CHELMSFORD PARTNERS VOLLEYBALL CLUB
This page tells you some of the history of Chelmsford Partners
Volleyball Club
Players from the club went on to establish Chelmsford Volleyball Club in September 2005-6
based at the new Rivermead campus of Anglia Polytechnic University.
Where We Played
Anglia Polytechnic University, Park Road, Chelmsford, Essex. CM1 1LL.
This facility has now been pulled down as part of larger development of the old
site in central Chelmsford. Training Night was Thursday 20:00-22:00 evening. Anglia
Polytechnic University usually have a session from 18.30 beforehand. Training ran
most Thursdays from September up to May.
History
Formed for the 1984/85 season by a few enthusiasts (Paul Bohannan,
Gordon Day and Jenny Rolf) to offer players in the area the chance to compete in National
League Volleyball, the club ran men's and women's teams for most of the intervening
period. Whilst not a primary objective, the club has won a number of honours during this
time including:
2000/2001 Women’s Division 3 champions and Women EVA Cup winners
1995/6 Mens Division 4 winners and Women
Division 3 runners up
1989/90 Men Division 4 runners up
1987 & 88 Women Kestours Cup winners
Throughout its life, it attracted players not just from local clubs, but throughout Essex and beyond with the squad including players living in St Albans, Sittingbourne, Crawley and Cambridge. The approach was to offer a friendly environment where the enjoyment of playing took precedence over winning at all costs. The philosophy was always been that we would rather play well and loose than play badly and win. This enthusiasm is reflected in our good conduct record with the award of a card of any colour a very rare event.
The name Partners stemmed from a sponsorship deal with a local hostelry ‘The Partners’, long since ended, but t the name was retained as it reflected our approach.
The club was happy to act as a staging post for players who wanted to move on to more performance orientated clubs and over the years we passed on a number of players to National League clubs elsewhere. Up until 2003, our women were usually the county’s premier side, but this ended in that year when we did not re-enter the league having finished 9th of 12 teams in Division 2. The men finished their National league stint in 2004 after finishing 5th in Division 3 East. The main reason was the a conflict between playing and collecting their pensions!
Club training as a mixed group took place on Thursdays between September and May. Open sessions were run in rotation by qualified coaches within the club who do two or three week stints. This gave a mixture of styles and skills. Coaches within the club also coached at county and regional levels, both senior and junior as well as having England contacts. As a result the latest thinking and ideas was available to players.
For many years the club had an associated junior section in Chelmsford
Bears VC. This was formed in 1987 as part of the Chelmsford Borough Council’s
School of Sport Scheme using qualified coaches from within the club. This was supplemented
by an annual weekend training camp using national level coaches. Training on Saturdays at
Anglia Polytechnic was an open club for girls and boys aged 11-18 that developed into a
squad that competed successfully with a mixed gender team in Essex Leagues and cups for
many years. This group, supplemented by the occasional senior player, won a number of
titles and competed in both girls and boys national championships.
As with many junior clubs, especially non school based, the challenge of losing players to
further education meant that numbers dwindled. Despite initiatives such as ‘Bears on
the Road’ where the club moved from venue to venue in Essex offering coaching to
local schools, its format proved unsustainable. The Bears tradition still continues in a
different form where coaches run sessions at local schools. Several players moved through
from Bears to the senior sides, with many others still playing for clubs throughout the
country.
The club had a long record of media coverage with press cuttings back many years (you should see some of the haircuts!). In addition to the occasional radio interview and picture for major presentations, all matches are the subject of a press report that went to local and regional press as well as local radio stations. The club won awards from both EVAs (England and Essex) for its promotional material. The joke within the club was that the players don’t always recognise the match from the report, and that there is drawing of lots as to who will be mentioned as having played best. There was also one memorable occasion when the mother of one of the men’s players discovered she was to become a grandma through the press report! The press officer (who even attended the games on some occasions) pleaded freedom of the press. The club also operated a website carrying information about the club and past press reports. Club secretary, Paul Bohannan, won the ’Essex Sports Awards – behind the scenes’ award and one of its long standing coaches Gordon Day an ‘Essex Coaches Lifetime Achievement’ award’. Both were well deserved and kept volleyball in the sporting limelight.
The finances of the club, which is self financed, were sound . We built up strong links with Anglia Polytechnic University sports hall and had a very good relationship with the now retired manager, Ken Pearce, who has been a good friend of Essex volleyball for many years. This has since been continued at the new sportshall with his successor Steve Dupree. Because there were always been long term plans to close the site and centralise the University campus, one of the financial objectives was to keep at least one years expenditure in hand so that we could survive such an event. Club fees were £120 in 2003/4 season, with concessions where appropriate. These were payable in full by 1st October or two equal installments. The club maintained an open training policy that continued to attract players even from other local National League teams. The first session for any players was free as an opportunity to see what we are like. From then there was a charge of £2 a session (before concessions for juniors) if they did not become full members. This fee covered all training and playing costs for the season other than personal travel costs. For away matches we agreed who would drive on the day and by sharing this around the drivers usually payed for that trip. This always worked for us and ensured that the younger or less well off members are not called upon. Overall, we are told that this was cheaper than many other clubs.
Club administration was through a committee of volunteers elected at an AGM. There were seldom been a real problem with club personnel with a hard core of some four or five making sure everything runs smoothly. Almost everyone in the club was asked to take on some role even if it is just making sure food is brought by players to matches or that linespeople were available We found that by involving everyone in at least some task the load was spread and people stay involved. We prided ourselves on good administration and hospitality to visiting teams always ensuring they were fed, putting promotional material around and often having a match programme or nominal momento of the visit. Rumour has it we were also nice to referees, preferring to concentrate on playing the game rather than debate.
After the tclub stopped we had for two succesive years an annual social gathering of all past and present players, and families and friends and indeed anyone who can spell partners. This was held at The White Hart public house in Margatretting Tye where we met outside on a July Sunday afternoon and had a knock around, eat, drink and general cathc up on what people have been doing.
Our web site was set up in November 1998 by James Murphy a part time executive with BP and full time volleyball fanatic.
After both men and womens sides stopped playing NVL we ran a season just playing on a Thursday evenings, several players also playing for other local clubs in NVL, Regional or local leagues. During that year these players agreed that there was a need for an open club in Chelmsford and agreed to set up Chelmsford Volleyball Club and play in the Essex league for 2005-6
So that is Chelmsford Partners Volleyball Club, nothing special, just a friendly and open club that enjoyed playing the sport.
Ken Edwards
Past Club Chairman