Our open training sessions will begin on Monday 6th September, 8-10pm, at The Ridgeway Sports Centre, AL7 4AF. For those of you who haven’t been to the venue before, there is a small car park next to the sports centre, located off of Apple Tree Way. If this is full you can park in the school car park and follow the signposts through the grounds.

PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN APPLE TREE WAY. You are likely to get fined and maybe even clamped. With all the lets it can get quite busy so if you can’t find a space at first, normally after a couple of minutes people start to head off from their session and spaces are freed up.

We have had a good number attending our outdoor sessions and I want to take this opportunity to thank Katy for all her efforts in organising this for the last 6 months. We hope that those of you who have attended will continue to attend our indoor sessions.

The sessions are open for all members to attend. ALL MEMBERS, NEW OR NOT SO NEW, MUST COMPLETE AN ONLINE MEMBERSHIP FORM FOR THE NEW SEASON. It’s important for us to have up to date contact and emergency information for you. The online form can be found on the home page of the club website (www.whvc.org.uk). It’s in the process of being updated, but please complete it as best you can. DO NOT PAY ANY MEMBERSHIP FEES. We very much hope Covid doesn’t disrupt our season again but to avoid the issue of refunds we will be collecting payment per session attended.

We will be looking into using either Teamer or getting a card reader to collect payments but for the time being payments will need to be made in cash, on the night. Try and bring the correct money please.

We will initially have these open to all members, of all abilities. We are an inclusive club and the sessions are aimed at getting everyone involved and require everyone to help out those who need a bit of coaching and guidance. The format will remain a warm up followed by some drills and general game play. Those members new to the game will continue to develop their understanding of the game separate from the main group, allowing greater progress for all.

Although the first 2 sessions will be unlimited in terms of capacity, we will be introducing a sign up system as we have been doing for the outdoor sessions. The maximum number we can cater for is 32, any more and people are going to be waiting too long to play etc. The link to this sheet will be sent out to members in due course. We will NOT be responding to multiple WhatsApp messages every Monday though. It’s your responsibility to sign yourself up for a session and cancel if you cannot then make it. If you sign up and then don’t show up you may be charged for the session if the place isn’t filled as we need to ensure we can cover the cost of the court. If you don’t sign up and just show up, you may be disappointed.

To allow for us to prepare for the upcoming season, we will also be having Men’s & Women’s team training sessions on a Sunday 3-7pm (2 x 2 hour blocks) for those members who wish to play in one of our teams. We are waiting to hear back from HVA about the league structure but we hope to be able to run 2 x Mens, 2 x Womens and at least 1 development team (X-League) for those wanting some competition but with less pressure.

These sessions will start on Sunday 19th September and initially be open to all, to act as a trial, and then invitation only to allow teams to develop ahead of the start of the season.

The same £7/£5 fee will apply to all those attending these sessions.

Please note that if you sign up to play as part of a team you WILL be expected to take on at least 1 officiating duty (Scorer, 1st Ref or 2nd Ref)

We are planning to run some specific training open to all members to allow them to develop their confidence in officiating volleyball. You will be given opportunities during Monday sessions and Team session to have a go and ‘shadow’ those who have experience in these roles. It a great way to learn more about the game and support your club (impartially of course!)

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch via email.

I look forward to seeing you all soon,

Russell

(WHVC Chairman)