Bjorn took some great picks on that occasion, which can be viewed here.

I find the group picture excellent. It’s a pity Bjorn had to hold the camera, but we’re all having a grateful thought. Thank you Bjorn

See you next week,

Matthew

Dear all,

Dear all,

Clubs and societies resume their activities this very week. This mean that volleyball is back on too, Tuesdays (small hall) and Thursdays (large hall), 8 till 10, still. Both sessions are for beginners and experienced together, at least for now – how the trainings will be organised for the coming semester is not defined yet.

Hoping to see many familiar faces,

Matthew

Dear all,

The sports halls are closed from Wednesday until early February for the exams. So training is on on Tuesday, but off on Thursday. We’ll let you know when they resume.

Happy Christmas to you all, and best of luck with your January exams!

Matthew

And there we go again!!

Congrats to our lads who, yesterday, beat Institute of Technology Tallaght on their grounds, per two sets to one, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22 (or something like that). It was a tough, nerve-wrecking match. ITT had a few decent setters and attackers, and most of all, a bril-liant captain, with unreal attacking skills. And yet… oh well, we were just better. They deserved to win a set, though, they really did.

We also got pom-pom girl support in the persons of Manuela, Victoire and Irena. We love when girls are watching us and cheering up for us, so thank you girls Plus, they took photos! With a bit of luck, they’ll share them with us

The two other pool teams to play are Galway-Mayo IT (Galway), and Athlone IT. Those matches were originally scheduled in February, but so as to give Lincoln and Josh an opportunity of playing another match before they leave, I’m trying to make that happen in December instead.

So far we’re top of our pool. If we keep up the good work and performances, we should finish on top too. Then we’d play the semi-finals against the second of the group Trinity College, IT Carlow, Dundalk IT, and Dublin City University. So far IT Carlow has the lead, with a 3-0 victory against Trinity. ITC were okay two years ago, and Trinity very strong, so I don’t know what’s happened in the meantime.

The website to check to keep posted on that sort of details is cusai.ie. For Volleyball League standings, check http://www.cusai.ie/event.php?event_id=487&action=standings&div=961&sport=Volleyball.

Right, that was excellent craic. Thank you guys for being so assiduous and striving to improve, I’m really having a good time with you, and am looking forward to next session next Tuesday.

N-U-I… Maynooth!!!

Matthew

Thank you all for joining NUIM Volleyball Club!

Tomorrow is our first session. All new members are invited to attend. We’ll be a good many for this time, but it should get better as early as next week, as we’ll have you guys assigned to different groups by then. Tomorrow we’ll go through the usual process of warm-up, technique a games, but all along you’ll be evaluated, and we’ll agree with each of you as to what group you shall join.

The three groups are :

• Beginners (Thursdays 8-10pm, main hall, court 1. Coach Stephen Guyard)
• Women – experienced (Thursdays, 8-10pm, main hall, court 2. Coach Matthieu Hodgkinson – myself)
• Men – experienced (Tuesdays, 8-10pm, small hall. Coach Matthieu)

You can find those details, as well as pictures and accounts on past events on our fabulous website, nuimvc.com. And if you have queries, well, you’ve got our email.

Now, here are a few paragraphs where I promote our club, an excerpt from our 2010 application for funding. Give it a read if you have a few minutes ahead, and want to know more about the club. As for me, I just copy-paste, and leave you to your reading.

See you tomorrow

Matthew

Dear all,

Regular trainings are not to resume until after Clubs & Socs day, Wednesday the 30th of September, so the first formal session of the year is to be expected for Thursday the 1st of October (8 till 10pm, Main Hall).

Now in the meantime, we’re all dying for a bit of social volleyball (I am!). So if you’re new to NUIM, and happen to be visiting our website, the chances are you’d like it to begin earlier than that too! So just drop us a line at nuimvc@gmail.com, and depending on the people we’ll try organise a couple of informal session.

Yours in sport,

Matthieu Hodgkinson

Hi all,

Congrats to our girls, who gave our club a third consecutive neat and clear victory, beating GMIT by three sets to none (25-10 25-14 25-14).

Our girls team ends up first of group A, and will therefore begin playing the second of group B on the finals’ day, Wednesday the 1st of April in UCD.

So let’s hear it for our girls, for both what they’ve achieved and what awaits them:

*NUI… MAYNOOTH!!!*

Matthew

Hi all!

All right, next week, everything is back to normal: lectures, trainings, competition organisation, and all that.

It’s been a long, long break, so we’ll get straight back into it and not loose time, so I expect next Tuesday to see my University League teams in the small sports hall again (Daniel, remember: training’s at 8, not 8:30!), and next Thursday, all of us together again in the main sports hall.

The format for Thursday may be altered for this once, however: with the National League team, we have a big, big day of matches Saturday week, and a bit of practice together (which has not happened in two months!) will do us good. Everybody is welcome, but on one side of the hall, we’ll keep only the most dangerous of you to play against us

Right, looking forward to walking those courts again with you all around,

Take care,

Matthew