As Christmas fast approaches and Club Volleyball takes a well-earned break it’s easy to get lost in the last-minute scramble to ensure that preparations are ready in time for the big day. For the players in the SWNTP the festive break signals a different kind of intense preparation as they get ready to meet at The Peak in Stirling for a three day Camp from 27-30 December.

The Camp represents the next step in our journey towards the CEV Small Countries Division qualifier in Malta in June 2012. It provides us with an opportunity to put in a period of intense work focused on further developing our playing systems and individual technical work. It will also act as fine tuning before the squad travels to Luxembourg in early January for the Novotel Cup.

The theme of the Camp is, ‘It’s a fine line between success and failure’.

The reality is that we can’t have one without the other. If there was no such thing as failure then we wouldn’t know when we were successful and vice versa. Quite a philosophical statement I know, but one worth contemplating.

There will be 18 players at the Camp including some of the girls who are based in Europe. It is extremely encouraging to know that so many players are prepared to give up three days at a time when most ‘normal’ people are enjoying ‘party central’! What is even more significant is that within those 18 players there are a number who have not made the final 12 for Luxembourg and who have been disappointed to miss out. It would have been easy for these players to opt out of the Camp and spend time with family and friends but they haven’t. These players have decided that missing out on selection is a catalyst to ensuring that they are in the frame when selection comes round for Malta. They want to make sure that they can give themselves every opportunity to cross that ‘thin line’.

The players will be based in Stirling throughout the three days and they will be faced the challenge of three sessions on days one and two with the final day consisting of two sessions. There will be a mix of individual work, unit play and match play. As the Camp progresses the physical cost will have its toll. This means that the Coaching Staff need to monitor fatigue levels and manage them accordingly to ensure that the quality of performance remains high.

The psychological impact will also be tough but what we are aiming to do here is replicate the kind of pressures the players will face when they arrive in Luxembourg in a few weeks and in Malta in June. It’s all about paying close attention to that ‘thin line’.

Last January, through the offer of the then Head Coach John French, I travelled to Luxembourg for the same tournament. For many of the players it was a new experience and a losing one. It was another example of the difference between success and failure and John French new exactly what needed to be done in order to cross from one side of the line to the other.

The current Programme has built on the foundation that John and his Staff created and I am confident that when we step onto the floor against Luxembourg on 6 January we will see a set of players who have learned what it means to perform and be successful.

The matches against the hosts, Germany and England are simply checkpoints on our way to Malta. They are not the be all and end all. But we are going there with the sole purpose of working to be on the right side of that ‘thin line’.

Finally, on behalf of the players and Staff involved with the SWNTP I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in Scottish Volleyball a great Christmas and successful New Year and to thank you all for your support over the past 10 months.

Craig Faill
SWNTP Head Coach
16 December 2011