Blog - Page 2 of 3 - Skyball beach volleyball club Beach Volleyball Club

15/10/201918/10/2019

Season with Skyball Club 2018/2019

Introduction

First of all, I’d like to take a moment to thank Skyball BV Club for giving me an opportunity to become coaching coordinator and coach for the season, an experience I will never forget and I hope this is only the beginning of something bigger to come.

This was a great season for me, whilst I was preparing training sessions for all the clinics I had opportunity to work with a fantastic team of coaches and most of all, with very enthusiastic players who were ready to become better in beach volleyball. Overall we had around 200 people participating in the events and to say this was only 2nd season for the club, it’s an impressive number.

Season was incredibly busy

We had a very nice mixture of people attending the clinics, competitions and all other events, it all started with Season Opening Event on 6th of April, when our feet could finally touch the sand. ☺

The season was incredibly busy, but amazing at the same time, our beach volleyball family kept us all going and we did it because we helped each other. Our lovely Howard Family haven’t probably missed a single event, I also have to mention Quick Family, Gladstone Family, and all others who came to our lovely Beach Home in Bridlington at South Shore. Thank you to all parents who joined, the atmosphere that you guys created is unforgettable.

Skyball Juniors made us proud

This season was also particularly special for our juniors as first time Yorkshire Beach Volleyball was represented at National Level at Beach Volleyball Competitions in Cardiff, Ollie, Ben, Will, Harry, Daisy and Lauren we are very proud of your achievement and we wish you good luck, lots of strength, hunger and passion for more success in beach volleyball. Our coaching promise is to support you achieving your dreams, with our knowledge, beach volleyball experience and hopefully our passion for beach volleyball will inspire you to continue to develop your talent.

Skyball Juniors in Cardiff — Ollie and Ben

Special thanks

I’d like to thank my husband Jozef, Marz and Pete, Jitka and Said, to all who supported me and encouraged and inspired me to become beach volleyball coach, we in club believe we can achieve our ultimate goal which is to build Inland Beach volleyball Court in York Area.

Are you ready for the next season?

We were sad to leave Bridlington on 7th of September, when we officially ended our 2nd season as a club, but we know we will return in 2020. Plus Shona’s Amazing Volley Cake has helped us to get over it. 😉

We are already looking forward to the new season, new joiners, new challenges and new experiences.

Gabriela Pecovska
Skyball Beach Volleyball Club

05/12/201805/12/2018

Skyball BVC AGM 2019

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Information

The Skyball Beach Volleyball Club team would like to invite you to our first club’s AGM to review the past year and plan the next one!

If you are free, join us on:

5th January 2019

14:00 – 16:00

Athletics Pavilion, Sport Centre, University of York, James Way, Heslington, YORK, YO10 5NA

There are many roles that you can run for to be involved in the the only beach volleyball club in North of England, if you would like to know more please click here or for more information email info@skyballclub.co.uk

Agenda

1. Welcome and Attendance
2. Reports from officers

Chairwoman’s report
Secretary’s report
Financial report
Event coordinator

3. Elections of officers

Chairperson
Secretary
Treasurer
Event coordinator
Event support staff
Head coach (1x) and beach volleyball coach
Resources lead
Welfare officer
Sponsorship coordinator
Website and social media officer
PR officer
Skyball ambassadors (more roles available)

For full role description please click here

4. Training and events planning for 2019

5. Courts development plan

6. Any other business

7. Date of AGM 2020

13/11/201813/11/2018

The Stars of Tomorrow

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Ben and Ollie – They are smashing it, literally

Our club’s mission is to provide our players with the best possible quality of beach volleyball experience throughout training and competitions we organise. Our dream is to have well established school for juniors with inland courts and weekly sessions, juniors that could take an example from Ben and Ollie.

Both Ben and Ollie started playing the sport not long ago, they train both indoor and beach volleyball. Due to their hard work and commitment they achieved a lot already. Last Summer they brought 2 sets of medals competing in various tournaments around the country and very recently they passed an exam of skills and determination and were selected to join the Team England Cadet squad.

See what they say about their journey with volleyball so far

Ben
Skyball Junior Player

I started playing volleyball when I was twelve but started properly a year and a half ago when the Yorkshire setup started. I got into volleyball at school by going to an after school club because it looked like a fun, high intensity sport. I started playing beach volleyball last summer and have started to play in competitions this year. My most enjoyable part of beach volleyball is being able to dive on the sand and being outdoors unlike indoor volleyball. I also like that you are in contact a lot more with the ball than indoor volleyball so is more enjoyable and means you can develop your skills more. My goals for the future is to play in more men’s competitions and go on to play matches for England juniors in beach volleyball and hopefully get to play abroad.

Ollie
Skyball Junior Player

I got into volleyball 2 years ago when I was 12. I wanted to start playing a new and interesting sport that I hadn’t done before. I like playing beach volleyball because it is more technical and you have to be clever to win points. Also when playing in pairs you get more touches of the ball and have to cover more ground meaning that you get to dive around more. I would like to keep improving and hopefully play more national tournaments and represent my country in Volleyball.

Skyball team comments

We couldn’t be prouder of the boys. Especially after what we have seen they are capable of on the sand. Being only 14 (Ollie) and 15 (Ben) years old they participated in the adult competition twice last Summer battling through each point, set and match. For some it could be another match to play or watch, but for them it was a real test of perseverance, confidence booster and character building.

Indoor volleyball achievements

It’s another even hotter indoor season for the boys. Not only they qualified to train with the national team, but they will also represent the region playing for the Yorkshire Junior squad with the team looking stronger than ever. Additionally, Ollie plays for all 3 York VC men teams including National Division 2 giving him countless opportunities to improve the skills and develop holistically as a player.

Thank you to parents

While we admire the talented play of our young generation we must not forget that they wouldn’t be able to participate if not their dedicated parents. Who wants to leave the house again in the evening after being to work and cooking tea or give up their precious weekend rest time and take their children to all the training sessions or competitions instead? Not many! Parents, your children are amazing, but you are wonderful too!

Comment from a Skyball Co-founder

“For us Ben and Ollie are aspiring young men who with some help and direction can achieve lots more. We believe in them and wish more young people like the boys joined us to train on the sand in the future. While we continuously expand the range of activities on the beach in Brid, we are hoping that one day we will find a place for the inland courts, so we can deliver more regular and cost-effective training.

Skyball and Yorkshire Series have been providing competition mainly for adults since 2015 and we know that we need to include more junior events in our schedule to attract more young players and build stronger future for the sport. Therefore, the newest addition to the annual program for the Summer 2019 is the UKBT Junior Championships in July.

We can see that Ben and Ollie are driven by passion and passion drives success! We would like to wish them further progress in their sporting achievements and their supportive families lots and lots of energy and persistence in helping their children to make their dreams come true.”

Marzena Makowska
Skyball Team Coach

09/10/201809/10/2018

Pro Tour Bridlington 2018

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Introduction

August came with one of the most important beach volleyball events of the year. Bridlington witnessed the highest standard of beach volleyball in this country the last 11th and 12th of August where people from all over the country gathered to fight for the title in an amazing weekend, different nationalities, different location but the same goal, to qualify for the finals and earn as many UKBT points as possible in one of the last 5 star events of the season.

Preparations

The event started way ahead of the weekend with lots of preparation on the previous days, especially on Friday where the Skyball Team and very kind volunteers like Stuart Hare and the Howard family came to help to set up the scene for the weekend, after 10 hours of hard work everything was ready for the big show.

Saturday Qualifiers Matches

On Saturday morning after a quick briefing, the players were ready to begin the show. The centre court started to fill up with people as soon as the tournament started, many Bridlington locals were impressed by the display of skills of the players and also the organisation of the event.

Sunday Finals

The Sunday came with the top pairs in each gender battling their way up to the finals where we witnessed the magic of the sport with beautiful sets in the male and female competitions crowning Beattie/Lynn in the female competition and Sheaf/Smith in the male competition as your event winners.

Men

? Sheaf/Smith
? Batrane/Bello
? Jones/Walrond ? van den Bogert/Garcia-Kidd

Women

Beattie/Coutts
Adamek/Drozdziel
Jongedijk/Jongedijk Niecikowska/Snow

Thank you

A massive thank you to those who helped through the event to make sure it was run smoothly, Stuart, The Howard family, Jake, Dave / Penny, Jozef, Jack, Pascal, Debra & Diane and the wider refereeing team, Sarah, Dinos, etc… a massive thank you to you all for helping us in making this happen.

Comment from a Skyball Co-founder

“After all the preparation in the previous months, and with very little experience in events, it has been great to see all these players in action throughout the weekend, it is incredible how quickly it finishes when you are actually in the event, when we were arranging things I thought it would never come the time!.

I think I speak on behalf of the whole team but seeing this actually happen is our biggest achievement. I know Marz and Pete have been working a lot in developing the community in the previous years and it is great to see that with the right people you can do wonderful things. All we hope is we can repeat the experience next year and hopefully improve it.”

The Skyball team is already planning next season and what the next goals are, until then…
See you all on sand!

Said Lopez
Skyball Team

29/04/201830/04/2018

April Training Camp

For the first time this year we met in a large group (24 participants – full camp) to train and enjoy the passion for beach volleyball in Brid. Our coaches have prepared lots of different activities including 3 training sessions, competitions, strength and conditioning workout, Yoga fit and of course mini tournament to keep all engaged and entertained. Interesting read below from one of our novice coaches Said reflecting on the 2 days with the Skyball family.

April Training Camp Reflection

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Sand, finally sand… and sun… and relax…
We could not be happier, the 1st event of this year’s beach volleyball season could not have fallen in a better weekend, apart from Sunday’s light showers, we enjoyed such a lovely weather in the marvellous sands of Brid.

Surrounded by people from different countries and parts from the UK, we brought to life the first camp under the Skyball flag, some of us with more experience running events and coaching in general, and some… Well, some more nervous in general. As a team, we have been working really hard since the end of 2017 to bring something good, something that we can be proud of, like our little baby, something we hope it grows with time and patience and develops at the same time our players develop.

The camp we held last week is something that personally it caught me out of the guard, not because I did not know the date, or because I forgot it was that weekend… but because I had to step in as a coach and I am not talking as conditioning coach (which is part of my role) but as full-time coach – panic attack –

When I knew about this I was like, “oh dear me… poor people those that I need to coach” but of course I kept my cool like I got this in front of the team when the news arrived.

It is interesting that someone with barely a year of experience as volleyball player, shows around to other people what they need to do, gives feedback on how to act on the court, what to do in certain situations, etc… for some people this experience would be way-way out of their comfort zones and I am not different, well I am a bit, as I like to challenge myself out of my comfort zone from time to time.

So here it comes, Saturday morning, worst night of my life, barely slept, partially because of my nervousness, partially because the sun hit our room before 5… grumpy as a little kid when someone takes his candy away, all ready to Rock ‘n Roll.

Time to perform, warm up was done, they are ready to touch the ball, we start with a simple drill, then another one and another one…. No more nervousness, people seem to enjoy it, and when you enjoy things, there is nothing to worry about.

I am not going to reflect the post to the quality of sessions delivered, that is for each individual attending the camp ( we are open to any sort of feedback), instead, I am going to reflect how I enjoyed it.

As a teenager, I played basketball, and basketball will be always number 1 in my heart, I got to play with my best friend for many years, with a really great group where we achieved a few number 1 spots. When I got older, I kept enjoying basketball but in a different way, there was something missing, something I did not notice I was missing until this weekend.

Coaching this weekend has brought to me loads of fun, not only on the court, but outside the court as well (still high on Ice cream guys…) as we were surrounded by very enthusiastic and funny people, and I realized what I was missing in basketball was the sense of unity within the sport, being able to socialize with the people.

This is what it’s all about, OUR people, people that trust us to give them that extra push, people that come to enjoy their time with us and then I realised. Beach volleyball is a tool, what it matters, what it really matters, it’s the community behind it and we can’t ask for a better community, thank you all for such an amazing weekend.