The Edinburgh cup was created with three main aims:
– A preparation tournament for EUVC 1st teams before the British University (BUCS) finals in March
– A chance for national league sides to promote youngsters or other members of their club, which is not feasible in national competition.
– To build relationships between University, National League and district clubs in a fun competitive environment.
The tournament was supported by Edinburgh University Sports Union, and Vodka Revolution which meant the tournament was held in the great facilities at CSE and trophies and MVP awards were able to be presented to the winners.
Part one of the day was a triangular tournament with Edinburgh Jets and Edinburgh University competing in both the male and female competitions; NUVOC completed the women’s draw and City of Edinburgh for the guys.
In the women’s competition NUVOC were in action against Edinburgh University in the early game with the students taking a well earned 3-0 victory. The home side used the competition as a great opportunity to start preparations for 2013-14 with 5 players still available for next years push for a place in the BUCS Championships.
The second game was proving to be a cracking game of volleyball with NUVOC leading a tight game 2-1 when an unfortunate injury meant that NUVOC had to forfeit the remaining two sets of the match, handing victory to Edinburgh Jets.
In the men’s competition Edinburgh University took on Jets in a hard hitting match. Jets won the serve-pass battle to take the match 3-1. All that was now standing in the way of Jets becoming the first winners of the Edinburgh cup was a very youthful City of Edinburgh team.
The city team took advantage of the opportunity to mix youth with experience and fielded a team with 5 players under the age of 20. The young side showed that they were not afraid to take on their more experienced rivals and took a set off their capital counterparts.
Jets, led well by returning setter Seva Shneer and captain Lenard Sobieracki played consistently well and deserved to be crowned Edinburgh Cup Champions 2013.
The best game was still to come. The young guns from Queensferry came out firing against their student opponents and took a 2-0 lead, but a positional re-shuffle from the hosts and the ability of hitters Puggioni and McHardy to find kills at key points ensured the Men’s university side took a win in their preparation for the BUCS final 8.
Edinburgh Jets coach John Gaughan commented ‘ All of the guys had a great day and that was evident with the smiles on their faces. As a coach, it was great to see some development players playing alongside more established players’
On the other court, it was a straight shoot-out between Jets and Edinburgh Uni with Edinburgh Uni running out 27-25 winners in the 3rd set to take the match and secure another title to add to the Student Cup win last week.
MVP awards were given to Barbara Terlouw of Edinburgh University and Chris McHardy of City of Edinburgh.
The day was only just getting started though as the district level competition was warming up while the presentations took place.
We had NUVOC, Linlithgow, Edinburgh Uni Bravehearts and Edinburgh Uni Claymores take part in the 4-way competition.
Each team played two 45 minute matches and the level of volleyball on show was quite impressive. The competition was refereed by Edinburgh University referees who were given feedback on how to improve. After the first round of games Linlithgow played off against Edi Uni Bravehearts for the title of Edinburgh Uni district champions.
It was the visitors from Linlithgow took the match and the trophy, however, the main thing about the day was getting as many people playing volleyball as possible and the aims were most definitely achieved; it was great pre-BUCS preparation, the young players and 2nd team promoted players excelled and in come cases even stole the limelight and ultimately all teams played good competitive volleyball together.
I believe the objectives of the competition were achieved and we will try and use this pilot to expand the project around the country for next season.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success, all 10 teams, the referees, sponsors and volunteers!
Graeme Spowart