2009 News

Sunday 17th October

Action from the 2009 mens semi finals:

Two photos for this year's Caption competition!

Saturday 26th September

Below are just a few of a collection of photos of the Classic 2009 from professional sports photographer Tim Glasby. we will put more on the site in the coming weeks.

Sunday 13th September:

Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns finished in 4th place in the European masters event in Blackpool today, the highest placed finish of any British team in a European or World event! They lost 14-21, 15-21 to the Schwaiger sisters from Austria in the bronze medal match . For further details and all the results go to www.cev.lu Come back to this later in the week for ' our man in the north's eye witness account'

Lucy in action in the Bronze medal match

Friday 11th September : Boulton and Johns Brighten up Blackpool.

Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton are leading the charge for the British teams in the European tour event in Blackpool. Having won two matches today they are now guaranteed at least 5th place before Saturday;'s matchesand will be hoping for a semi final place when they play tomorrow morning.In an all British first round match they defeated our columnist Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney(21-17, 21-17), in the second round they then beat Minusa-Jursone LAT [4] 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-13) in what must have been a great match. Shauna and Zara have finished in 13th place .

We hope to have an eye witness report from 'our man in the North' soon!

In the mens event, Weymouth Champions Grotowski and Weaver  along with Gooding and Sheaf finished in13th place having lost their first two rounds of matches.

Greg Weaver in action                 Blackpool's answer to Pzaz!  

Denise Johns in action ( photos courtesy of cev website)

Thursday 10th September

European Tour event from Blackpool

This is up and running this weekend. British players are competing in the mens and womens events . Main draw starts tomorrow and results can be found on the CEV website. A diary from Pete Bennett , who is there will follow on this site

Just a few more pics of the Classic 2009

Saturday 5th September  Shauna's diary

Keep coming back to the site in the next few weeks for updates of the National finals, world Under 21 and Europena CEV event all from Blackpool.

Below is the latest intallment from Shauna's diary this time from the event in Finland. they have now also competed in The hague where they finished 33rd

'So now we are in Finland, we drew Poland in the qualification round, and had played them before, having beaten them in the first round of the Berlin CEV event earlier in the year.  It was a close match and we knew what to expect andthat it was going to be a fight! We lost that fight 12-15 in the third set.  We were gutted!

However because of our great result in Norway , we had quite a good seed number in the qualifierso when a team pulled out of the main draw there was a lucky loser spot.  We made it to the last round and were high enough seed to be in for the draw.  We were in the draw against the Russian team that Lucy and Denise beat to qualify, but we were drawn our first so we were in the main draw!! yay!!

Our first game was against the home team, Finland Nystrom/Nystrom. We were liking the draw of host nation on center court.  The match went to 3 and we pulled it out in the later stages of the match, we were definately playing day two of the main draw.  Our second match was against the Austrain pair of Montagnoli/Hansel and was a close game 21-18, 21-19.  It was just their day, balls that really should of gone down they got a finger to and balls that should of been out hit the tape....just wasn't our day.  We played the team we lost to in the qualifier in the loser 17th match, had a good game plan, breezed the first set 21-16, came into some trouble in the second set which made the match go to three and then lost 20-18 in the third, we were gutted as it was a good draw to get a 13th....and were annoyed we weren't able to turn the team over!! Just a 17th place. Now on to Holland'

Below: More Classic action

Friday 28th August 2010 Date Announcement

The Classic will take place from Friday 30th July to Sunday August 1st 2010 it was announced today, so start booking the time off work you may need! The organisation team are already meeting to plan the event and have drawn up a long list of improvements for 2010, we hope we  will see you all there for our 28th year!

Thursday 27th August

The Sky Tv coverage of the Classic which went out on Sky Sports on 16th August wasa real hit with Sky says programme producer Simon Golding and planning is already beginning to ensure coverage for 2010!!

Below are some more photos from the 2009 Classic. these are by Geoff Moore and Steve Davis. There is also a large collection of photos from Paul Graham if you use the following link:.  http://www.fotocom.co.uk/freedomimages/events.htm . Over the next few weeks I plan to regularly put on more photos of the event on this page. If anybody haws any good photos of the event that we could put on the site please e mail me at graemesawyer@yahoo.com

Monday 24th August 2009

British World Tour Update

The following shows where the Brotish teams finished in World Tour event in July. The stand out performance is Mullin/ Dampney in Norway ( read Shauna's diary for details) It is also good to see Greg and Steve now regularly qualifying for main draws in the mens sections and although the World rankings dont look that high dont forget there are over 250 place in mens and womens. For further details see  the FIVB site.

Photos from Norway World Tour event  ( courtesy of FIVB)

Zra Dampney and Shauna Mullin	Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton
Lianne Herbert with Weymouth Runner up 2009 Helen Brown
Columnist Shauna Mullin	Weymouth Winner 2009 Greg Weaver

SHAUN MULLLIN'S WORLD TOUR DIARY

Shauna starts this diary from the evnt in Poland:

Last week Poland was disappointing for us as we were seeded 6th in the tournament, and were drawn in the first round against a Slovakian team who we had beaten in a close match in Gran Canaria earlier in the year.  We lost the game 15-13 in the third set after calling a medical time out to get some momentum back...we were 6-11 down and clawed our way back to 12-13 end switch but it wasn't enough.  We had a good opportunity to qualify in that tournament as our next game would have been against an Austrain team.  Things were beginning to get too much. 

We arrived in Norway on Sunday after having a weekend away from each other, I was up in Scotland at a friends wedding and Zara was back in Bath.  Our bags did not make the short connection we had in Amsterdam so we spent the first day and a half in our traveling clothes and a white tshirt that the airline company gave us!! Our bags arrived late on the monday afternoon which was a relief otherwise we would of had to go out and buy new playing clothes.  Always remember a bikini in your backpack!! The list was quite full when we arrived, but quite a few teams pulled out and it ended up that we were drawn against Liane Herbert and Helen Brown in our game to qualify.  We won the match late on Tuesday afternoon.  We were seeded 23 in the main draw which is a brilliant place to be in some countries, as you draw the host nation spot.  We beat Maaside/Kongshaven 2-1, 15-10 in the third set with a dig and 3 blocks to finish the match.  This was a good win for us as it went to three and we didn't lose 15-13, or 16-18 in the third set which is usually what happens....so we have broken the jinx!! Our second match was against Brazilians Vivian/Viera who came 4th at the previous event in Poland, we had a good game plan that we stuck to and played well to win the match 2-0 21-13, 21-18!! We were ecstatic!! This was a 9th at least, a top ten finish, which we had never done before.  We then played the number 2 seeded Brazilians on Thursday who kinda put us in our place.  On Friday we played the German team Goller/Ludvig, who although we had a good game plan they stopped us from implimenting and executing it fully.  It was disappointing not to have performed like we did on Wednesday afternoon in the following two games, but at least we are taking steps in the right direction.

We head to Finland tomorrow, hopefully the weather will be better than it is here in Norway today! (chucking it down and freezing....its like being in England ;) )

Shauna

Friday 21st August

After a long break in Menorca I am back to update the website.

You will find all the all time lists have now been updated including the All Time Greats List . In the next few days there will be an update from Shauna Mullin on her travels around the World Tour.

Photos by Geoff Moore

Wednesday 29th July

TERRY OLDRID TAKES RANKING TITLE FOR THIRD SUCCESSIVE YEAR

Results from the final evening in the local league:

Week 10 

Tuesday 28th July 2009

Just a small sample of the photos taken by Steve Davies at the weekend, for more of his collection use the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/welshtrystevo

Steve Grotowski and Steve Fee at the net in the mens final ( photo from Dorset Evening Echo for more photos like this go to Echo website: dorset echo.co.uk)

This is the full results list from the weekend:

Player of The Tournament Men: Steve Grotowski

Player Of The Tournament Women: Denise Austin

Spirit Of The  Tournament: Jackie Bowler

Sunday 26th July 2009

Please find a below a report for the local Dorset Evening Echo of the 2009 Classic. Full results and photos will appear shortly

Great Britain team live up to reputation on Weymouth sand.

Great Britain’s number one team Steve Grotowski and Greg Weaver lived up to their reputation and won their first Weymouth RAF Careers Beach Volleyball Classic yesterday afternoon. In the final they defeated perpetual runners up Steve Fee and Albrecht Glitz who finished in this position for the fourth successive year. It was an absorbing final played in gradually diminishing weather conditions but this didn’t seem to effect the players or the crowd who stayed in their place despite the rain. Grotowski and Weaver won the opening set 21-18 but then Fee and Glitz bounced back to take the second 22-20. This set up a magical final set which eventually Grotowski and Weaver claimed 15 –12.

Grotowski and Weaver  had  only arrived back in England at 1.00 am on Saturday morning from playing a World Tour event in Marseilles  and today they are heading off to Klagenfurt in  Austria  for their next World event. It shows how high esteem Weymouth is held that they put in the effort to get back in between these events to play in the Classic!

In the women final veteran Denise Austin and Mel Coutts from Croyde stormed through to the final where they met Gabi Madreka and Helen Brown from London. The final saw Austin and Coutts in control taking the match 21-17, 21-14. Between them this was the 12th time that they had won the Weymouth event

The Junior Final was comfortably won by local boy Ryan Stout and Arran Lewis who won the final 21-14.

The other most successful local team was Leanne Studley and Louise Bugler who finished in their highest ever place 9th in any tour event. They put up a magnificent performance on Centre court on Saturday and again showed the potential that they have to go far in British Beach Volleyball

The whole event was another massive success for the organisers with an entry of over 100 players and spectators filling the stand all weekend. For the first time this year local dance group Pzazz entertained the crowd during breaks and they were so popular that the Volleyball England Beach Tour are hoping to sign them up for other events around the county.

Sky Sports filmed the finals and these will be shown on Sky Sports on August 16th.

Friday 24th July

The 2009 Classic is up and running! the site looks fantastic with the addition this year of the Red Bull  players chill out area!

This afternoon saw an exciting qualifying day with teams playing a 30 team double elimination format until just 8 teams were left.

For those of you who have been watching the Classic for a few years it was like rolling back the years to see Brien Donnellon back on Centre Court. Playing with Matt Legs Pierce he defeated youngsters Elliott Sawyer and Rob Attwood 25-17. He would like to think he put the yougsters in thier place but many watching were not so sure!! Unfortunately Brien's winning sequence did not continue and he will play in the C  Series tomorrow along with other veteran pairing Andy Jones and Bear Davies.

The site is now already for the action tomorrow and with a great weather forecast it should be a great day and well worth coming to watch. The big matches in the afternoon with also see a dress rehearsal for Sunday with Pzaz dancers on the court in the build up to the games.

See you there!!!

Thursday 23rd July  Corporate Day

Over 30 teams from local businesses will descend on the beach tonight for the second ever Weymouth Beach Classic Corporate event. the oevent has been organised by Battens solicitors.

Directions

By Car:

When arriving in Weymouth head for signs that Town centre/ Beach/ Pavilion. When you get onto the Esplande you will see our site at the end of the beach nearest to the Pavilion and Harbour. car parking is at the Pavilion car park 300 yds past the site or The Swannery car park near the railway station.

By Train:

If arriving by train turn left out of the station and walk towards the Jubillee Clock and Beach ( 100m) Turn right at the clock and walk along promenade for 400m approx, you will see the site ahead of you.

Kit:

All players will be issued with playing vests. If it looks like it might rain on Friday pm we will issue these to players Saturday morning so everyone is correctly kitted on Saturday. otherwise kit will be issued to qualifiers on Fri pm. We expect all teams to wear matching shorts in the main draw on Saturday, we would prefer you to wear matching shorts throughout the weekend.

Tonights Evening Echo Article

Set to be a Classi

GREAT Britain’s number one pairing of Steve Grotowski and Greg Weaver are favourites to land the Weymouth RAF Careers Classic men’s title this weekend, but will face stiff competition in what is expected to be an enthralling event.

The spectacle will attract most of Britain’s top players and with several entrants expected to fly in from the continent the tournament promises to deliver a high standard of play.

Grotowski and Weaver, who have been plying their trade all over the world in recent months, will be taking part in their first competition on home soil in over a year but they are unlikely to have everything their own way.

Not only will last year’s runners-up, Steve Fee and Albrecht Glitz, be standing in their path but Great Britain’s number two pairing of John Garcia and Robin Miedzybrodzki will also be looking for success.

Unfortunately, the women’s event will lack all of last year’s finalists due to a World Tour event in Marseilles.

However, there will still be a quality field on show with the experience of Denise Austin and Melissa Coutts and the potential of the Great Britain development squad duo of Helen Brown and Gabi Medricka being regarded as two of the top teams to watch out for.

Many local sides will also compete in the event with Rob Semmance and Dom Cosserrat aiming for a place in the last 16 of the men’s competition and Leanne Studley and Louise Bugler hoping for an even better run in the women’s section.

Spokesman Graham Sawyer said: “The 27th Weymouth RAF Careers Beach Volleyball Classic begins tomorrow on Weymouth Beach and will build towards the finals on Sunday afternoon.

“The event is the most important stop on the Volleyball England Beach tour and most of the top players in Great Britain will be taking part.

“It is played on 11 courts in total but the best action is around the centre court which has purpose built free seating for 500 people to watch from and a marquee for all the players and officials.

“There will also be music, full commentary and dancing from pazaz dancers before the final.

“The event starts at lunchtime tomorrow with a qualifying competition which will carry on throughout the afternoon.

“Those teams that qualify will then be joined by the very top sides for the main draw on Saturday.

“Sunday will then witness the semi-finals, the wom-en’s final at 3pm, and finally the men’s final at approximately 4pm with both finals being filmed for two Sky Sports programmes to be broadcast on August 16.”

Local players Leanne Studley and Louise Bugler promoting local beach volleyball!!!!!

Wednesday 22nd July

Friday Court space

Due to more teams entering the mens qualification spare courts for training etc should start to now become available from approx 4.30pm

Parking:

The parking tickets available this year are split between the Pavilion Car Park ( as previous years) and the Swannery car park abut 0.5 mile from the site. This is particularly relevant when arriving Satuirday morning as most of the tickets then will be for the Swannery car park, please allow time to park.

Saturday morning

Registration is from 8.15am

Players meeting 9.00am

Play starts 9.30am

Friday Afternoon mens qualification

Registration from 12.00pm

players meeting 1.30pm

play starts 2pm

Monday 20th July 8.30pm Entries and Qualifiers

IMPORTANT INFO: The womens Entry is now closed! Mens will remain open until we have 40 teams or Wednesday 5pm which ever occurs first.

MENS ENTRY

The following teams will qualify straight into Saturday's main draw:

WOMENS ENTRY

As already stated there will not now be a womens qualifier all teams will play in the main draw on Saturday. The seedings will be:

Mens Qualifiers: These teams need to check in from 12pm. Play starts at 2pm on Friday. The top 8 will qualify for the main draw( AAA). The remaining will play in a AA or A competition on Saturday.

SORRY BRIEN!!!

Monday 20th July 2009 7pm

Site Construction is Underway for this year's Classic

Monday 20th July 2009

The official entry deadline has now passed however the entry is not full so teams may still enter until that number is reached or it is announced that it is closed. The entry fee will not rise as originally stated until Tuesday at least. The mens 8 teams to pre qualify will be put on here after the conclusion of a meeting at 7pm tonight.

Womens Competition -- Important Announcement

Due to the number of teams who have entered there will NOT now be a qualifying event on Friday!!!. All teams will go into the main draw on Saturday morning. Teams who are knocked out early will go into a B series starting later on Saturday.  Courts will be available for practice matches for most of Friday. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience but was not anticipated. There are a few places left in the draw but entry will close once these have been filled.

Prize Money

Unfortunately another consequence of the lower than expected entry is a change in the prize money. It has always stated that the £2000 prize money is dependent on a full entry, because this is not currently the case the amount of prize money will have to be reviewed.

Accommodation

If you are looking for accommodation please use our links page and go to the accommodation site. For accommodation close to the site go to places with low numbers aloong the esplanade.

Travel

If you are planning to travel to Weymouth by road on Friday for the qualifier plase leave plenty of time. The roads into Dorset are notoriously slow at this time of year. Play starts at 2pm with check in from 1pm.

more updates later today.

Saturday 18th July : 2 days until entry deadline.

Having been to Sandbanks today we obviously just need to clarify that if you want to enter the the Under 16 or Under 18 events you need to go to the following sites to download an entry form. No closing date has been set for this but realistically it is Friday 24th July. The site is: http://www.swvolleyball.org.uk/ . Hope to see you on Sunday.

Answer to other frequently asked question today: The format of the qualifying will be dependent on the size of the entry after Monday and will be posted on this site aasap after that. All teams who play on Friday are guaranteed play at some level of competition on Saturday.

Friday 17th July: 3 days until entry deadline

THE ENTRIES ARE NOW COMING IN FAST SO DONT FORGET TO GET YOUR ENTRY IN BEFORE MIDDAY MONDAY

GREAT BRITAIN PLAYERS CONFIRM ENTRIES

STEV GROTOWSKI and GREG WEAVER and ROBIN MIEDSZYBRODZKI and JOHN GARCIA confirmed that they will be playing at Weymouth today to increase the excitement about the quality of the mens competition. Robin won Weymouth in 2007, Greg has been a runner up and Steve finished third in 2008, for John Garcia it will be a first visit.

On Monday evening the 8 entries direct into the main draw will be announced in each competition and posted on the website at approx 9pm, all other teams will play in the qualifier on Friday starting at 2pm.

Steve Grotwoski blocking in last years competition.

Wednesday 15th July : 5 Days until entry deadline

12 Great Reasons for being at this year's Classic:

• £2000 prize money (dependent on full entry)
• 3 days of great competition.
• Players and Offficial marquee including Bar open all weekend.
• Sky Sports coverage of the mens and womens semi-finals and finals.
• Party at the Rendez Vous Night club on Saturday including free buffet for players and officials.
• Loads of RAF freebees.
• Free parking for each team competing.
• Red Bull available all weekend for all players and official
• Brushboarding available all weekend for all.
• Seating for 500 around Centrte Court.
• Full commentary on all big matches.
• Free players vest/crop top for all players

This week's local league results:

Week 9

Monday 13th July : 7 days until entry deadline

Here is our latest instalment of the Shauna Mullin GB Beach Volleyball player diary:

We arrived in Stavanger in Norway for the World Champioships on the Tuesday, it is truely an amazing place! the courts were set on the harbour, where big cruise liners docked every day, andyatchs lined the side of the harbour. the world champs was pool play, you played a match one day and had the following day off. this was something for us to get used to as, if we are doing well you can play up to three games in a day, so it was a little unusual although very enjoyable as there was lots going on around the courts. Our first game was against USA, who we knew were going to be good but we liked the idea of being able to give them a shock as we had other top ten teams in previous tournaments! but on the day, our game decided to stay at home, and the americans dominated us, they truely put us in our place, and high lighted the things we needed to work on. but it was a good experience against a really good team, although we weren't happy that we didn't bring our game.

Our second game was against the german team Banck/Gunther, who we played in Berlin at the CEV event, a week previously, but were not able to take them down. They beat us pretty convincingly which was very disappointed as the week before and also all through our off season while training with them any games we played were close and could go either way, so again was a disappointing game. our third game was against a canadian team Lessard/Martin. 

We had discussed a few things after the debriefs from our other games and worked on them in training in the hope to improve our performance, and although we didn't win the match or take any sets, we still felt that our game was finally coming back. all in all the world champs was disappointing for us as wecouldn't put ourselves in a position to take sets off the teams we played in our pool, which we normally would do!

This week we were at the grand slam in Gstaad in Switzerland. It was amazing to be playing up in themountains and also have another opportunity to play 3 matches, as the format of the main draw was pool play.> We ended up being seed 16 and 17 with the other GB girls, which meant we were to play each other. this is the firs> time we have faced each other at an international event, and the first time we have played each other this season, since the teams switched back. It is always going to be a difficult match when you are playing someone you know so well. We took the first set, by sticking to our game plan and communicating throughout the set, the second set was disappointing for us as we lost our focus and didn't attack our game plan as much as we did in the first set. We won the third set 15-12, and were happy to get the game under our belts. our second round match was against the georgian team who went to the Olympics in Beijing.  we thought this was a good opportunity to qualify for our first grand slam! we lost the match narrowly in the third set 15-13, after coming back from 11-14 down, but they sided out when they needed to and our opportunity was lost. 
>
> This last couple of weeks have been tough, but we are finally getting back on track and have a good plan of what we want to do and achieve for the second half of the
> season.
>
> Moscow next week

Saturday 11th July: 9 DAYS UNTIL ENTRY DEADLINE:

BUT if you want your name in the programme you need to enter in the next two days!!!!!!

The current enty list is below. Although it may look quite low it is ahead of where we were this time last year, we then filled up and turned teams away so to guarantee your place BOOK TODAY!

MEN

WOMEN

Wednesday 8th July: Prize Fund will be £2000!

It was confirmed today that the largest ever prize fund of £2000 will be paid out at The Weymouth RAF Careers Classic( dependent on a full entry). The money will be paid out in the following way:

1st - £500
2nd - £250
3rd - £150
4th - £100

So get your entry in!!! We are very confident this will be the best ever Weymouth Classic!!!

Last night's local league results

Week 8

Sunday 5th July  SKy Sports Coverage and Increased Prize Money

Two big pieces of news about the Classic have been announced today and will make this year's Classic from 24th to 26th July unmissable this year so join last year's runners up Steve Fee and Albrecht Glitz and get you entry in as quickly as possible to avoid disappointment!:

1. SKY SPORTS TO TRANSMIT 10 HOURS OF PROGRAMMES OF THE CLASSIC

The schedule has now been annoumced which shows the levels of coverage Sky is giving to The Weymouth RAF Classic this year. The programmes to be produced by SGTV will again cover the mens and womens semi final as well as all the atmosphere of the event.

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #1 2 2 16/08/09 07:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #2 3 3 16/08/09 08:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #1 2 2 16/08/09 12:00 01:00 Sky Sports Xtra 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #2 3 3 16/08/09 13:00 01:00 Sky Sports Xtra 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #1 2 2 16/08/09 15:00 01:00 Sky Sports Xtra 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #2 3 3 16/08/09 16:00 01:00 Sky Sports Xtra 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #1 2 2 16/08/09 23:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #2 3 3 16/08/09 24:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #1 2 2 17/08/09 12:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

Weymouth Classic Beach Volleyball #2 3 3 17/08/09 13:00 01:00 Sky Sports 3 Digital 

2.PRIZE MONEY TO BE RAISED TO HIGHEST LEVEL EVER AT WEYMOUTH

The exact amounts of prize monEy to be given out this year will be on this site during the week, so look out for more news.

AND GET YOUR ENTRY IN!!!

Friday 3rd July:  Dont forget entry deadline is approaching Monday 20th July ( unless we are already full!!)

Weymouth RAF Beach Classic is mixing BrushBoarding with Beach Volleyball

______________________________________________________________________

RAF is joining forces with Brush Boarding and providing even more activities for the Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic in 2009.

______________________________________________________________________

The Royal Air Force is sponsoring Brush Boarding at The Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic. Members of the public of all ages will be able test their boarding skills on the latest multi board sport fitness machine that was designed and manufactured in the UK.

Brush Boarding is to surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, what indoor rock climbing is to outdoor rock-climbing.  It complements these board sports, letting extreme and novice riders alike learn and tune manoeuvres and skills. The Brush Ramp is the shape of a quarter-pipe skateboarding ramp with a moving surface of soft brushes that push the rider upward.  The rider is taken up the ramp by putting an edge of their board into the brushes, and skims downward when the edge is taken out.  It is a year-round sport that is certainly becoming addictive.

Brush Boarding doesn’t need any expensive gear and you stay dry!  Within a few minutes most riders can stand on the board providing enough thrill to continue on to learning how to turn.  Anyone can learn Brush Boarding – no existing board skills are needed to start. 

A group of blind teenagers from Exeter, recently tried Brush Boarding and with little or no sight the group were able to safely experience the thrill of the sport of Brush Boarding.  

 “We’re thrilled to be partnering with the RAF to bring Brush Boarding to even more people. The interest in this radical new board sport has been phenomenal, especially for companies wanting to hire, buy and brand the product”, noted Kyle Dent, founder and CEO of Extreme Sports Zone who manufactures and distributes Brush Boarding.  “Brush Boarding improves fitness, core strength, balance and co-ordination. All of these skills can be transferred to surfing, snowboarding and skate boarding”, continued Mr Dent.

Brush Boarding will be installed at permanent locations around the UK building on the existing network of riders.  The permanent Brush Ramps will let people have fun, keep fit and even participate in competitions. Enquiries are coming from Councils, Sports Groups, Holiday Parks, Brand companies, and Indoor Snow Centres.

Mr Dent added “We are really looking forward to participating in The Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic this year.  Everyone will be able to experience this cool new sport free of charge thanks to the RAF”.

“Thank you also to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council for allowing us to take over the car park in front of the Pavilion where we will be overlooking the volleyball competitions”. 

Don’t be afraid to dare your friends to the RAF Brush Boarding Challenge.  See you there!

If you require additional information please contact the Extreme Sports Zone Ltd on 07528419458 or go to our website at www.brushboarding.co.uk.

Wednesday 1st July 2009

Below are the results from last nights local league which saw a record entry of 86 players . For rankings see local-rankings

Week 7

Monday 29th June

The forecast for tomorrow evening is great with warm sunshine predicted. On the one hand that is good news but it does mean a) we could be late starting due to a lack of space on the beach and b) we could have a lot of teams. We have decided that we will close entries in each division if they become to big. That way we ensure all teams who are playing get a respectable amount of play, so come early to book your place!!!

Thursday 25th June: 4 days until Classic entry fee rises to £33 ( monday 12.00pm)

RendezVous night Club Team up with Classic

It was announced today that the RendezVous Night Club will host the Official Parties on Friday and Saturday evening of the Weymouth Classic.The Rendez Vous is situated on the Town Bridge with stunning views of the harbour. There will be an invite to all players and guests so a lively couple of nights is predicted. Event Co Director Pete Bennett said ' we are delighted to have teamed up with The Rendez Vous, they are the best Club/ bar in town and we are sure they will be excellent hosts to the players, we are looking foward to the party already!!

Wednesday 24th June: SHAUNA MULLIN'S DIARY

Here is the seond in Shauna's diary from the World tour. We wish her well in Norway this week.We will keep you posted on our she gets on!  Lets hope she makes it to Weymouth in July!!!!

CEV Austria
We played an Italian team, who we have trained with and played a couple of times this year, and lost 22-20 and 21-19.  It was very disappointing as we feel that our game has been off for a while now, struggling to get a side out rhythm which usually isn't anything we worry about.  We were very disappointed with this loss, as it was in the first round.  The CEV qualification is a bit random as teams that do well on the world tour, who haven't played any European events don't have any points so are seeded quite low down. It was a close game and we just felt that there was just that little something missing!!!!

CEV Berlin

We got draw against the number one Polish team who have had a couple of good results in the last couple of tournaments.  We beat them in 3 sets and finally felt as though our game was coming back!!! After the games we told the coaches 'we are back!!'.  The second round game was against a german team, Banck/Gunther and that one was a close one too.  22-20, 21-19.  Again only a couple of points would of swayed the match.  Our side out was good and we got quite a few opportunities that we didn't take advantage of, which was a little frustrating but we were still positive after the match and the tournament as we are getting back on track.

Coming up....
We are off to The FIVB World Championships in Stavanger, Norway on Tuesday.  We had a very emotional week when it was announced as we were right on the cusp, as there were 3 teams on the same points right on the edge of the qualification zone.  But we found out that we got in, and to qualify in our own right for the world champs was one of our goals for the season, so we were very pleased.  It also means that we are in the top 45 teams in the world which is only a positive thing!!! After Norway, we have 4 Grand Slams, Klagenfurt, Moscow, Marseille, and Gstaad, and will definately be in the first two as our points will carry across, and then with some good results, we will be secured for the last two. 

Here are the results from last night's local RAF Beach Volleyball league:

Week 6

Wednesday 17th June

Weymouth Beach Classic Entry:

Entries are coming in well for the Classic dont forget the following deadlines date when the entry fee goes up!!

Cost & Entry Deadline:

• Early bird entries: £26 per team, available up to 12noon Monday 29 June.
• Standard entries: £33 per team, available up to 12noon Monday 20 July.
• Late entries: £40 per team, available after the standard entry deadline, up to the Thursday before the event at the tournament promoter's sole discretion.

Entries: There is a limit of 48 men's and 32 women's teams able to enter the tournament. Teams shall be seeded in accordance with the VEBT seeding system. Wild Cards may apply at the discretion of the Beach Commission and the Tournament Organisers.

Last night's Weymouth RAF league results are below, rankings are updated on the rankings page.

Week 5: finalists                                                                                                      Winners

Monday 15th June

Looks good for week 5 of the Weymouth Beach League.

Tuesday
18:00 23:59 18 °c 17 °c 1031 mb 0.0 mm 4 % 9 mph sunny

Thursday 11th June

Queen watches Beach Volleyball

The Queen and Prince Philip were on Weymouth beach today on a whistle stop tour of the area. They were introduced to Event directors Pete Bennett and Graeme Sawyer and then watched local school children having a go coached by local club members . They then moved on to see other events.

Graeme, Pete and The Queen in conversation           Prince Philip and Graeme found it funny, I am not so sure about Pete!

Tom Wright ( ballboy Classic 2008 ) coaching Junior school pupils and Ryan Stout ( National Under 18 Champion) passing on his skills.

Wednesday 10th June

The Queen coming to see beach volleyball

The Queen and Prince Philip visit Weymouth beach tomorrow as part of a tour of the area. They will firstly visit the site for the sailing at the 2012 Olympics and then they will come by boat around to Weymouth Beach. Here they will visit the ' British Beach of the 21st Century' .On the beach there will be hundredrs of local children doing sand modelling,  riding donkeys, playing beach football etc and of course Beach Volleyball. It is rumoured that Pete and Graeme will be introduced to the Queen ( believe it when we see it). Watch this space tomorrow to see what happened!

last nights results:

Sunday 7th June

SHAUNA'S COLUMN

Shauna talking to the media at Weymouth 2008

Below is what we hope will be first of an occasional diary from Shauna Mullin of her experiences on the World Tour.Shauna is the current Weymouth beach Classic Champion and we hope there will be a big enough gap in the World Tour to welcome her back to Weymouth later this summer:

Gran Canaria - CEV
We played a Slovakian team in the first round, had a good first set where we dominated the game, were able to run our offense and pick up a few points in transition.  Second set was a lot closer ended up fighting to the end of the set ending with us on top at 28-26!! there were a few big points and big celebrations but we were happy to finish off the set and take the match and move onto round 2.  we came up against a dutch team, remmers wesslink, and lost 2-1, 14-16 in the third. lots of poeple would of written us off in the third set when we were 11-14 down, but we got a couple of aces and a tranisition to bring it back to 14-14, but then with a side out by them and a block the game was over.  we were very disappointed as that team went on to get a 4th at the tournament - that could of been us. So that was our tournament over. 
Lucy and Denise triumphed over the Italians, Momoli Gioria in the first round, then took german team Banck Gunther in the second round and overcame the french the third to qualify.  They came up against German CEV Champions in the first round of the main draw and lost, and then lost against a Russian team to finish 13th.

Japan - FIVB
Our first match was against a new Portuguese team, who we beat 21-4, 21-6. We stuck to our game plan and served well. They struggled to keep up with us, but we played a very disciplined game and that is why we were able to turn them over so easily.  We came up against the New Zealand girls Blundell/Scarlet in the qualifying round and again played a very heated close match which we lost in the third set.  If was a tough game and we always said it was going to be a fight.  We have trained with those girls quite a few times, but they just bought their game to the court that day.  It was very disappointing not to qualify again but we just went back to bath to work on things that would strengthen our game for the upcoming events.

This week we are in Baden, in Austria playing in the CEV.  We are playing Italy in the first round so it shoudl be a good match, we have been training quite well recently, so if we bring our game to the court, it will be a good one.

Saturday 6th June

Boulton and Johns finished in 9th place in the European Tour event in Austria yesterday. Having had a great qualification day on Thursday they came up against the number 2 seeds from Germany in the first round Guller and Ludwig and lost 21-13, 21-16. They then won in their first round loser bracket match against Nystrom and Nysrom but then went out to the Norweigan number 4 seeds Nilla and Ingrid. However I am sure that the girls will be very encouraged by there best European event finish.

HERE TOMORROW: FIRST IN A NEW OCCASIONAL SERIES:

SHAUNA MULLIN'S WORLD TOUR DIARY!

From Tonights Echo

Oldrid and Markwick turn in power show

EIGHTY players took part in the third week of the Weymouth RAF Careers Beach Volleyball League and at all levels of competition the matches were hard-fought and often went down to the wire.

In the A series, current leaders David Markwick and Terry Oldrid battled through to the final, winning a tight match in their semi-final clash with Tristan Sheppard and James Taggart.

The sides traded points up until 14-14 when the power hitting of Oldrid and Markwick shone through and saw them through with a 16-14 win.

The other semi-final saw Rob Semmence and Dom Cosserat up against veteran Graeme Sawyer, playing his first match for two years, and son Elliott.

Elliott had just returned from competing in the Inter University Beach Volleyball competition in Bournemouth where he finished 16th out of the 42 teams taking part.

This semi-final was also extremely close with Semmence and Cosserat taking an early lead before the Sawyers came storming back to set up another grandstand finish.

Eventually, the father and son duo won through 16-14.

After two great semis, the final was a bit of a disappointment with Markwick and Oldrid dominating from start to finish.

The Sawyers were simply unable to respond to the powerful attack and Markwick and Oldrid ran out 15-4 victors.

In a 16-team B series event, footballers Richie Carter and Andy Mason reached the final where they met the Yeovil pair of Roger Barnett and Dave James.

Another tight match saw both duos trade blows before Mason and Carter crossed the finish line 16-14.

The Under-16s’ tournament saw a repeat of last week’s final with Mason’s son Alex and Charlie Holland facing off against Rebecca O’Neill and Lewis Edwards.

In a repeat show, Holland and Mason junior came out on top 15-8 to retain last week’s title.

Thursday 4th June

GREAT DAY FOR BOULTON AND JOHNS

It was  fantastic day for Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns in the Qualifying rounds of the Austrain Masters European Tour event today. They came through to win 3 rounds to qualify for tomorrow's main draw . They were just one of four teams to qualify from an opening list of 30 teams.Unfortunately it wasnt such a good day for the other British teams Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullen went out in the first round.  In the mens qualifying there was an all British 1st round with Gotowski and Weaver beating Gooding and Sheaf 21-19, 14-21, 12-15. In the next round they lost to an experienced Swiss pair 21-11, 21-19.

Watch this site tomorrow evening for an update on Lucy and denise's progress!

Wednesday 3rd June

This week's results:

Sunday 31st May

Tuesday evening forcast is excellent, so make sure you are there, registration from 6;15pm.

	19:00	21:59	21 °c	13 °c	0	0.0 mm	5 %		3 mph	4 mph

Wednesday 27th May

Local league

The second week of the Weymouth Beach Volleyball League showed a reverse of last weeks opening win by Rob Semmence and Dom Cosserat. This week Rob and Dom struggled to find their normal rhythm and were disappointed to finish in 4th spot. This gave last year’s winners Terry Oldrid and David Markwick the opportunity to go back to the top of the table if they could win the evening competition. They comfortably reached the final, where they met Weymouth beach veteran Chris Brook and Mark Johnson. The final started very closely with both sides trading points with each other, however from 10-10 Terry and David started to dominate and ran away 21-12 winners to take their first win of the season.

In the B series Neil Aplin and partner Matt Board playing their first evening of the season together as a pair always looked to be potential winners. They battled there way through to the final to meet the young pairing of Ali Mitchell and Abi Davies.  Both teams worked hard in the final but the height advantage of Neil and matt proved decisive as they came out 15-10 winners. As a result of this win Neil and Matt will be promoted to the A series next week where they are highly capable of upsetting the established sides.

The new Under 16 competition also continued and last week’s winners Lewis Edwards and Rebecca O’Neill again made the final. However this time they came up against Alex mason and Charlie Holland and they ran out winners of an exciting final 15-10.

The players will return to the beach next Tuesday evening and any new players are always welcome . Players must register by 6.30pm on the beach.

For up to date results and rankings see local- news- rankings

Monday 25th May

NEW FORMAT FOR CLASSIC

This year's Classic will see a small change in the format from recent years. The main draw startiung on Saturday will see 16 teams competing in the mens event , there will then be a B series of 16 and  a C series of 16 teams . The qualifying competition on Friday will remain with teams qualifying for the appropriate section. It is expected that the 16 in the A series will be made up of 8 qualifiers, 4 wildcards and the top 4 from the VEBT tour. The womens competition will be run in the same style with proportionaly slight smaller entries in each section to reflect the size of the overall entry.

This has been done in response to many teams ( high and low ranked) comments last season who felt that the gap in standard in round 1 of the 32 draw was too great to give a good exhibition of beach volleyball. Many lower ranked sides felt they would prefer to compete in a sligtly lower but more even standard competition.  We will be interested to hear feedback about this  before we look at the structure of the 2010 event.

Dont forget the entry fee changes depending on when you enter through the Volleyball England website ( see links page):

Cost & Entry Deadline:

• Early bird entries: £26 per team, available up to 12noon Monday 29 June.
• Standard entries: £33 per team, available up to 12noon Monday 20 July.
• Late entries: £40 per team, available after the standard entry deadline, up to the Thursday before the event at the tournament promoter's sole discretion.

Entries: There is a limit of 48 men's and 32 women's teams able to enter the tournament. Teams shall be seeded in accordance with the VEBT seeding system. Wild Cards may apply at the discretion of the Beach Commission and the Tournament Organisers.

Tuesday local league evening

The forcast for this week looks good and we hope we will attract even more than the 48 players who turned up last week.

Tuesday Forecast ( metcheck)

	19:00	21:59	14 °c	8 °c	0	0.0 mm	2 %		6 mph	7 mph

Wednesday 20th May

GB teams in Japan

 ( above) Zara in back court in Japan and Shauna and Zara on court in the qualifying round ( photos courtesy of FIVB)

All 4 womens finalists from the Classic 2008 are competing this week in the Osaka Open World Tour event in Japan.

Shauna Mullin and Zara  Dampney reached the 2nd qualifying round before coming agonisingly close to making the main draw befor losing to Bratkova-Ukolova 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-11

Meanwhile Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns reached the main draw. In the first round they played number 4 seeds Renata-Leão from Brazil and lost 1-2 (18-21, 21-19, 12-15) Although the girls will be very disappointed with this result it is a fantastic achievement to come so close to beating the 4th ranked side in the World! In the loser bracket match they then played the Dutch pair of Van Iersel-Keizer and again narrowly lost 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-11) to end the event in 25th place.

Despite losing it is great to see that both pairs are obviously now showing that they can compete at this level and regularly make the main draw, a real step up from last season.

Tuesday 19th May

The first evening in the Weymouth Beach Volleyball league for 2009 took place this week. In windy conditions there was a surprise in the A series when last years winners david Markwick and Terry Oldrid lost convincingly in the final to Rob Semmence and Dom Cosserat 21-13.

In  a 12 team competition in the B series  there were a number of very closely fought matches before youngsters Ali Mitchell and Abi Davis  reached the final to play Martin O’ Neill and Neil Aplin. The final was a very tight match with both teams showing their potential eventually Martin and Neil came through to win 16-14.

The first ever Under 16 competition was also closely fought with Becky O’Neill and Lewis Edwards from Royal Manor Arts college battling through to the final to play Matt Cafer and Callum Scott from All saints in the final. Again it was a very closely fought affair with both teams displaying great skill in battling against the tricky wind conditions. Eventually Becky and Lewis came through to win 21-18.

In all it was a very interesting evening which showed it should be an exciting season ahead in all 48 players took part and will be looking forward to the coming weeks.

The players will gather again on the beach next Tuesday, any new players are very welcome.  Registration takes place on the beach between 6pm and 6.30pm .

Results can be found on the local news page and the first ranking chart of the year is on local league- rankings

Monday 18th May

Weymouth's Tuesday eveing volleyball league starts for real t.omorrow evening. Forcast for the evening is below:

16:00

18:59

15 °c

12 °c

5

1.3 mm

40 %

10 mph

12 mph

Wednesday 13th May

Despite the poor forecast 36 people came down the beach for some volleyball last night and despite the cold windy conditions it seemed to go well and the rain held off. Below is the short report for the Echo:

Beach volleyball got off to its 2009 season this week with the warm up night for the Weymouth Beach Volleyball league. 36 players attended the session and coped very well with the difficult windy conditions. The season starts for real with the first ranking matches on Tuesday evening. There are 3 separate divisions. The A series for experienced player, B series for new players to beach Volleyball and an Under 16 section.

All new players are welcomed. Players must have registered on the beach between 6-6.30pm on Tuesday evening on the beach by the trampolines. entry fee per week is £4 per player and £2 for Under 16's.

Tuesday 12th May 4.30pm

Tuesday evening league: Tonight does not look great! The weather is not looking good for tonight and I would not recommend that you travel very far for tonights volleyball. If you are very keen we will go down and have a look at what it is like at 6pm but the forecast does suggest rain later and if that is the case we will not set up.

Monday 11th May

Forecast looks better today. Which will be correct?

	16:00	18:59	16 °c	12 °c	4	0.0 mm	99 %		13 mph	16 mph
	19:00	21:59	13 °c	9 °c	0	0.0 mm	98 %		12 mph	15 mph

Sunday 10th May

Weather forecast for  Weymouth for Tuesday evening . Lets hope its wrong! I wll try to post an update here at about 5pm on Tuesday to let you know if we are going ahead.

	13:00	15:59	12 °c	8 °c	3	0.1 mm	100 %		13 mph	15 mph
	16:00	18:59	12 °c	6 °c	1	0.4 mm	100 %		10 mph	12 mph

 From The Sports pages of Dorset Evening Echo

Beach Volleyball returns to Weymouth Beach on Tuesday (12th May) evening with the start of the Weymouth Beach Volleyball League. This popular sport is back for another season, which will culminate in the 27th Weymouth RAF Careers Beach Classic, Britain’s Premier Beach volleyball event from 24-26th July.

Tuesday evening will see a warm up week when players will gather on the beach trying to get used to playing on sand again after the indoor season. Anybody is welcome whether you are an experienced player or a beginner.

For the first time this year there will be three levels of competition, the A and B series will continue as in previous years and in addition an Under 16 level is to be added. Each week there will be a separate competition at each level with players able to gain points in order to gain a Weymouth Beach ranking.

This year could see a very interesting in the A Series, Terry Oldrid is expected to be back to try and regain his 2008 title as ‘ King Of Weymouth beach’ but he will face stiff competition from players such as David Markwick, James Tagart, Russell Laming, Jules Stout, Dom Cosserrat and Rob Semmance who were all on Terry’s heels last year.  However the player to watch this year may well be Ryan Stout who at 15 years old is the current British Under 18 Champion and will be looking to move up from his 6th place finish last year.

In the women’s competition Louise Bugler and Leanne Studley will go in as favourites but they will face still opposition from the rapidly improving Ellen Dewey and Amy Birch.

The new Under 16 competition should give many of the players from local schools who have competed in the Indoor league this year the opportunity to try Beach Volleyball for the first time and hopefully some players will emerge who can do as well as Ryan Stout

Action starts on the beach at 6.30pm on Tuesday evening. If you are interested in playing you must have registered at the Pavilion end of the beach between 6pm-6.30pm. Entry is free for the first warm up week but then is £8 per team and £4 per team for Under 16’s.

TOP 8 FINAL RANKINGS FROM 2008

Tuesday 5th May

Just one week until the Weymouth Beach Volleyball season begins. We will be down on Weymouth beach on May12th for warm up week6.30pm start. No entry fee but no prize money in this first week just an opportunity to get a bit of sand under the toes before the serious competition begins on Tuesday 12th May.

Dont forget Under 16 series this year to add to the normal A and B series.

See you there!

Thursday 30th April

Lucy Boulton and Denise Johns were in action at the Shang hai World Tour Open earlier today. Lucy and Denise who between them have won the Classic 5 times finished the event in17th place alongside British rivals and friends Shauna Muliin and Zara Dampney. This is a big step in the right direction for the British teams who last year were struggling at each event to reach the main draw of 32 teams. Well done girls!!

  In the mens competition Robin Miedsbrowski and Tom Lord and Steve Grotowski and Greg weaver were both defeated in the qualifying competition. More details on the FIVB website

(Lucy and Denise in action  Photos from FIVB website)

Monday 27th April

Entry for Weymouth RAF Classic for 2009 is now open. To enter go to www.volleyballengland.org and follow the links, you will find all details of how to register as player and then to enter Weymouth and all the other VEBT events. You will see that the entry fee for the first time this year is a sliding scale, the earlier you enter the less you pay!!!

You will also find that for the first time for many years we will be offering prize money. The Volleyball England site quotes a prize fund of £1000 but we hope to add to that before the event.

Tuesday 21st April 2009

The FIVB World Tour for 2009 starts today in Brasilia, the Capital of Brazil . Both mens and womens team s are there competing. Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney have got off to a flying start comfortably winning thier first qualifying match 21-4 21-11 against Scott and Dibben from Australia.. Boulton and Johns got a bye through this qualifying round. Both teams are now through to the main draw. More details can be found on the FIVB website ( see link page)

Tuesday 14th April 2009

If you go to the local league information page the rules for the local league for 2009 have now been updated.

The key points are:

Start date: May 12th

New Under 16 section each week.

Entry fee £8 per team for adults and £4 for Under16.

Otherwise a very similar set up to last year!

ACTION FROM A TUESDAY EVENING 2008

Sunset at the end of a great Tuesday evening's volleyball.

Tuesday 9th April 2009

The dates for this year's Volleyball England Beach Tour have been announced on the Volleyball England website today. Weymouth is just one of 4 stops on the main tour while a number of other events such as Sandbanks and Croyde will be part of the Beach Fest . It is hoped that each of these 4 stops will be a high quality event to reflect the very besy of British Beach Volleyball

The dates are:

26-28th June   Margate

24-26th July     Weymouth RAF Careers Classic

7-9th Aug         Great Yarmouth

21-23 August    Skegness

and then the finals will take place in Blackpool from 4-6th September.

All the Beach Fest dates can be found on the Volleyball England website.

Wednesday 1st April 2009

It is now one year since we opened our site. During that time we have had 7,216 visits from 85 countries. This seems to be a total to be pleased with but we are keen to beat it over the next 12 months, so please keep returning to the site for more news,the forum and general site updates.

Last night saw Weymouth Beach Indoor team swept the board at the Weymouth Indoor Volleyball League awards night. They became the first team in the leagues 20 year history to do a clean sweep of league, cup and Christmas and Easter tournaments!

All regular summer beach players, the squad has been in stunning form this season. So congratulations to David Markwick, Russell Laming, Paul Bedford, James Taggart, Pete Bennett, Dave Seymour, Duncan Wright, Glen Conroy and Graeme Sawyer.

Also congratulations to Jackie Bowler ( a site regular!) on winning league personality of the Year  a deserved reward for all her hard work. Jackie will also be the key person in organising the Junior Classic this season.

Pictures to follow.