North Devon College Volleyball Academy 2008/09 Season Review

Although being a very new sports academy at North Devon College, the Volleyball Academy has enjoyed a steady growth in success. There have been good moments and inevitable bad moments that come with sport along the Journey.

The preparation for the season was good with many of the players having gained valuable experience and some success on the beach during the summer break. For the first time the academy was fully integrated alongside the other college academies, sharing weight and fitness training sessions and having four training sessions a week. The sessions became very focussed and intense with all squad working towards the common goal of competing to the very best of their ability. As the season moved on the benefit from these session was easily visible and showed in the ability of new players to grasp the basic shot techniques, which allowed more time for the squad learn complex formations and tactics.

The first event was the Mixed Cup in which the academy took a strong squad of 11. Hopes were high especially after the first match in which the team had a dominating 25 – 6 win. However weak individual performances and rash decisions(perhaps due to a lack of game experience) in key moments in the second game lead to a shot defeat at the hands of Truro college and Saw North Devon College crash out and go home very disappointed.
Strong Performances by the male team in the remaining two competitions saw continued improvement and in both case the team fell a few points short in each of the final games to narrowly miss progressing to the national finals.

Similarly the female team saw continued improvement from the previous year which allowed them to progress to the national finals of both competitions. And although they didn’t win either event, they did give strong performances that are encouraging for the future.

The success of this smaller relatively new academy was honoured in the end of year Academy presentations as the female academy was one of 3 shortlisted for academy of the year and both academies had nominees for male and female sportsperson of the year of which Rachel Eason won the female awards. This all capped of a largely successful year for the academy which can be used as a building block in the years to come.

Departing memories

Now that myself and many others are leaving North Devon College I would like to give my departing thoughts.  I will always remember each and every individual that walked into that sports hall at the start of the year and the difference that everyone of them made to the progression of a group of players to a team. To my fellow leaving male team mates, Jack Tom and Ed, it’s been a good two years in which I think we have all improved and you have all helped me to improve my game, (yes even you Tom). I feel confident that we are leaving the team in the hands of a group of players that can use the experience they have gained this year from extended playing time and their ever increasing abilities to lead the academy in a forward direction aided by the first class coaching they will receive. I look forward to returning to the college in five years time to see benefits of what this team over the course of the past two seasons has achieved and expect to see those in the academy at that time to be moving in the right direction. Not only winning but in the continued increase in participation of the sport that has to compete with a lot more popular sports. Ruth and Denise have done a great job in recruiting players from other sports for example in this year’s male team we had; two footballers, two rugby players, a cyclist, all of which came into college as athletes of their respected disciplines and all will leave as volleyball players. Good luck to everyone involved with the academy and those who are leaving like myself, whatever paths you take in life may you all succeed.

Ashley Yeo