A bit more scottish than the original name suggests, but still with an international flavour with Ganaelle Larquemin taking on the role of chef, producing some tasty baking for the day. Little things like this help a club crete a community feel and recurit and retain players and volunteers and it definitely made me feel welcome.
The club has forged a very strong Link with Lenzie volleyball club, who beat St. Andrews University 3-0 in the morning match. The sharing of facilities and referees has resulted in both clubs becoming stronger as a result of this partnership.
The feature match was a tough tie in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup, against Edinburgh Jets who are currently performing well in national league one adn look set to make the end of season play-offs.
It was a good start from Jets passers who coped with some strong home serving to access Nore Stolte through middle. It was a tough start for International, Lead by coach Malcolm McLean and assisted by Dave McEwan, as Jets took an 8-1 lead to the technical time-out.
Despite this tough start strong serving from setter Amanda Burke and some positive defence and passing from GI the hitting weight of Jets proved too much, the first set went to Jets 25-7 with an unfortunate injury for the visitors on set point.
GI again started with clear tactics as they pushed from the
service line to try and take out Jets’ middle threat and this proved to be a good tactic. Credit is due to GI for remaining positive and focused on creating as many attacks as possible during the game and sticking to their own tactics. The downfall was not due to the home team but as a result of the ‘bullet like’ service of Barbara Terlouw proved to be a great weapon for Jets and gained 2 great runs of points to put the set beyond the hosts, although Glasgow’s play merited more than what the scoreboard indicated – 10-25.
The positive mental attitude of the players and coaching staff was evident for the whole game, lots of rallies in the match but unfortunately the hosts were just missing a way of killing the point.
A Nice shot from Sonia Barrera led GI on a comeback with some great fight to keep the ball alive and with some quality ball control, they managed to get middle Julie Woodfield into the match with two kills from two.
The score was 15-21 as Shona Angus went up to serve, some great hitting and covering on the left side of court brought GI to within 5, but a clever tip from Jets outstanding player Stolte took the set 25-19. it was a shame the match had to end as the home team were really pulling out some nice volleyball in the closing stages.
The club is looking to expand upon it’s current in formalised links with schools and student centre with player recruitment a key priority for the coming months.
The club runs between Smithycroft school and Lenzie Academy.
If you are interested in Getting involved with Glasgow International then you can find out more by getting in touch with me via e-mail or contact the club directly here.
My thanks are due to Malcolm McLean and the Glasgow International team for the great hospitality.
Graeme Spowart
Club & Participation Development Officer