News
U16 Richmond Girls had a severe test in National Junior Championships
18th November 2006
Richmond hosted the 1st Round Group D of the National Junior Volleyball Championships and Richmond Juniors Girls had a severe test. In their first ever volleyball event and after only 3 weeks together the girls won one match out of three.
In their first match with London Lynx the girls were very focused but Lynx just managed to go two points clear to take the first set 25-23. In the second set Richmond showed excellent serving, put together some good attacks and convincingly won the set 25-13. Under competition rules they won the match on point difference. It was an excellent morale booster for the girls for the rest of the day and reason for lots of cheers from the family supporter’s bench!
In their second match the girls played against Wiltshire B and knew that winning this match could allow them to advance to the second round. Although Richmond showed good momentum, their limited training and competition exposure was evident. As pressure started to build up, the team became frustrated and lost both sets.
Richmond’s last match was against Wiltshire A, last years finalists and in training twice a week for 2 years. Having not dropped a single set they were very confident and composed. Wiltshire A tested Richmond Girls to the limit but Richmond showed a lot of courage and good focus and, will benefit from this great learning experience.
Although the girls did not quality for the 2nd round, coach Vera Kenyon was very encouraged by their performance. After playing together only 3 times, they faced two of the best U16 teams in the country. Many of the girls have been playing volleyball for only seven weeks through Richmond’s Competitive Edge Volleyball Programme. We are delighted to have been able to build our first national junior team in such a short time and we can only get better. It was inspirational to see the technical level that national league teams can reach by this age. With Richmond’s Competitive Edge support we hope to be able to compete with honours against the elite national junior volleyball teams in the next few years.
Richmond Club Chairman would like to thank Vera Kenyon for putting together Richmond’s Junior volleyball programme and would also like to thank Goldeneye Executive Resourcing for their support.
Without encouragement and support from Gary Palmer (Competitive Edge), Michael Shepherd (Whitton Sport Centre) and Colin Sinclair (Richmond Council) this event would not have been the success that it was.
TEAM LIST: Vera Kenyon (Coach), Adela Lokaj, Olivia Smith, Hannah Thompson (Captain), Rachel Walsh, Leca Pandhi, Irene Ayesu, Lee Walters, Charlotte Morgan. Representing Schools: Hampton CC, Sheen, Teddington and Waldegrave
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