6 of our VK Juniors travelled down to Sandbanks on Sunday to take part in the annual Beach Volleyball Festival.
Ryan and Josh paired up and took part in the U18s competition, as part of their England Cadets Beach Squad development, facing some strong opposition from both home and overseas. They performed well, improving game by game but the age and experience of the opposition showed as they lost both their pool games. The idea was to give them match practice (as they had been unable to compete in the U16s competition the previous day as they were playing in the London School Games) so the experience fulfilled it’s purpose.

4 of our new VK Juniors also took part in their 1st beach tournament. Adam and Dom played together in the U18s ‘B’ competition and although they didn’t win any pool matches they too improved vastly over the day and in their last game, they had the pleasure of winning more points against the eventual competition winners than anyone else had achieved !
Louie and Luca played in the U14 competition. Both have only been playing for about 4 months and neither have played any sort of match before, never mind on the beach ! They made excellent progress, improving as the day went on, eventually winning their last pool game. They then faced the eventual winners in a semi final and took a set off of them. Considering that all the teams in their group live within 15 minutes of the coast and train 2-3 times a week, this is an incredible achievement !

Big congrats go out to 3 of our VK Juniors – Robert, Ryan and Josh – who, last Saturday, represented Enfield in the London Youth Games semi finals, narrowly losing 2-1 to a Wandsworth team which included 2 England U18s and 4 England U16s !

Considering the Enfield squad was completed with beginners from our VK Junior sessions (2 of whom have only been playing for 4 months and are coached at school by Robert !), this is quite an achievement.

Well done lads, very proud of your support and your exemplary leadership on the day !

VK Barnet had six teams entered at JUVO this year, the most we’ve ever had.
Entering Under 15 and Under 17 Boys, two teams in Under 17 Girls, two pairs in the U17 Boys Beach and one in the U17 Girls Beach.
For many of the players, this was their first ever experience at a tournament, but they overcame early nerves and settled down to their capable skills and good 3 touch volleyball.
Hard work paid off by all, with the Poole brothers winning on the Beach, the Southgate School Trio finished second in the U17 Girls, and the other teams made very respectable thirds and fourths.
Well done to all, and looking forward to the next Junior tournament.

Congratulations to VK Junior Ryan who made his official debut for the England Cadets (under 16s) volleyball team at the World Youth Games tournament in London yesterday, starting first six in all 4 matches.
The team finished 2nd overall, winning 3 matches and just losing to Boswells under 18s 2-1 (23-25; 25-22; 22-25) – a fantastic achievement considering that this was the first time that the team had actually played any competitive matches together !

Great evening yesterday – 27 players turned up at QEs for our Intra-club pre-Christmas mixed tournament with some colourful and interesting head gear on display ! 4 teams played it out over 10 matches for the winners prize of having first dip in the sweet tin (kindly supplied by Sue-thanks), with Team Armidillos the eventual winners (congratulations to Gabrielle, Eran, Stephen, Jackie, James and Andrea).

Some very good performances in a VERY competitive tournament – for me a true reflection of all the hard work that the coaching team have put in this term with the availability of 2 courts for training most Weds evenings. A big thank you from me to all the assistant coaches who have helped make these sessions so enjoyable and successful.
Another big thank you to Dave and Angelo for setting up and running the Sat afternoon beginners sessions at QEs and to Eric for helping with the Junior sessions at Southgate School (~28 kids every week !)

Well played everybody, and in the right spirit ! Hope you all enjoyed the evening.
Merry Christmas to all members from the club, see you in the New Year.