Two Kinross teams competed in the 41st De Haan International Volleyball Tournament in Belgium over the weekend of 9th – 10th August.
The Kinross Club has attended this tournament on an annual basis since 2007 as a pre-season warm up for forthcoming district and regional league competitions. Fourteen club members travelled to De Haan initially by road on the Thursday to the port of Hull for the overnight crossing to Zeebrugge. It was so much easier when the Rosyth ferry operated but with seemingly little effort being made by the Scottish Parliament to re-establish a passenger link from Scotland to the continent it looks like the future of passenger travel by sea will have to be via ports in England.
After the long road journey team members enjoyed the P & O sailing with a meal and evening entertainment before retiring to their cabins for the night. Friday morning saw the group being collected at the Zeebrugge terminal by Belgian volleyballers and driven to De Haan where some had booked hotels and others set up tents on the free camping area by the sports fields.
The two teams, a men’s team and a mixed team, opened play on a bright, sunny Saturday with very close games with the men’s team faring slightly better than the mixed team, both sides playing four matches. The Saturday evening disco eventually finished around 4 a.m. allowing for five hours sleep before play started at 10 on the Sunday morning. It was a wet and windy start to the day for everyone but play went ahead until the organisers called all the teams together at 2pm to announce that the tournament was being stopped due to severe weather conditions of strong winds and heavy rain. Despite being cancelled both teams had a good opportunity to prepare for the new season with their four games on the Saturday and two more on the Sunday. Although neither team finished in the top three f their respective divisions, the teams did manage to record a few victories over the weekend. After showering and drying off members sampled a few Belgian beers before dining together at a local Chinese restaurant. Monday saw the campers packing their things together and meeting up with the hotel based members before heading back to Zeebrugge for the overnight ferry back to Hull.
It has been a busy summer for our local volleyballers with thankfully, most Monday evenings being dry to allow the outdoor games to continue through the summer months at the grass area to the rear of the Campus. Thanks to the newcomers who have been turning up for the free game sessions which will continue outdoors until 7th September starting at 7 pm until 8:30 pm.
Indoor training will commence soon at the Community Campus on Monday 15th Sepbermber at new times – from 8:15 pm until 9:45 pm. New members are always welcome and the club hopes that there will be at least five Kinross teams competing in this season’s Perth District League in both the Premier and Recreational Leagues.
