Volleyball Club

Friendly coming Thursday / training time modifications

Matthieu — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:30:38 +0000

Hey there,

I have arranged friendly games next Thursday to be played in our hall for both our CUSAI teams, who will be playing the Celbridge Philippians.

So as not to have our non-Tuesday players miss yet another session, I am booking the main hall from 7. Therefore, we’ll run the usual Thursday training from 7 till 8:30, and the warm-up for the matches will start then. Both matches will be played at once, one on each court.

I hope this will be okay with everyone. Take care,

Matthew

GMIT Galway – NUI Maynooth : Pictures

Matthieu — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:35:41 +0000

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

GMIT Galway 0 – 6 NUI Maynooth

Matthieu — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:18:34 +0000

Dear all,

Congrats to our CUSAI girls’ and lads’ teams, who both won their last qualifier games before the finals by three sets to none (25-5, 25-4, 25-15 for the girls, and 25-19, 25-23, 25-15 for the lads).

In fairness, it was disappointing the girls did not meet the opposition that befitted them, making for a boring match (if I remember well, Jess served 14 points in a row in the 1st set!). The lads had a harder job, however, as among their opponents were a few decent players, and a frighteningly powerful hitter. But we were a more homogenous and organised team, which paid off. Anyhow, the job is done, and both our teams are top of their table – something to be proud about!

Thanks to that, we’ll avoid the first of the other groups in the semi-finals, which increases our chances of reaching the finals nicely. Semis and finals will be held in Belfast on Friday the 19th of March.

And guys, girls, thank you for training with conviction and taking so much time of yours. I’ve been presiding and coaching the volleyball club for the last three years or so, and at times it grows more demanding than my studies themselves, and yet the success we’ve been knowing gives it all enough meaning to make me want to work more and make the sessions and our teams still better. So thank you, really, it means a lot to me.

Now all the best to all, and see you soon on court!

Your loving coach,

Matthew

PS : Ooh! And by the way, Bjorn, we’re waiting for your pictures!

Training (this Thursday) moved

Matthieu — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:41:51 +0000

Everyone,

The basketball club hosts a league game on this Thursday evening, so they’re going to have the hall on our practice time. In return, we have their wednesday slot. So for this week, the Thursday session is replaced by another session, which is Wednesday (tomorrow), from 8:30 till 10pm. I’ll be in Galway with our girls and lads teams (wish us good luck!), and we won’t be back till 11pm, but Alexandra has stepped up to run the session. She sounded enthusiastic, and she’s good craic, so I’m sure you guys will have good fun together.

Spread the word — I wouldn’t want too many people to show up on Thursday for peanuts.

Cheers

Matthew

Trainings resume this week

Matthieu — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:36:43 +0000

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

Hall closed from Wednesday

Matthieu — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:37:21 +0000

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

ITT 1 – 2 NUIM

Matthieu — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:03:41 +0000

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

NUIM 2 – 1 CIT

Matthieu — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:49:25 +0000

NUI… Maynooth!!!

Warmest congratulations to our men’s team, who won the first match of the season against Cork Institute of Technology, by two sets to one (18-25 25-19 25-15). Next game is away against IIT (Institute of Technology, Tallaght) in two weeks time (exact day yet to be defined).

As for our women’s team, they were supposed to go play Athlone IT tomorrow, but it looks as though that team is pulling out. We’ll try to make up for the missing game with a friendly

Now in the meantime, we’re gonna keep up with the good work, all right? Okay, I’ll see you all tomorrow, then

Proud of you guys,

Matthew

Welcome to NUIM Volleyball Club!

Matthieu — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:47:28 +0000

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

Early Volleyball Sessions

Matthieu — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:36:52 +0000

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