Wandsworth School dominate LYG Volleyball - News - Wandsworth School Games

Wandsworth School dominate LYG Volleyball

Just over six months on from the London Olympics, Graveney School and Ernest Bevin College successfully defended their titles at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games schools finals, making it a fantastic day for volleyball in Wandsworth Schools.

The finals on Tuesday 19 March at Sportsdock at University of East London saw 50 teams in total made up of Year 10 and under pupils from across London take part in an exciting competition with a number of hard fought matches.

In the girls competition, Graveney, sailed through the group stages matches and had no trouble in disposing of Townley Grammar, representing Bexley, in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals Graveney produced their best performance of the day defeating a strong Eastbury 25-5 and then carried this great form into the final where they proved to be too strong for the Ealing team, taking the title in style with a 25-3 victory.

Graveney School team manager Carlos Johnson was impressed with his team’s performance and happy that they’d followed his advice.

“They had my words ringing in their ears. You win and lose on serve receive and our training always reflects that so that was the key today really."

He said: “I think the School Games adds another layer of competition which exposes a broader number of players to volleyball so I think a minority sport like volleyball needs competitions like this and even at primary level to improve participation.”

In the boys competition, Ernest Bevin College again proved to be the pick of the bunch at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games boys’ volleyball schools finals.

As the defending champions from 2012, the boys from Ernest Bevin were soon into their stride and came through their group unbeaten and proved too classy for their opponents in the knockout stages.

In the final Ernest Bevin showed why they were pre-tournament favourites with another fine performance and they took the title 25-14.

Ernest Bevin’s team manager John Lowney believed that preparation and commitment from the school was important to his team’s success.

“Volleyball is a priority sport at our school and it’s obviously manifested itself over the last two or three years. We won this event last year so it’s a continuity and a commitment by our school to flag volleyball as a major sport.”

He also feels that the London Olympics have had a positive impact on participation in volleyball and thinks events such as this will help develop the sport.

“I don’t think we’d have had as many teams entered as we had this time no question about it. The question is how we develop that legacy and with the right type of structure there’s every reason to believe we could become a major sport in this country.

“You can’t expect a sport like volleyball which has come from nowhere to get to the standard we want it to so it takes time. All the indoor sports will develop as a result of the Olympics so as far as I’m concerned today has been a real fillip for participation.”

Nick Miller, School Games Organiser for Wandsworth said; "

"All in all in was a fantastic day for Wandsworth Schools and showed the strength of volleyball in the borough. We have worked hard to develop the sport and this has been rewarded with two gold medal performances. I would also like to thank the the Ernest Bevin Sports leaders who played a crucial role in refereeing the matches in the competition."



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