MacVolley Festival Weekend
One hundred and two teams have already entered to take part in the 2013 Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament with teams coming from afar afield as Italy, Belgium and the Faroe Islands as well as sides from London, Liverpool and Newcastle, not forgetting a host of sides from all over Scotland.
The UK’s largest volleyball tournament is set to take place on Perth’s North Inch and local sides are well represented throughout the nine divisions of competition.
Secondary schools from around Perth & Kinross are taking part in a pre-tournament MacVolley (More Active Children) festival on the Friday at Bell’s Sports Centre.
The Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Volleyball Association will take place on the Friday evening in Perth’s Mercure Hotel where their annual awards will be presented with local club Kinross being one of the nominations for “Club of the Year” mainly due to their MacVolley initiative to encourage women and girls into volleyball through financial support from Big Lottery Funding.
Saturday’s MacVolley (More Active Communities) competition
starts with Division of Honour men’s and women’s teams opening their fixtures at 9 am in Bell’s Sports Centre with the outdoor teams commencing play at 10 am on the 36 courts on the North Inch.
A section of the North Inch will also be used as a car park and campsite for the hundreds of volleyballers who will converge on Perth for this annual festival of volleyball.
Perth sides are well represented throughout the divisions with regulars Dodgy Spikers, Mr G’s All Stars, Dig This, Aberfeldy, Team Awesome, I’d Hit That, Serves You Right, Turtle Power, Mii Fitness, Mongrels joined by a team of ladies from Kinross called Nae Direction who have only been playing volleyball for a couple of months.
Teams from surrounding Fife and Dundee are also very much in evidence with Colin McGinley’s Team Fife competing in the Men’s Division of Honour in Bell’s main arena.
After the Saturday competition teams will be divided into qualification sections and consolation sections for the Sunday competition which commences at 9 am.
A ceilidh style “Volley Hooley” will be held at the Loft in Perth’s South Street on the Saturday evening, allowing the foreign teams to join in traditional Scottish dancing fun.
The highlight of the weekend will be the indoor finals with the women’s final commencing on Bell’s Centre Court at 2 pm on the Sunday afternoon, followed by the men’s final at 3 pm approximately.
Let’s hope the sun shines on Perth’s annual volleyball festival, the twenty eighth since the tournament started in 1985, missing one year due to the flooded Inch and Sports Centre.
David Munro
Tournament Director