Winchester Eagles Volleyball Club Juniors

What an amazing weekend of volleyball for the Winchester Eagles Volleyball Club! On Saturday, they competed in the Ashcombe grass tournament entering a girls’ and boys’ team in both the Under 16 and in the Under 14 category.
All four teams performed extremely well in a fun-filled day where they played countless volleyball matches under a gorgeous blue sky.
For some of our young athletes, this was their first ever volleyball competition and they all impressed us with their skills and resilience.
It was a steep learning curve for our Under 16s, who had never played a six-a-side game before. Both teams raised to the challenge and made incredible progress throughout the day, quickly learning to switch positions and to play with one-setter system.
With half of the team competing for the first time ever and the challenge of courts than were way bigger than the ones they were used, our Under 14 girls adapted well and put up a good fight in all their games.
Our Under 14 Boys were full of energy despite the heat. They fought hard in every match and brought home the bronze medal, a great result for a team that included under 12 players.
On Sunday, it was our seniors’ turn to shine and they didn’t disappoint. Back to Ashcombe with two teams entered in the Mixed league, the Golden Eagles and the Black Eagles survived a day of matches under a scorching sun and finished 3rd and 4th, a brilliant result which our loyal Eagle mascot was able to help us celebrate with her long-awaited return.
Well played everyone!

Today our juniors took part in the Hampshire Volleyball Association (HVA) Under 14s and Under 12s Grand Prix. The Eagles fielded three teams: the White Eagles (U14 Mixed), the Black Eagles (U14 Girls) and the Golden Eagles (U14 Boys). The Winchester teams competed against junior teams from other Hampshire Volleyball Clubs – New Forest, South Hants and Farnborough.
The Golden Eagles played eight games in a division of five teams, with every team playing each other twice. The boys performed very well, with some brilliant attack actions, some good fights in defence and excellent serving even when under pressure. Team spirit was great and they finished third.
The Black and the White Eagles played in a division of six teams where every team played each other once and then moved to the play offs phase to get on the podium.
Both Eagles teams performed incredibly well in the first phase, beating all the other teams and dominating most games so that the final for silver and gold was an all Eagles derby.
The final was a very close match and there were amazing rallies with superb attacks, great defence and wonderful team spirit. In the end, the Black Eagles won the game 25-21 and took home the gold. Well done girls, you did it!!!
The coaches were very proud to see how much our young athletes have improved in such a short time both in their volleyball fundamentals and in their game tactics. Well played everyone.
Congratulations to Anthony for winning player of the day for team spirit and well done to Sofia and Filip for their debut at HVA.
A huge thank you to all the parents and coaches who came to Cams Hill School to support the junior teams.
This was the last Junior HVA tournament of the season but our players will keep on training hard getting ready for next season. Great job everyone!

Saturday 12th March, our Juniors made yet another trip to Cams Hill School in Gosport for the third Hampshire Volleyball Association Junior Grand Prix. The Eagles took part with three teams: an Under 14 Girls’ Team, an Under 14 Boys’ Team and an Under 12s Mixed Team, with a total of 15 players taking part.Our young athletes competed against clubs from all over Hampshire, including South Hants, New Forest and Farnborough. Our coaches Andy and Angie were once again very impressed by the quick progress made by all players. Great improvements were noticed not only compared to the Eagles’ performance in the last Junior HVA Grand Prix a couple of months ago, but also throughout the day. With every game played, our Eaglets grew stronger, more confident and more aggressive in their serves and attacks. The hard work done at training in the last few weeks on defence and serve receive also paid off, with our pass getting better with every set and more and more calls for the ball heard on court. There were moments of brilliance, with serving aces, three touches building up an attack, blocking, and even linking and rescuing the ball. Great volleyball skills all around. It was great to see the teams gelling, players encouraging and supporting each other, awesome team spirit and a good dose of resilience when playing against more experienced sides. Our Most Valuable Player award today went to Erwann for a superb overall performance and for his positive attitude. A big thank you to all the parents for making the trip and coming to support our Juniors. We look forward to seeing you all again at the next HVA Junior Grand Prix on 22nd May.

On Saturday 15th January, our juniors took part in their second Hampshire Volleyball Association tournament. This time, HVA made entries available only in the Under 14s and Under 16s categories and the Eagles fielded four teams. With no Under 12s, the two Eagles Under 12s teams – “White Tailed Eagles” (Mixed) and “Brown Snake Eagles” (Girls) had to compete in the Under 14s categories, together with the two “Black Eagles” teams (Under 14 Boys and the Under 14 Girls).
Once again, all our athletes impressed us and made all parents and coaches extremely proud. The Under 12s fought very bravely against older, bigger and more experienced players and even managed to beat some of the Under 14s teams.
Our Under 14s had to face some very strong and skilful squads but they immediately rose to the challenge. They certainly surprised us all when they started blocking and hitting to keep up with the opposition, using skills that we had not had time to introduce at practice yet.
It was lovely to see what an impressive progress all our players made in just a few months. There was great team play, aggressive serves, lots of three touches and rallies and even some improvised hits, tips and blocks.
We all look forward to seeing them perform again at the next HVA tournament on 12th March.

On Sunday 21st November, our juniors competed in their first ever volleyball tournament, taking part in the Hampshire Volleyball Association Junior Grand Prix in Fareham. The juniors’ uptake for the competition was incredible and the Eagles were able to enter three teams in the Under 14s category and two teams in the Under 12s. With a contingent of 20 players across five teams, the Winchester Eagles were the Club with the highest number of athletes competing, a great achievement for a volleyball club that has only started its junior sessions a few weeks ago.
The Eagles’ accomplishments, however, did not stop there. Coaches Andy, Angie, Robin and Saffi felt extremely proud of all our junior players, who displayed great skills, team spirit and resilience in all their games and fought on undeterred even when facing more experienced players who had been training together for years.
A special mention goes to our mixed Under 12s team, who took everyone by surprise and took home the gold, coming first in their category. What a smashing start of the season and what a success for such young players who have only just started playing volleyball.
All our athletes performed incredibly well throughout the day. Each team consisted of four players and played six games against teams from other Hampshire clubs, including Portchester, South Hants and Farnborough. Our juniors even learnt some refereeing skills, as they were called to score, line judge and referee other teams’ games.
Our club coaches’ award went to Peter, who displayed great team spirit by constantly encouraging his team mates during their games not only when they scored points but also when they made mistakes.
Finally, a huge THANK YOU to all the parents and carers who not only drove our juniors all the way to Fareham but also stayed on to cheer them on and support them.
The juniors section of the Winchester Eagles Volleyball Club is growing fast and is very promising. Our athletes are training hard week after week and are continually improving their skills. We look forward to seeing them compete again in January in the next HVA Junior Grand Prix.