Emeralds are on a winning streak, having won their last 3 matches, with the first 2 games of he season being close fought losses. https://www.kentvolleyball.co.uk/div2women
We now look to enter the next phase of the cup and plate competitions, with all 4 Maidstone teams still in the knock out competitions, some of the tougher games are coming up.
Don’t forget, there is NO ENTRY FEE or tickets required to come and watch your local volleyball team in the Maidstone community, all are welcome to come and cheer.
Maidstone VC are proud to yet again be hosting the Kent County Volleyball Finals Day (this is the 4th in a row since Lewis took over as Chair of the KCVA).
Please feel free to come along and watch some great volleyball throughout the day, and stay to cheer on our very own Diamonds players collect the trophy and medals for winning the Women’s 1st League this season 🙂
Team Performances
This season saw the growth of all six teams across the club. New players joined Gems, Quartz, Emeralds, and Onyx. A couple of key players strengthened the first teams for Diamonds and Rocks.
Good progress was made throughout, ending the season much stronger than it started!
Diamonds performed the best, earning a place in the SEVA tournament via winning the KVCA Women’s Premier Division! This was an exceptional achievement by Coach Frank and the players. It often required players to play out of position. They won the league by a single set point. It was a narrow victory over a very competitive Tonbridge team, who also joined the SEVA tournament.
MVC AGM and End of Season Awards and Social Evening
This year’s AGM will be held at the Market House in Maidstone (upper room is booked out) from 5pm. We urge members to come along and share their views. Members should understand how the club is run. They can see if they can help with running any part of it. Members will also vote on some important matters.
Each year, our committee posts are retired and put back up for nomination and election. All members above 18 years old are eligible to nominate themselves for these posts:
Chair
Finance/Treasurer
Secretary/Operations
We also have non-portfolio specific committee roles and all members are eligible to apply for these roles.
There are lots of tasks that need doing throughout the season, and every little helps 🙂
After the AGM concludes, the venue will transform into the Awards Ceremony. We will hand out various awards for members’ efforts throughout the season. The below awards come with a name on the plaque, forever to be written into MVC history books:
Club Player of The Year (as voted for by all members)
Most Improved Player (Womens, Mens, Foundation and Junior – as voted for by coaches)
Volunteer of the Year (based on sessions / events helped at, annxiliiary items, as voted for by the Commitee)
Ray’s Unsung Hero Award – In memory of Ray, a special award is given to someone who may go under the radar. This person means a lot to the club and its members.
There will also be extra awards throughout the evening for team specific items.
Summer Schedule
The 2024/2025 Indoor season is approaching its end. Only 1 week of regular indoor training is left. After that, we will move to our summer schedule.
Tuesdays – 7:00pm-8:30pm – Women’s 1st and 2nd team training by invitation
Tuesdays – 8:30pm-9:00pm – Men’s 1st and 2nd team training by invitation
Wednesdays – 6:00pm until 7:30pm – Junior Training
Thursdays – 6:30pm – 8:00pm – Social Indoor Games sessions
We will also be having outdoors grass nets up, these will be advertised dependant on weather via Spond.
Due to the rise of hall hire fees, we have had to increase our fees slightly. However, we are trialling a Summer Pay Back Scheme.
This means that the price for each adult 1.5 hour session is £13 plus Spond payment fee. But each month, an admin will review attendance for the previous sessions, and work out the average attendance. If this average is above 8, players will receive credit to use at other sessions. If they are only summer players, the club will refund them the equivalent amount. This refund will be deposited back into their bank at the end of the season.
An example: if June average attendance is 12, each player who paid or used credit to attend will receive £4 credit per session. This credit is given for each session they attended. This would make the session actual cost only £9. It runs on a scale for 9,10,11 & 12 attending.
The Club believes this is the fairest way to charge players. It ensures the hire fees are covered. Additionally, it reduces the actual cost to members as low as possible.
So, it took a while to get the results in, but here we have our final standings for the 2024 Maidstone Volleyball Club outdoor Summer Champs Grand Prix!
Dodging the weather with wind, sun & rain, we saw:
7 events in total take place over the course of the summer.
48 different players took part in the event.
42 separate games took place
The lead changed hands multiple times and was decided on the last day
Callum & Rajnish held the joint top average score per event at 158 points
Archie, Jorden and Lewis had the highest participation
1 model airplane & 1 dog had a cameo appearance
3 quadzillion bugs entered towards the end…
1 ankle was twisted, 1 parent was unexpectedly involved and no sunburns were reported…
Up to 4 courts were in use at once at many sessions.
Quite impressive stats for the inaugural event, which was only conceived at the beginning of July. Had it started when outdoors summer season first begun, we could have seen another 5 or 6 events take place! This really shows just how strong the love of volleyball is in the region right now.
Throughout the Grand Prix, we saw standout performances from many players, with everyone increasing their game. Almost all of these players are now continuing with the indoor season at MVC, adding the existing indoor players roster of talent and potential.
The format of the events, was have all players play with different people over timed games. There was no split between gender, ability or age. Often starting at 6v6 for 20 minutes, and as people arrived team split into smaller teams of 4 or 3.
At the end of each game, the teams scores were recorded. Players were then awarded these points to their tally. So if a player played 3 games, and scored 15, 26 and 23, they would have earned 64 points for them.
Teams were chosen at random, with a mixture of playing cards being used, and suggestions of random iterations of 1,2,3,4. Only the last event was structured, so that the leading players were on different teams.
After the results were in, it seems that consistency and regularity was the key. Combining a moderate average score per game, with a high attendance was the order of the day.
To ensure a high average score, it meant no matter who was on your team, the team had to perform.
Taking the bronze medal at the end of the summer for 3rd place was Archie with 847 points.
Just missing out on top spot on the last day but still getting a very good silver for 2nd place was Jorden with 872 points.
And our winner this season, was Lewis taking gold, with a total points of 914.
Next summer season promises to bring even better competition, and hopefully better prizes (our winners received a well deserved pat on the back this year…).
If any attendees have any photos of the events, please feel free to share with maidstonevolleyball@gmail.com.
The 20th August saw the penultimate MVC Summer Champs event of 2024….. and another 18 players turning up to strut their volleyballing stuff on the fields of the historic Mote Park.
We saw early season leader Gareth return to form, outscoring leader board contenders Lewis and Archie. A strong net presence and back court passing saw Arnis grab the joint top spot for the event scoring 123 points. And a very spirited effort from Harper, who let no one stand in their way of also scoring the joint most points for the day!*
*Thankfully, no parental spectators were seriously hurt in the greyhound like efforts of ball chasing….
The weather looks be on the side of the brave this evening, as we see in the final event to crown our 2024 summer champs. With only 100 points between 1st and 4th position, everything is to play for, and none of the top 4 will be on the same team, so we are hoping to see theorectical fireworks.
But, Kudos today goes to Jorden, who has consistently remained among the top scorers at every event, showing that experience really does count for a lot when it comes to winning matches, through smart play, great team work, or just shear luck. He is now our a new leader, and surely is in pole position to take it over the line…
Maidstone Volleyball Club 