So the University finally managed to spill out some more information about the fire and the damage caused. The bottom line is that the gym is scheduled to re-open on 5 January 2009. We hope that we will be able to resume regular trainings as soon as possible after that date, exams and all permitting. In any case, we’ll keep you posted!

Best regards,

Floz

I guess you expected so, given the circumstances. I don’t know how long it will be till something opens again, but it may take a while.

I’ll let you know when (and where, and how) trainings can resume as soon as I do myself.

All the best,

Matthew

I am sure that you’ll find among us the volleyball you are looking for:

• Beginners, we’ll aim at teaching you the basics of volleyball, so that you can enjoy yourself with your pals from the very first session. Volleyball, you’ll find out, is a sport to develop your agility, and also to have loads of fun
• Volleyball-experienced students, we’ll work at developing further your skills, and we’ll offer you the possibility of joining the Irish University League.
• And if you are really into it, you may join us in the greatest competition we figure in, the second division of the Irish National League.

For anyone to enjoy their volleyball, however, it is indispensable that we organise this huge group of yours (we have over 50 registered players!) in two smaller, more homogeneous groups. This process will begin during the very first training, after which you should have an idea as to which of the two following groups suits you best: beginner, or volleyball-experienced.

If you find yourself within the beginner group, your training slot will be Thursdays only, when I’ll be able to coach you in an individual session, on one of the two courts of the Main Sports Hall.

If you find yourself within the volleyball-experienced group, you will, likewise, be invited to Thursday sessions, but also to try yourself out in Tuesday sessions, where we form our teams for the university and national leagues.

You have a feeling that won’t be enough to satisfy your thirst for volleyball? Don’t worry, we will occasionally hold open sessions on the week-end, just so as to keep everyone fit

To recapitulate, here is our start-of-year training schedule:

• Tuesdays, 8 till 10 pm, Volleyball-experienced,
• Thursdays, 8 till 10 pm, Everyone,
• Saturday/Sunday (occasional), Everyone.

That is all for now. Unfortunately, I won’t be with you on court for this first Thursday session, as I’m away for some happy event, but I leave you to the good hands of our fantastic, our fabulous, our amazing Vice-President, Florian!

Yours in sport,

Matthew Hodgkinson,
NUIMVC President

Just a quick note before the semester starts: our provisional training times are Monday and Thursdays, 8-10pm in one of the two sports halls (whichever is available).

Everyone is welcome!

Florian and myself are going to take pictures of our new facilities on Monday at 5pm. We have the whole place booked until 7 (after that, it shall be invaded by a flock of Italians), so there will also be time if you want to baptize the new court in the small sports hall (oh yeah, if you come and don’t see anybody, remember that we may be in the small sports hall…). As for myself, I guess I’ll hang around to blow the whistle, maybe.

I hope I’ll see you on monday, then. Take care,

Matthew

Update: Some of the photos from the photoshoot can be found here.

It’s drilling hard in the large sports hall, now. They’ll have to work on it until friday, then it should be over. So next week…

Well, next week, I won’t be able to share that delight with you, anyway, as I twisted my ankle once again last sunday, landing on Rade’s silly foot It’s pretty bad, this time, and I’m off volleyball for the whole summer, until we resume with new recruits in October, I suppose.

But Florian is due back from Berlin by the very beginning of July, or so I heard of Rade. I’ll let the care of arranging sessions to him, then.

Make most of the new gear, lucky yous!
Matthew

I have the pleasure to anounce you that three new sets of top-quality posts are going to be set next week in both sports halls.

Because once set, they have to be let at rest for a few days, this is going to cancel all next week’s session.

I’ll give you more details if I see you at training tomorrow evening.

See you around,

Matthew

The sports hall will close on Wednesday the 7th for the exam set up, and shall not re-open until the begining of June.
That leaves us with three week-time trainings only. But for these, we are going to begin at 8pm instead of 8.30, as the club that was before us is not running anymore.

I’ll see you on tuesday, 8pm, then, or even tomorrow, 11am, if you’re around!
Matthew

Just to let you know, I’ve finished processing and uploading the pictures from Saturday. Now since I took quite a few shots and to guarantee that pretty much anyone would be on a picture somewhere, I’ve decided to upload the bulk of my pictures, i.e. about 150 photos (normally I don’t do this). You can find this complete set here.

But, in order not be overwhelmed at first, you should start checking out the 30 picks that I personally liked most.

At this point, a big thanks to all of you for making this trip worthwhile and fun, and especially to Matthew for all his dedication and time in organising this!

So see you soon and have a good start into the new week,

Floz

The sports hall is available again, and so we’re going to have an extra-training tonight (that’s Wednesday), at our usual times 8:30 to 10:00 pm.

There will be another training tomorrow (the regular one) and hopefully one the week-end as well. We need to get back into shape as we have a bunch of games coming up pretty soon…

Oh, by the way, if you’ve just arrived in Maynooth, stumbled across this website and think “yeah, Volleyball sounds cool” just drop in! We’d love to have you with us

Anyways, see you soon!

Floz