Leicester Athena Volleyball club visit Strasbourg Sept 2022
LEICESTER ATHENA VOLLEYBALL CLUB VISIT STRASBOURG FOR THE FIRST TIME! – SEPTEMBER 2022
Newly promoted, Leicester Athena Women’s Volleyball team have been searching for appropriate competitive opportunities over the summer in their bid to challenge Division 1 of the Volleyball England National League next year. With many teams disbanded over the summer, favouring the beach game to the indoor game, there are fewer chances to prepare thoroughly for the rigours of a higher division.
Several of the Athena team on a visit to Strasbourg Cathedral
The club turned its attention to Europe where the standard is much higher, and France seemed the logical choice given the proximity and language. In planning, it was essential to gather initial contacts to assist with accommodation, travel and competition pitched at the right level. An enquiry to the City of Leicester European Twinning Association (CLETA) provided the link we were looking for and soon plans to visit Strasbourg came together with a full schedule of competitions, local tourism opportunities and local travel.
We are grateful to the committee for their invaluable advice and guidance in planning but also for their enthusiastic support during the games. We should also thank the Mayor of Strasbourg for providing tram passes to all the players and officials for each day of the visit, and for the boat trip on the Saturday.
The action packed, extended weekend started with a friendly match on the Friday night, and this is where we met our main host Stephanie who had planned our competitive schedule for the entire visit.
Buoyed by a comprehensive win, the team started the 5-team tournament on the Saturday with a closely fought 2-1 loss, playing up to the standard by winning the first set. Whilst all other games were 2-0 losses, we were proud of the way we played, particularly against teams several divisions above our level.
On the Sunday morning, we played a junior team, allowing us to field all members of the squad, and winning in 2 sets. In the afternoon, we travelled 1 hour to the German border to play a team of the quality we may face in Division 1 of our own national league in England. Playing in a larger venue, allowed both teams to improve upon their service thereby increasing receive errors that we had not seen over the weekend before.
By the second set, both teams had the measure of each other, and this made for a closely fought competition, before losing 2-1 after 2 hours of play. Our opposition were most hospitable, inviting us to drink and share food after the match and this cemented a warm relationship between players and officials. We hope to reciprocate their hospitality in Leicester next year.
There is much to be gained from this experience, not least in highlighting our playing weaknesses against considerably better opposition than we had faced in the past season in Division 2. We are encouraged in the knowledge that in all games we remained competitive, reaching the business end of the set on all occasions (in the 20’s in a 25-point set) and have some solutions to the attacking options we faced. We fall short, not only in experience at this level, but also physical preparedness and mental resilience. However, we still have our enthusiasm, our will-to-win, and our courage.
We thank CLETA for making this trip happen! Without their support we would have found travelling and downtime difficult. We enjoyed getting to know the members of the CLETA party and spent some time over evening dinner chatting late into the night. I personally would like to thank them for helping me with my own travel and accommodation arrangements, making me feel most welcome in their company. I look forward to working with them in the future.
If you are interested in perhaps joining us, please visit:
athenavolleyball.weebly.com
for further information
Steve Jones,
Director and Coach
