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Any first game of the season is always going to be difficult. With time spent away from both the court and teammates during the off season, sometimes questions can be raised over whether it will take time to effectively hit the ground running. Thankfully, today that question was answered in serious fashion with a spectacular 3 -1 victory over Lincoln Canons in the NVL Cup. Spikers took the first set 25-21 but Lincoln responded by taking the second 27-25. Clearly a close second set but all to play for in the third. 25-13 was the score as Spikers took the game with what could be described as almost a masterclass in "how to drub your opponent". At two sets to one up and with the fourth set a potential decider, would Spikers hold their nerve? No doubt at all that they could! Taking the match with a 25-18 victory in the fourth set, the quality of the entire team shone through with Harry Sandford the man of the match.. Very special thanks to those supporters who were able to find the time to turn up to the game and, as always, the team was being cheered on by the rest of the club who were unable to make it. A shout out to the scorer and line judges as well for being able to provide their time to assist today. Next up for Spikers is an away game at Team Essex Blaze who play in the Super League – the top division of the NVL. Last season, they fell early on in the cup, but as a Super League team, they remain a threat. However, with confidence running high after this brilliant first round win, and with the support of the entire club behind them, there’s no reason why this team cannot get the same result against this opposition whilst continuing to provide the entertaining volleyball that we’ve all come to love from them.  Spikers Infernoes had their best game night of the season last night. They renewed their old rivalry with GYVGC volleyball club and in an enthralling match narrowly lost out in all 3 sets.
Undeterred and buoyed by some good performances they went on to beat UEA 2 sets to 1 coming back from the disappointment of leading and losing out in the first set. Everyone played well and we showed great potential for the season. Spikers MIxfits had their first games of the season against Medusa and UEA3.
Against a very experienced Medusa Mixfits who are a mixture of experience and new people promoted from Dev League we played very well and gave them a run for the money especially in the 2nd Set. Unfortunately we lost the game 3 sets to 0. In our second game we had a very close match against UEA3. We did very well to come back and take the 2nd set and then turn round a 5-0 deficit to take the lead in the final deciding set. Unfortunately we couldn't quite close it out. The whole evening showed however Mixfits has a lot of promise for the upcoming season. As this new season gets underway, please read on for some extremely important notices regarding changes this year.
Good evening All, Firstly I would like to say thank you to all of our wonderful members who attended our first session. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and many new ones too! We look forward to seeing you all next week for more volleyball! Also, a huge thank you to our coaching and committee teams for all of their work in getting this season off to a good start. It couldn't be done without you! Our club is now larger than it has ever been and our coaches are working extremely hard to provide all of our sessions with quality training. All of our coaching team are passionate and enthusiastic volunteers who give up their time for us to enjoy our great sport. However, as the club has expanded we are now in need of more coaches to sustain our level of training across the club. If you have a coaching qualification or would like to chip in and help out at a beginners sessions please do get in touch with myself or Ann-Marie. This is a great opportunity for new coaches to work alongside our experienced team to provide the necessary extra staffing. Our club needs you! Furthermore, as the club has grown so much, we have introduced a new payment system that was revealed at our first all-comers session this week. The reason for this is because it has become increasingly difficult to keep track of the amount of cash that has been circulating from training and match nights/days etc. The new payment system allows you to pay monthly or yearly (with significant discounts) in an upfront payment. You can find the new payment forms on the website here: http://www.norwichspikersvolleyball.org.uk/trainings.html or on the club Facebook pages. Please read the information carefully. All you need to do is tick the boxes that apply to you and add up the total. There will be an annual membership fee of £28 that will need to be paid in one upfront payment to cover our insurance and membership discounts for you. All members pay this annually. The rest of the fees can be paid upfront or monthly via a direct debit. Once this new payment system is released there will be no capacity for players to pay cash on the night. Registers will be taken to ensure that sessions are attended by those who have paid, just like having a gym membership and showing your card on entry. If you feel you have extenuating circumstances regarding payments, please contact myself, Ann-Marie or Sarah-Jane to discuss it. As we venture into this new payment plan, please bear with us. There will be a period of transition at the start of the season but payments will need to be either completed or the 10 months subscription set up by the end of October 2017. Monthly payments will then be required for 10 months. If you have any concerns regarding payments please contact the club treasurer Sarah-Jane at [email protected]. Many thanks for taking the time to read these notices and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season ahead! See you on the court, Ben Stek Norwich Spikers Chairman Dear all,
Here are the training re start dates..... Adult intermediates - Monday 8th September Adult beginner/social - Wednesday 10th September Adult advanced - Wednesday 10th September Junior session (all welcome - at the sportspark) - 5.40pm - 7pm - Wednesday 10th September. Due to the problems we had with the Saturday sessions last season we have changed this session to Wednesdays. Depending on attendance figures we may be able to lengthen this session if we get the demand. We are also hoping to still run the Monday junior session but are struggling to find a coach to take this session. We will update you as soon as we can in this regard. We hope you are all looking forward to getting back in to volleyball after the summer off!! The committee. So we’ve arrived at the end of the volleyball season and it’s been a great year to be a Spiker! Let’s have a look at all the things we have to be proud of and (inevitably at some point) celebrate. A Spikers National Team?! Yes that’s right, I’m very pleased to announce the club will see its first very own Men’s National team, the team will be in Division 3 South East which will see competition from the likes of Bedford, Peterborough, Newmarket, Milton Keynes and more! On behalf of the entire team and myself I’d like to say a huge thank you to club Secretary Ann-Marie Matthews for organising this, believe me when I say “you don’t know how much she has done”. Men's Eastern Regional Tournament The winners of the Men’s Eastern Regional Tournament were, Norwich Spikers! I’d like to say a big thanks to all the teams that took part, the competition was immensely fierce and I look forward to playing you guys again next season! Men's Local League Full results: https://sites.google.com/site/norfolkvolleyballassociation/men-s-2013  The Spikers Men's 1st team came 2nd in the men’s local league, by managing a win against usual league champions Pirates for the first time ever, in a spectacular end of season face off. Impressively this is the only match Pirates have lost this season! So we say congratulations on winning the league this season Pirates, but next season Spikers are coming for YOU!  This year also saw the formation of the Spikers Men’s 2nd team. After some teething trouble early on in the season, the team began to unify and started winning sets here and there, before long they had bagged their first victory. Despite finishing 8th the team has looked stronger with each passing month and I look forward to seeing how they do next season. Spikers Juniors finished 3rd this season a mere 2 points behind Spikers Men’s 1st team proving that just because they’re young – they’re not to be taken lightly! How will they fair next season now that two of their players have come of age and left for university? Women's Local League Full results: https://sites.google.com/site/norfolkvolleyballassociation/ladies-2013  The Spikers Women’s team had a very respectable season, finishing 4th in the table, just 2 points behind 3rd place and long term friendly rivals Medusa. This year has seen the women’s team double in size, and now they've gained some experience as team, I think they’ll be keen to show off what they can do next season. Mixed Local League Division 1 Full results: https://sites.google.com/site/norfolkvolleyballassociation/mixed-division-1  Spikers Mixed 1st team had an up and down season, but due to a reasonable start they just managed to avoid relegation. With a new mid-season signing from Canada and other changes to the team for next season, they will no doubt do much better. Spikers Juniors Mixed 1st team had a lot of trouble fielding enough players throughout the season, this means they will drop down to Division 2. There they would normally join Spikers Juniors Mixed 2nd team who have also been struggling with numbers, so instead they will be amalgamated into one team for next season. Mixed Local League Division 2 Full results: https://sites.google.com/site/norfolkvolleyballassociation/mixed-division-2
10 New Coaches!
As some of you will be aware, it’s been a year since the Polish former National League player and all-round super coach, Tomasz Morawski, left for London. Those of you who have been with the club since then will have noticed the big hole left by him on the Wednesday sessions. But while his quality will likely never be seen in these parts again, maybe we can make up for it with quantity, as Spikers have gained a massive 10 new coaches. Big thanks to all those who helped fill the hole he left! Saturday June 7th 2014, the city of Gloucester hosts the SportBeat festival, a full on 2 day music festival with sport competitions. Little do the staff, opposition or festival goers realise, that waking from their tents after a long drive from Norwich the night before, is, the Orange Army – SPIKERS! 
 Norwich Spikers sent 3 teams to compete against other teams from around the country, 1 men’s team and 2 women’s teams. Arriving at the courts early Saturday morning, the first thing that was really noticeable was our kit, a few other teams also had their kits on, but none stood out as much as us. This proved useful throughout the weekend as you could find your fellow Spikers from a mile away, and we received many compliments about it from the other teams and spectators. One member of one of the opposition commented on how big our club is, obviously seeing the sea of orange. I think someone did mention that only about one third of our club actually came to Gloucester. The weather, apart from a couple of showers was really kind as you see, in fact it was so kind, quite a few people got very nicely burnt – myself included. If we weren’t playing then we were sat court side, supporting our fellow Spiker teams with the traditional chant “2,3 SPIKERS”. So not only were we the brightest and most visible club there, we were also the loudest!
I’d like to thank Men’s Captain for the trip Ben Stek, for doing such a great job. We had a large team consisting of varied ability levels, balancing the amount that individuals played against a healthy attitude to win can’t of been easy. I’d also like to mention that our team came third overall and managed to take a set off National League team Peterborough Harriers. Both Women’s teams played some great volleyball, and from what I saw they did us proud. One last thank you to all the Spikers who made the Gloucester SportBeat weekend so awesome, especially Ann-Marie for organising the trip.
It was a smashing event, and while I didn’t recognise much of the music, it did create a really great atmosphere. I’d highly recommend keeping a weekend or two free for next year if you missed out on this, I’m sure we’ll be looking to go back. 2,3, SPIKERS!!! Scott Beech Publicity Officer Dear all,
For those of you who attend the adult intermediate session at CNS school on a Monday this is just a reminder that the sessions start again on this coming Monday 30th June. Hope you can all make it, Ann-Marie. Dear all,
For those of you who attend, don't forget that the junior sessions at CNS school start again this coming Monday (30th June) from 4.45pm - 6.15pm. This week you have the delights of me taking the session as Emily is away.....but don't let that put you off from coming!!! Hope to see you all there. See you soon, Ann-Marie. Dear Spikers, after our recent AGM we have some exciting new changes to your committee to announce, but first we have some sad news. We will be saying “Cheerio” to our resident Funding Officer Eileen Gallagher and Junior Welfare Officer Frances Arnold. They both went far and beyond the duties of their respective roles. On a personal note, I will greatly miss hearing Eileen’s signature cheer from wherever I am in the Sportspark, and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say I’ll miss your support from the side lines during our matches. On behalf of everyone at Spikers and myself, I would like to thank you for all your hard work and support, and wish you both my sincerest best wishes in all your future endeavours. In other news here’s this year’s committee.
One last note, as members of the Norwich Spikers club, I’d like to invite YOU to share any ideas, concerns or questions you may have, with any of the committee members. We will do our best to help any way we can.
Scott Beech Publicity Officer |
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