Events 1
SATURDAY 20th June Beach Pairs
0800 hours & by the time I get there I am surprised by the team of dedicated, ( if foolhardy!), individuals already starting to rig the tents ready for a busy day.
This quickly turned into various teams alll trying to put up courts, nets, guys etc. all whilst "young" Alan Conquest was trying to sort out how many teams there were going to be & which court they would play on. It must be said at this time that, due to the sunshine, his crystal ball wasn't working very well.
0930 hours, and the floodgates opened - no not the weather, but the dozens of competitors all queueing up to register. If I didn't know better I would say that there was a sale on at Perranporth beach on Saturday morning.
I think that now would be an excellent time to say a big thank you to everyone who bothered to turn up and support the event & donate money to the worthy causes (SSAFA Forces Help & Cornwall Hospices).
1000 hours and the competition was due to start but Alan & Chris were fine tuning the competition fixtures, (or were they just in the pub starting early!!!). After a short delay - 15 minutesish play begins with ceremonial blast from the Countrymen ceremonial horn!!!!!!
With 27 teams, there was some fierce competition (at the bar for a beer), with 8 ladies, (I am sure thay were drinking wine not beer), and 19 mens teams (just to prove that I can add up without the need for a calculator). With the ladies running a day of competition on their own net & the men battling it out to to find out if they would reach the Cup or the Plate competition in the afternoon.
Conditions were not the best as storm force winds were accompanied by sunshine but made it very difficult to play, especially if you have half a volleyball court to cover, or if you are Tony Opie three quarters of a volleyball court to cover.
Lunch was reached at 1.00ish & it was a quick dash next door to the bar - for 30 minutes - before the really serious stuff & I don't just mean the coin toss either!!!!
This was followed by semi finals for both the cup, the plate & the ladies which well all vplayed to a very high standard. The one that produced the biggest display was the Gazelles beating the Cardiff Wildcats 23-21 after being down 16-20.
The finals of the ladies saw Claire & Weibs play Spelthorne (1), with Clare & Weibs looking slightly the fresher (perhaps they didn't spend so long in the pub at lunchtime). With some great control under very testing conditions they went on to win by a comfortable margin.
The Plate saw Cardiff Wildcats, who really were in the pub a long time & almost lost the final on default, edging past Grobe Dupy by two sets to nil.
The Cup saw the Purple Helmets from Helston come up against the Gazelles, also from Helston Volleyball Club, with the Gazelles easing to a win with some great controll on the service receptions & very aggressive attack play.
The over 50's winners were Mel Gilbert & Alan Bryant & the over 60's winners going to Jim Gilbert & "young" Alan Conquest. With the Spirit Of The Game award going to "Blondes Have More Fun".
Thanks to the lovely ladies from the Cornwall Hospices who came to present some mugs & say a few words of thanks.
So it was just a matter of putting it all away & doing it all again on Sunday.
SUNDAY 21st June Beach Fours
Fantastic sunshine, no really, there was fantastic sunshine, a little breeze but nothing too much to worry about, all that was required would be a cool beer and this could be paradise. Forget it! I got there around 8.15 and there was Alan, Mel & Jim already starting to set out the tents, with plenty of work still to be done.
With Tony, Andy, Paul and the rest showing up after stating that they had a quiet night (are these the same people that I know!) A quiet night, does that mean that they got to bed! Sorry no time to give them the third degree just yet but got to get on with sorting out the admin for the day whilst ensuring that everthing was ready to go.
Teams started to show up from 9.20 onwards & it was great to see a lot of the regular teams, travelling from as far as Cardiff, Rushden, Birmingham, Bridport & Spelthorne. With 25 teams in total spread over 5 nets in the morning with a mixture of abilities on each net to start with, once again, in order to seed teams & put them into the Cup/Plate/Ladies for the afternoon. And so before you knew what was happening it was 1.00pm & we had got to lunch (no I hadn't been drinking, well not that I can remember anyway!)
With the teams then divided into the three competitions the afternoon competitions began around 1.30pm. With the sun shining brightly (this really isn't an advert for the Cornish Tourist board honest!). After 10 matches on each net the draw was decided for each of the semi-finals with the top teams for the Ladies going straight through to the final, and the youth draw was also decided just by a final.
FINALS
Youth, Hit Him & Me played the Rushden Seagals who showed more experience & comfortabgly won the Youth final.
Ladies, Spelthorne Ladies, who were unbeaten throughout the afternoon beat their nearest contenders, also the Rushden Seagals.
Plate saw Spelthorne Mixed play really well & take the final against the Bridport Bashers.
Cup, saw the Vo Barleys play Team Hector, with a very high standard of play throughout the day from both teams this was very much the final that deserved to be played. With Team Hector taking the competition by a reasonable margin.
So with all of it over it was just a matter of getting it all together packing it away & wacking it all into Jims van before it gets stuck in the sand (don't worry it's tradition! Jim always gets stuck in the sand every year). Although it must be noted that this was a little different because Jim had the Police running after him during the morning asking him to remove his vehicle from the beach and it is a relief that we did not need the services of a Sea King helicopter either.
As with tradition we then hit the pub & decide on a venue for dinner. Simon Wills, in a flash of brilliance, chose the Victory Inn at Perranporth so that's where we all went. We go and order the food & it takes well over an hour to get there, even though we were promised at most 30 minutes. Maybe they had to catch & prepare the meat first before it could be served. I'm not blaming anyone, (Simon Wills), for this, I still think my ideas of McDonalds or Pizza Hut were good - no waiting for over an hour there!
I would just like to finish by thanking everyone who helped over the weekend, for the admin, setting up & taking down of the equipment, getting the equipment there, nudging me when things weren't done & for distracting me when I should have blown the Ceremonial horn to stop play.
Next years date is already set & the weather is already booked for 11th, 12th & 13th June 2010, so if you are interested in some easy-going, fun & extremely sociable volleyball please do not hesitate to contact young Alan Conquest or myself.
I'll look forward to seeing you there next in June 2010.
0800 hours & by the time I get there I am surprised by the team of dedicated, ( if foolhardy!), individuals already starting to rig the tents ready for a busy day.
This quickly turned into various teams alll trying to put up courts, nets, guys etc. all whilst "young" Alan Conquest was trying to sort out how many teams there were going to be & which court they would play on. It must be said at this time that, due to the sunshine, his crystal ball wasn't working very well.
0930 hours, and the floodgates opened -
1000 hours and the competition was due to start but Alan & Chris were fine tuning the competition fixtures, (or were they just in the pub starting early!!!). After a short delay -
Conditions were not the best as storm force winds were accompanied by sunshine but made it very difficult to play, especially if you have half a volleyball court to cover, or if you are Tony Opie three quarters of a volleyball court to cover.
Lunch was reached at 1.00ish & it was a quick dash next door to the bar -
The Plate saw Cardiff Wildcats, who really were in the pub a long time & almost lost the final on default, edging past Grobe Dupy by two sets to nil.
The Cup saw the Purple Helmets from Helston come up against the Gazelles, also from Helston Volleyball Club, with the Gazelles easing to a win with some great controll on the service receptions & very aggressive attack play.
The over 50's winners were Mel Gilbert & Alan Bryant & the over 60's winners going to Jim Gilbert & "young" Alan Conquest. With the Spirit Of The Game award going to "Blondes Have More Fun".
Thanks to the lovely ladies from the Cornwall Hospices who came to present some mugs & say a few words of thanks.
So it was just a matter of putting it all away & doing it all again on Sunday.
SUNDAY 21st June Beach Fours
Fantastic sunshine, no really, there was fantastic sunshine, a little breeze but nothing too much to worry about, all that was required would be a cool beer and this could be paradise. Forget it! I got there around 8.15 and there was Alan, Mel & Jim already starting to set out the tents, with plenty of work still to be done.
With Tony, Andy, Paul and the rest showing up after stating that they had a quiet night (are these the same people that I know!) A quiet night, does that mean that they got to bed! Sorry no time to give them the third degree just yet but got to get on with sorting out the admin for the day whilst ensuring that everthing was ready to go.
Teams started to show up from 9.20 onwards & it was great to see a lot of the regular teams, travelling from as far as Cardiff, Rushden, Birmingham, Bridport & Spelthorne. With 25 teams in total spread over 5 nets in the morning with a mixture of abilities on each net to start with, once again, in order to seed teams & put them into the Cup/Plate/Ladies for the afternoon. And so before you knew what was happening it was 1.00pm & we had got to lunch (no I hadn't been drinking, well not that I can remember anyway!)
With the teams then divided into the three competitions the afternoon competitions began around 1.30pm. With the sun shining brightly (this really isn't an advert for the Cornish Tourist board honest!). After 10 matches on each net the draw was decided for each of the semi-
Youth, Hit Him & Me played the Rushden Seagals who showed more experience & comfortabgly won the Youth final.
Ladies, Spelthorne Ladies, who were unbeaten throughout the afternoon beat their nearest contenders, also the Rushden Seagals.
Plate saw Spelthorne Mixed play really well & take the final against the Bridport Bashers.
Cup, saw the Vo Barleys play Team Hector, with a very high standard of play throughout the day from both teams this was very much the final that deserved to be played. With Team Hector taking the competition by a reasonable margin.
So with all of it over it was just a matter of getting it all together packing it away & wacking it all into Jims van before it gets stuck in the sand (don't worry it's tradition! Jim always gets stuck in the sand every year). Although it must be noted that this was a little different because Jim had the Police running after him during the morning asking him to remove his vehicle from the beach and it is a relief that we did not need the services of a Sea King helicopter either.
As with tradition we then hit the pub & decide on a venue for dinner. Simon Wills, in a flash of brilliance, chose the Victory Inn at Perranporth so that's where we all went. We go and order the food & it takes well over an hour to get there, even though we were promised at most 30 minutes. Maybe they had to catch & prepare the meat first before it could be served. I'm not blaming anyone, (Simon Wills), for this, I still think my ideas of McDonalds or Pizza Hut were good -
Next years date is already set & the weather is already booked for 11th, 12th & 13th June 2010, so if you are interested in some easy-