EVENT SUMMARY 2010 Voted Best event on Tour 2010! For more information: Martyn Cassell on 01843 577367 or email .@.. www.thanet.gov.uk/sport 1. Introduction Margate Masters is an established part of the Volleyball England Beach Tour (VEBT), a series of elite beach volleyball events attracting the top players from around the country and some from oversees. The event is hosted on Margate Main Sands with an impressive venue built each year on the superb coastal area. The high quality venue was included in the Pre-Games Training Camp brochure for London 2012 Olympics. This will hopefully encourage travelling international teams to come to Thanet to train prior to the main event being held on Horseguard’s Parade, London. Thanet District Council work closely with Volleyball England providing a high level spectator event for local residents and using it to encourage local people of all ages to come and have a go. The event has grown from strength to strength in the last three years culminating in being voted ‘Best Event on Tour’ in 2009. The event aims to provide the best beach volleyball event for spectators, officials and players alike by including; • 8 international standard courts • Free spectator grandstand seating to experience the action • Game commentary and music to create a vibrant atmosphere • Exclusive player areas to provide the perfect preparation for matches • Community sessions/competitions to give everyone the chance to have a go • Schools competitions The following sections give a detailed summary of the 2010 event. 2. Schedule Friday 9 July Local secondary schools coaching and competition day Saturday 10 July Elite players opening matches Sunday 11 July Local standard adult competition Continuation of elite matches and finals 3. Schools Day Thanet District Council hosted this fun and exciting opportunity for secondary schools in Kent on Friday 9 July 2010. This year Volleyball England selected it as the ‘Let’s Play Volleyball Event’ for the South East region. Let’s Play Volleyball is a development programme aimed at introducing volleyball to young people through small sided games and basic skills training. Over 60 pupils got the opportunity to have coaching, play matches and enjoy the atmosphere in the national beach volleyball arena surround by grandstand seating. After two successful years we hope this event will become an established part of the school sport calendar supporting Kent School Games so please watch out for details of future events. Team Entries were received from: - King Ethelbert School - Wilmington Grammar School for Boys - The Anthony Roper School - The Charles Dickens School - Ursuline College - Hartsdown Technology College - The Westlands School - Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammer School. See below for the results of the various competitions; Under 13s Girls Winners The Westlands School Runners Up King Ethelberts Under 15s Girls Winners Tunbridge Wells Girls School ‘C’ Runners Up Tunbridge Wells Girls School ‘B’ Under 13s Boys Winners Wilmington Grammar School for Boys Runners Up Charles Dickens Under 15s Boys Winners Hartsdown Technology College Runners Up Ursuline College Thanks go to our sponsors for the event including Hornby Hobbies, Kent Sport, Leisure and Olympics and Sainsbury’s. Thanks must also go to Tom Middleton, Kent Volleyball Development Officer and Dave Wood and staff from Christ Church University for coaching and support during the day. 4. VEBT Main Event The elite competition was organised by Thanet District Council Sports Matters team and Volleyball England. This year saw the event have its first headline sponsor. Thanks go to Hornby Hobbies for their support. • 25 elite men’s and 16 elite women’s teams landed on Margate Main Sands to battle out the second leg of the Volleyball England Beach Tour and coveted Margate Masters title. The weather matched that of the World tour with glorious sunshine across the 2-day event. New additions to the event included; • Improved grandstand for members of the public stretching the entire length of centre court • Fantastic players relaxation area that opened out onto both show courts and • Kids Volleyzone Crowds packed the promenade and specially constructed grandstand seating to enjoy the action. An estimated 4500 people enjoyed the event over the course of the weekend with approximately 500 watching the finals and ignoring the British F1 coverage and World Cup final in the evening.The women’s event saw the best draw ever, with reigning 3 time champions Gabriela Medricka and Eva Czinegeova back to defend their title and a host of previous and current GB ladies pairings looking to take it away. The current GB pairing of Liane Herbert and Helen Brown ended up third leaving seasoned champions Denise Austen and Mel Coutts in the final with Gabi and Eva. On their first trip to the new Margate Masters tournament Denise and Mel won the final. Denise has played on the world tour and qualification rounds for the 2000 Athens Olympics so it was great to have such a high standard at the event. In the men’s event the final was between Richard Payne/Rob Flay and Davide Grandolfo / Berislav Bobus. This means Richard has been in the Margate Final 3 out of 4 years and having won it just once, was determined to come out with victory. However on the day the pair from Italy and Croatia came out on top proving their seeding of number one was correct! ‘We are delighted to announce that Margate Masters was once again voted best event on tour making it two years in a row. This is voted by players so is even more rewarding.’ Richard Callicott, President of Volleyball England, said: “As London 2012 approaches with only two years to go the challenge is, and always has been, to raise the standard of our domestic beach volleyball. Thanks to Margate and everyone involved it is encouraging that the organisation of our Beach tournaments is improving year on year. I would like to congratulate everyone at Margate for their award. I know it takes hard preparatory work and that is rewarded during the event itself. The standards of players, officials and organisers demonstrated that Margate is now setting the benchmark for others to step up to. Congratulations”. Testimonials: Cllr Martin Wise, portfolio holder for Thanet District Council Environmental services said ‘The event was a great success with a wonderful atmosphere. The crowd got so involved with the matches taking place in front of them. We’ve had some excellent feedback from the players, who told us that, in Margate, we go the extra mile to really make the experience special for them. Volleyball England were also full of praise for the Margate Masters, telling us that the event had been, in their words, “another huge success”. I think the crowd were delighted to hear them say that they want to return again in 2011.” Mark Kontopolous, President of the Volleyball England Beach Commission said ‘For yet another year, the 2010 edition of the Margate Masters was an outstanding and hugely successful tournament. We at Volleyball England are proud and privileged to be able to work with the Sport Matters team at Thanet District Council in bringing top quality beach volleyball to Margate. The Margate Masters, which was voted Best Event of 2009 by the players on the Volleyball England Beach Tour (VEBT), is rapidly cementing its place as the players’ favourite tournament. We are already looking forward to coming back to Margate in 2011! The main event sponsors were; Other Supporters included; • Kabuki Bar (providing the official tournament party) • Hi-Way Supplies (providing volunteer t-shirts) • Red Bull providing refreshments for players and volunteers 5. Local Standard Competition and Kids Volleyzone The local standard adult competition run by local volleyball coach Dave Wood also attracted good numbers with teams competing in both pairs and 4-a-side competitions. Winners of the event took home a prize of free ferry tickets from one of the other event sponsors LD Lines and were presented in front of the main crowd between the two elite finals. The long term aim of the local competition is to hold heats early in the summer season culminating in the finals being held during the main Margate Masters event. Just after the presentations, a crowd participation competition was undertaken, again to win free ferry tickets, testing out their skills by hitting a volleyball over the net onto a target on the other side. For the less sporty a dance competition was held just before the finals to get the atmosphere going. LD Lines also supported the first year of the ‘Kids Volleyzone’ which had qualified coaches introducing the sport to local young people all weekend. This was a great addition and hopefully inspired some locals to get involved on a regular basis. It is all great evidence to support our plans for a permanent beach sports court to be based at Margate. We also made sure there were a larger number of community courts for families to play on alongside the volleyzone. Our thanks go to LD Lines for their support for the both the main event and Kids volleyzone. 5. Media Coverage This year a media campaign was launched with Heart FM providing coverage through radio adverts, website and during shows. This brought the event to a massive audience. The Heart FM tent and Heart Angels were also present on-site all weekend. Plus James Heming, prime-time morning show presenter attended on the Friday of the event to have a beginners lesson with Liane Herbert and Helen Brown part of the GB development programme. Visit http://www.heart.co.uk/kent/shows/breakfast/james- attends-margate-beach-volleyball-championshi/ for the video and photos! A host of different media formats covered the event including web, radio, TV and newspapers, which shows that the event is of interest.