Part 1
The first day of North Lanarkshire VC took place at Brannock High School, as 
Bellshill played host to rivals Lenzie. The match was one of the first the home side has managed to have a full quota of players to choose from. It was good to see such a mix of players all playing together with the home side having three players above the age of 50 and two players still in their 20s.
The first set was a tense affair with teams finding their rhythm after the Christmas break. It was Lenzie who came up with the important points at the right time, to take the set 27-25.
Bellshill responded well forcing the visitors into a time out at 9-2. Setter Billy Harris continued to control the offence well and the service pressure was proving too much for Lenzie, as the Lanarkshire side took an impressive 24-9 lead. A string of 5 points helped gain momentum back for Lenzie but the damage had already been done.
The blend of power and tactics from the Bellshill offence combined with their pressure from the service line was again proving successful in the 3rd set as they took the set 25-15.
Lenzie, with nothing to lose, started with Dave Cormie trying to lead a come-back for his team by following up a block-out with a kill block. Their early lead was short lived thanks to strong serving from Iain Harvey.
Harvey and Anderson were a constant threat for the home side and despite Lenzie setter; Kevin Curran’s best efforts at the net, the home side took a well deserved victory 25-12. A result which keeps them top of Division 2 – West.
The match was refereed well by Sue Kee; one of 5 grade II referees at the club, all of whom help support others and juniors in their refereeing.
You can view highlights of the match here.
The women were in action to try and reverse their defeat to Aberdonia in the first game of the season. The were very successful in their play with a convincing 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-8, 25-18)
This result took them up to 2nd in the division, only one game behind leaders Troon, in what is a very competitive 1st division.
NLVC are very active in their publications and match reports are published in an impressive 5 local papers. To check out match reports and club information please check out their website or you can follow them on twitter.
Part – 2
The second day of the ‘Meet Me @ The Net’ was at St.Maurice’s High School for the opening round of fixtures in the girls’ U15 Junior National League.
The highlight of the day was by far the learning environment that was created. The kids learning all different skills such as teamwork, refereeing, how to win & lose, how to respect teammates and opposition and how to play 6v6 volleyball. This entire process was taking place in a fun environment of physical activity.
Coaches, Assistant Coaches & team managers were all involved in the process of mentoring their referees, scorers, line-judges and players.
The match which was feature was North Lanarkshire vs. City of Edinburgh. North Lanarkshire’s team was made up entirely from pupils of St.Maurice’s High School, where head coach Nicola James runs a thriving school volleyball club.
It took a small amount of time for the girls to settle into a 3-touch rhythm, however, when they did there was some great, enthusiastic volleyball on show with the NLVC taking the first set 25-21.
The 2nd set saw both teams willing to run and dive across court to keep the ball in play. Some nice controlled hitting from North Lanarkshire’s Courtney MacLeod gave NLVC a lead.
City of Edinburgh continued to work well together with a nice hit and block from Anna Crawford helping to secure the set 25-19.
Strong serving from NLVC’s Erin Totman took the home side into a 4 point lead. City of Edinburgh showed maturity well beyond their years as they fought back to lead at the change of ends.
Strong serving once against from North Lanarkshire, culminating in a nice hit 
from Mhairi Lardner secured North Lanarkshire’s first win in this new competition.
It was a fabulous day of junior volleyball and I hope that NLVC and all the other junior teams will enjoy and progress as much as they did during this day.
My thanks especially to Ailien Hall, Tom Rooney and Nicola James for their kind hospitality but especially for the hard work, amongst many others, that they put into their club.
If you would like to find out more about North Lanarkshire Volleyball Club please e-mail, contact the office on 0131 556 4633
Graeme Spowart
Club & Participation Development Officer