Dulwich’s rescue and took the game
from 22-20 to a 25-20 set through service receive errors by the home side. Dulwich go on unbeaten and without losing a set towards Division 1, whilst Partners must now fight to win at least two of their remaining three games to stay in the Division where any of the bottom seven teams cannot regard themselves as entirely safe. The remaining matches against fellow strugglers Sussex and London Polonia and also the match with Tonbridge will be crucial and it may need other results to also fall favourable if Partners are not again to move up to Division 2 only to go straight back down. The team must regain their winning ways if they are to stay up. -33- ELVIE’S EYE ON THE WORLD At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned. "Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "A person who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands. The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr Opus. When one intends to kill subject "A" but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject "B." When confronted with the murder charge the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shotgun was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, if the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple’s son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son’s financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the Murder even though he didn’t actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus. Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother’s murder. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide. (A true story from Associated Press, Reported by Kurt Westerville) -34- REGULAR CONTRIBUTORSVery, many thanks to all those who took the time to contribute this quarter. They include: Sue Douglas Ken Edwards Prozac Claire Sparrow Dave Reece Justin Lazarus Ian Cladingboel Paul Czerkawski John Bartlett and finally..... There were three legionnaires walking through the desert under a baking sun. They were fully equipped with enough dehydrated water tablets for days, and food aplenty. On the shimmering horizon mirages came and went and came again, visions of swimming pools attended by dusky maidens, stalls full of ice-cream, sorbets, freshly-whipped smoothies of every conceivable flavour. But no avail, the legionnaires did not crack, but kept marching solidly on. Suddenly one of them froze, "Psssst" said he. His companions halted, and strained their eyes to where the first legionnaire was pointing. "Le voila", said he, "Regardez, mes amis, isn’t that a bacon tree on the ‘orizon" ? And sure enough, there it stood, proudly and defiant in the middle of the desert, a true bacon tree. Succulent strips hanging from every branch like leaves. Slowly they crept forward towards the mystery object far off. Inch by inch, centimetre by centimetre, until they were within a stone’s throw of the bacon tree. Even nearer they crept, and suddenly, a shot rang out, dropping one of the legionnaires in his tracks. The other two returned fire, and gave first aid to their wounded companion. Even as they bandaged him, and poured water over his face, they could hear his faint voice: "That was no bacon tree," he gasped, "that was an ‘am bush." Elv NEXT ISSUE: SEPTEMBER 14TH ARTICLES NO LATER THAN 28TH AUGUST. THANK YOU
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