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!
There was one team that threw their toys out the pram, but that was dealt with by the ref in manner that was both effective and hilarious. | One thing worth mentioning is the spirit with which most of the teams played, the guys in the picture (left) were really great to have in the competition, loud and friendly just like we like it! 
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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
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
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