There was a great volleyball weekend at Perth College UHI on the 18th and 19th of February 2018. It was Scottish Volleyball players first experience of the great facilities at this new venue. The staff were extremely helpful, the bright sports hall offered two full size volleyball courts with acres of space around them and the wooden flooring was first class.
These great facilities and the dedicated and talented players of the Scotland Junior National (SJN) training squad, the Scotland Senior Women’s training squad and that of the Scottish Students Women’s (SSW) squad ensured that this was a couple of days of the highest order.
Both the SJN and the SSW were using this weekend as their final trials for major events ahead. The Juniors for their SC European Championships at the end of April and the Students for their matches against England Students both North and South and in the same month their match against the Scotland under 23’s.
Saturday saw the 35 players who attended from those two groups split in to 5 teams – three Junior teams and two Student teams. The teams played each other in a round robin competition with the Students generally prevailing against their younger opposition but not without the Juniors showing the excellent level they have achieved despite their relative youth.
After the event the Scottish Students’ Squad was selected by coach Tom Rooney.
On the Sunday, the Scottish Senior Women set up camp on one of the courts under the watchful eye and direction of coach Connie Wiesenfelder and team manager Gail Wilson. They are working towards a trip to Italy at Easter to play in a four nation tournament. The squad for Italy has a relatively youthful look to it with some very experienced players out injured or missing due to other commitments. So Italy will provide a great environment for our younger players to show just exactly what they are capable of.
On the other court the Scottish Juniors , however, had one more training day to ” endure” as they vied for coveted spots at the European Championships. The players threw themselves in to that one last challenge. They all came out with fantastic credit. Every single player proving themselves in testing conditions so very tough selection decisions had to be made by coaches and team management. The coaches spent much time debating the merits of every player and are convinced that they have come up with a group of players who will represent Scotland with distinction. Sadly, some really good young people who are already playing at a high level had to be left out. Of course, this is the nature of international sport but we believe that everyone who missed out on selection has vowed to stay with the group. This can only be good for our sport.
The photograph includes many of the players who took part in Saturday’s Student v Juniors matches.
Senior Women’s Squad for Italy
Laura McReady ( captain)
Carly McKinlay ( Murray) ( vice captain)
Nicole Ramage
Priya Gill
Emma Waldie
Shona Fraser
Caitlin McEwan
Sam Fowler
Mhairi Agnew
Raveen Gill
Claire Ramage
Rachel Morrison
and Katie Barbour
Management Team Gail Wilson and Vince Krawczyk
Scotland Junior Women for SCD European Championships in Liechtenstein
Emma Waldie ( captain)
Julianne Hendry ( vice captain)
Deirde O’Riordan ( vice captain)
Natalia Blaszczak
Kate Renforth
Karolina Wroblewska
Megan Duncanson
Hannah Paisley
Ellie Stewart
Rhian Murphy
Heather Hamilton
Nicole Ramage
non travelling reserves ( in alphabetical order)
Fynn Donaldson
Megan Hall
Erin Kavanagh
and Emi Munoz
Management Team Zoe Smith, Vince Krawczyk and Jess Reid
Regrettably coaches Connie Weisenfelder, Danny Traylor, Tom Rooney and Aileen Hall and physio Sarah Jones are unable to travel with their respective groups to the SCD finals and Italy but their continued input and dedication to the squads remains invaluable, vital and much appreciated
