London Volleyball Invitational

This tournament is fully known as the London Volleyball International Invitational aka Volleyball 2012 Olympics Test Event which was held at Earls Court – the future venue of the 2012 Olympic volleyball matches – from July 20th – 24th, 2011 with Serbia, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Egypt and 2012 Olympic host Great Britain.

As far as we know, the tournament was pretty much a private event but still very successful. “Tickets were not being sold, it was by invitation only. Tickets were given to England volleyball clubs ( a few allocated per club) especially clubs with junior teams. There were only 500 tickets overall I understand . I was lucky to benefit from other people who couldn’t make it and so I ended up going 4 out of the 5 days!” said Melvin, a Volleywood friend who kindly shared the pics he took from the event.

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Chris Shares…

I am one of the coaching staff at www.polonia.vc – 2011 GBR National Champions.

I attended the Earls Court event for the first three days after work, but on the Saturday and Sunday I was volunteering. As you know this was a pre-Olympic “London Prepares” event. The teams were invited to test the match procedures and were scrutinised by FIVB members for the entire event. Great Britain has a good tradition of volleyball, but the level played here is way behind most of the rest of the world and so to have a chance to watch three of the top teams (USA, Brazil and Serbia) in the world was excellent. I’ve seen quite a lot of top level volleyball having been in the 1991 GB Universiade team in Sheffield, I was also a member of the England team roster for about 10 years in the 1990s. Slightly more recently I was lucky enough to have spent about a week at the Athens Olympics watching the indoor and the beach event. So for us Brits, events like these are as rare as hen’s teeth!

My job last week was Field of Play Marshall. This meant I ran one of the warm up courts: this included, tidying up and preparing the court for the incoming team. I had to check the net and all other equipment as well as provide water and towels for the players while warming up. The most exciting moments for me came when I led the USA team out to the Match court. I had to ensure the players were lined up in correct number sequence and had their shirts tucked into to their shorts:

Chris: “Mr Salmon can you tuck your shirt in please?”

Riley: ” Yes Sir”

It was an exchange that made me smile!

The USA team were super professional but really friendly; kindly signing a Beijing 2008 pennant for me. All the teams were great to watch in the warm up court, but I have been a follower of USA volleyball since the watching the TV in the 1980s when a certain K Kiraly inspired me to slip on a pair of kneepads! My playing highlight was a few years ago when the same K Kiraly invited my friend and I to California to train with him on the beach! But that is another story altogether!!

I am British and proud of it, but couldn’t help cheer the USA on even when they were playing the GB boys.

Thanks Volleywood

Chris Hykiel

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Dani Shares…

My first impression about the venue was that it was really big, but definitely not as big as the Beijing one. The venue was only partly opened, I think that they are still doing some other work. That’s why the limited seats available per day. I was very lucky to be there 2 out of the 5 days. But the court itself was very well put and very presentable. It was well organized from the 2 days that I went, the award ceremony took a bit longer to start than i expected, but I suppose its their first time organizing it.

Security was not as tight hehe, thus the chance for all the fans to take photos with the players. Matthew Anderson is my favorite player, and this was the first time I met him. He was indeed very nice and friendly. He was willing to take photos with the fans and even talk for a bit. He was definitely one of the biggest stars in the USA team as most fans wanted a photo of him, but I was very lucky to be able to get one.

In fact, the 1st photo that a friend took of me and Anderson did not come out well at all, as my friend cut me off the photo, he only took my forehead lol. I had to ask Anderson to take a photo again and he said of course. Definitely a Mr Nice player and his serve and back court attack were just unstoppable. Riley Salmon played as a libero in this tournament, and he actually did a very good job. I was actually surprised to see him here, but very happy indeed even tough Stanley, Priddy and David Lee did not show up. I was expecting Brian Thornton to play well like he did in the World league, probably he was still tired and recovering.

The first match that I saw was between Serbia and Egypt. I was supporting Serbia, and I was so sure that they were going to beat egypt easily with the team they had. I was indeed surprise with the 3-0 lost. Egypt played really well to be honest. I was amazed by their setter, number 2, i think his name was Abdalla Ahmed, his serve was just incredible. Ivan Miljković was there to support the young team, he was as well very friendly.

The last match I watch was between USA and Brazil. It was the best match of the competition (2-3). Louis Phillipe and Thiago Alves were just unstoppable. Of course, the young settter Murilo has performed so well. i really hope i’ll see him playing in big tournaments one day. From what I remember, the last set was 16-18. USA was leading all the way until 14-13 and then Brazil took the lead at 16-17. At this very last point, I was surprised with a substitution that the USA coach did. Evan Patak was on position 4 and ready to go and the coach substituted him out for Murphy Troy (he was not completely warmed up). This was my surprise as I was supporting USA lol and wanted them to win

Melvin Shares…

First Look @ Earls Court

More from Melvin…

The Men’s competition again was a round robin format with Serbia, Brazil, USA, Egypt, Britain and Mexico ( in the order they ranked at the end of the competition). Serbia, Egypt, Britain and Mexico had their A teams with all the starters, Brazil had a combination of the under 21 team and some players from the Brazil Superliga. Only Thiago Alves and Wallace De Souza had actually played with the national team from the group. USA had a good team actually with Matt Anderson a regular starter for the national team, Kevin Hansen and Brian Thornton (starting setters), Paul Lotman and Evan Patak who are regular substitutes for the A Team and also specialist servers for team USA, etc. The difference between the top three and the rest was quite clear though.

Serbia clearly had the best line up and deserved to win. They beat both USA and Brazil with some dominant displays (3-1 and 3-0 respectively), especially from serving and in blocking. Ivan Miljkovic came with the team but did not play. I think he will play in the Olympics though. Strangely they lost a rather strange 3-0 against Egypt ( although in such a type of competition its normal that not every team plays at a consistently high level all the time).

Brazil played the usual Brazilian game of speed, incredible defense and blocking and constantly had the small crowd in gasps. The player of the match was definitely Louis Phillipe, whose attacking was phenomenal. The Brazilian under 21 setter, Murillo is definitely the player to watch for the future in Brazil, he was just awesome! The best match was the 5 set last day match between Brazil and USA (3-2 to Brazil), which decided the winner of the competition. The USA went into this match with the potential to win the competition had they won 3-0, but faltered in the end having led 8-4 in the 5th set, credit to some excellent play from Brazil. For USA, Evan Patak (opposite) and Matt Anderson were the best players throughout the tournament. Anderson’s pipe attacks were just unbelievable and Evan Patak’s serving ( at one time against Britain he served 10 straight points! )

The hosting team, Great Britian, has improved in past years and were able to play some really good volleyball against top teams, including a 3-1 win over Egypt on the last day, and the win over Mexico. They have the right attitude, a good setter and an improving opposite player. They do everything well, but maybe dont quite have the mental edge yet. They lost a few sets from a winning position. Mexico’s team are very young and very inexperienced, except their opposite Contreras. They still need some time, and this was good experience for them.

Thank you so much for sharing Melvin! You were one of the luckiest volleyball fans in the world to experience what it’s like to take a first look and experience volleyball at Earl’s Court.

Before we forget, Mel has some videos to share too which we will upload soon.

Also, we have another Volleywood friend, Dani, who will also share his pics and experience at Earls Court so stay tuned for more.

FIVB Says:

“This event is critical to test the technical and functional aspects of the London 2012 Volleyball team’s operations. Along with the FIVB, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) will test key aspects of the Earls Court logistics and operations in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, including the scoring technology, venue installation and workforce.”

Final Standings

1. Serbia (4-1; 12)

2. Brazil (4-1; 11)

3. USA (3-2; 10)

4. Egypt (2-3; 6)

5. Great Britain (2-3; 6)

6. Mexico (0-5; 0)

The Awarding Ceremony Pics plus Ivan Miljkovic:

Tournament Schedule and Results

July 20

Brazil def. Egypt, 25-22, 25-23, 25-16

Great Britain def. Mexico, 25-15, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23

Serbia def. USA, 16-25, 25-17, 25-16, 26-24

July 21

USA def. Egypt, 25-23 25-17 25-21

Brazil def. Mexico, 25-15, 25-16, 25-14

Serbia def. Great Britain, 25-18, 25-14, 27-25

July 22

Egypt def. Serbia, 34-32, 25-16, 25-22

Brazil def. Great Britain, 25-19, 25-22, 25-12

USA def. Mexico, 25-19, 25-17, 25-18

July 23

Serbia def. Brazil, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18

Egypt def. Mexico, 25-23, 26-24, 25-17

USA def. Great Britain, 25-23, 25-10, 27-25

July 24

Serbia def. Mexico, 25-21, 25-11, 25-14

Great Britain def. Egypt, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23

USA def. Brazil, 25-21, 22-25, 25-27, 25-16, 18-16

Side Dish by Melvin: It started on a Wednesday with an unexpected round robin competition of three Women’s teams – Japan, Netherlands, and Great Britain. A really improved ( and I think very genuine Medal contender for the Olympics) Japan destroyed the field, as expected. All teams had their A team playing (e.g Takeshita, Saori Kimura for Japan and Manon flier for the Dutch). The women were not on schedule, but because they were already playing friendlies in Europe, and the courts were prepared in London, they came last minute.

Are you excited for the 2012 Olympics? We Are! We Are!

Hope to see you in London!