The Grand National

It’s an interesting question, “what do we judge as success”? This was our inaugural foray into the prestigious National Cup of Volleyball England. Our entries at u15s level for both girls and boys.

Predictably pre-match on subsequent days, as nervous tension built up due to facing more experienced and established teams, emphasis was put on “one rule: enjoy yourself!”

The girls joined forces with Frodsham VC with our Stella, Ella and Alyssia making up 6. We called ourselves ‘Frodport’ in recognition of the partnership between these two clubs. One of our girls had only been playing the sport for 5 weeks. The biggest cheer of the day and camaraderie was witnessed when she got her serve over. Fantastic scenes! The three matches ended in defeat but a signal of just how well they did was a mere ’18-25′ loss to the Welsh National squad.

The boys went one step further and qualified for Round 2 from a strong group involving two Black Country VC teams and Urmston. A win in the last game in the final set against Black Country B saw Stockport through in third place with a trip to Newcastle Staffs in Round 2.

On reflection, whatever the criteria, our first venture into the National Cup was a success with happy players and coaches.