The weekend of June 9th and 10th witnessed some terrific volleyball activity 
on the beach at Portobello.
On Saturday 9th there was day 3 of the level II Beach coaching course, delivered by SVA Staff Tutor Ioannis Panayiotakis to a captivated group of enthusiasts. Ioannis built on the successes of the first two days of the course and created a very positive learning environment. The candidates added lots of enthusiasm, lots of effort, lots of questions, and laughed at Ioannis’ jokes.
The focus of the work was on developing coaching practice, and the sessions where the candidates explored the issues surrounding performance analyses involved lively discussion and the positive exchange of ideas and information.
The weather helped as the sun flooded the courts from a clear blue sky and the focussed work attracted a constant stream of interested spectators. It was a successful day, and along with the first two days it has been a very successful course.
Sunday 10th June saw the presentation of 2 different CPD workshops by Barry McGuigan and Graham Riddle, the coaches of the Scottish men’s team who participated in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Their workshops were excellent!
The balance of ‘talk-to-play’ stretched the participants both mentally and physically, as they explored the ‘cat-and-mouse-game-within-a-game’ that is block-defence and the principles of power hitting in the Beach game.
The clinics were intense, were focused, were demanding, and were very well
presented by Barry and Graham who clearly demonstrated their knowledge and experience of the Beach game through the situations they presented.
Once again the sun shone throughout the day. Once again the efforts of the Beach volleyballers attracted lots of interest from the passers-by. Once again the level of the Scottish Beach game has been enhanced by the efforts of all concerned.
So it leaves me to say very well done to all those who participated in the weekend’s activities.
Thomas Dowens
SVA Director of Coaching