Sandbanks Beach Volleyball Festival 2011

The story behind the weekend

Friday 15th July 2011 - 7am
The setting up team arrived at Sandbanks Beach to find to their delight the flattest, cleanest most beautiful beach imaginable. Poole Council’s staff had worked miracles to ensure the beach was so flat, less than a week after beach polo. This meant our plan to stage the whole festival on the one stretch of beach was possible.

Soon the marquees and courts started to go up. Special thanks go to those competitors, parents and club members who turned early to help. The weather was kind to us, but as we were finishing off and setting up the helpers BBQ, the heavens opened. This did nothing to dampen morale, we just felt sorry for the campers!

Saturday 16th
The day got off to a frenzied start but once the competitors were signed in and the events were under way the sun came out. Hospital radio were responsible for the music. Those over 35 thought the music was great, those a bit younger didn’t. You just can’t please everyone.

The fact that Sandbanks chose not to host the VEBT event this year did little to affect entry numbers. There were almost 300 teams across 26 competitions, with record entries recorded across several events. We had very good feedback from the recreational players who felt more a part of the festival instead of being stuck out on the dog beach across the rocks. Many teams played 5 or 6 games in the day. Even the British Open teams played at least 4 matches each day, as per the Festival’s philosophy of maximising opportunities for people to play beach volleyball.

Eleven competitions were completed on Saturday, including the first of the British Junior Championships. The Under 16 Girls British Junior Champions were Megan Cheaney (Wessex) and Robyn Sayers (Melksham), who beat Jade Butcher and Harriet Butcher in the Final. The Under 16 Boys British Champions were Joel Robertson and Sam Walrond (both Wessex) who beat Will Hartnoll and Haydn Lawson (North Devon Academy) in the Final.

Sunday 17th
Play resumed at 9.30am, with early rain again. However, the same as Saturday, the weather became warm and dry.

British Open
In the Final of the women’s pairs, GB Development Squad players, Jess Grimson and Lizzie Smith came up against the formidable pairing of Laura Plonka and Gabi Medrika, having overcome Jeffery/Eddie and Diakiewicz/Czingera respectively in their semi-finals. The younger Wessex players, Smith and Grimson, displayed maturity beyond their years to overcome the more experienced partnership from indoor National Champions, Polonia, in a closely fought two set match to win the first of what could well be many titles over the next few years.

Following an unexpected earlier defeat, 2nd seeds, Sheaf and Gregory had to play 1st seeds, Smith and Watson, in the quarter-finals, but defied the seeding to win 2:1. However, the effort of going to 3 sets in so many of their matches, was telling on them and Sheaf/Gregory lost in the semi-final to Jaguszewski and Kiedrzynski. In the other semi-final, Silva and Vatolik beat Dyakienka and Datler. In an exciting final, Jaguszewski and Kiedrzynski beat Silva and Vatolik by 2:0, to win their first British Open title.

British Junior Championships
Wessex juniors also featured on the winner’s podium in both Under 18 Women and Under 18 Men. Annie Tinker and Paige Nelmes retained their title for a third successive year, beating Paige Tuttiet and Emma Crane (also Wessex) in the Final. Matt Hunter and Ryan Stout (Wessex) won a gutsy match against Ryan Palmer (Wessex) and Aidan Lewis (Wales) to become the Under 18 Men’s Champions.

In the Under 14’s British Championship, Joel Roberts (Wessex) and Richard James (Staffs) won a very tight Boys Final against Ben and Max Sheaf (Kent). In the Girls Final, Anaya Evans and Ellie Austin (North Devon Academy) beat Elisa Hill and Katie Gibson (Newbury) to become British Champions.

A full list of winners and top placings is detailed elsewhere on this site.

Postscipt...
A few hours after the end of the Finals, the organisers had taken all 32 courts, the tents and barriers, and were enjoying a refreshing beer.

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