Clapham Leisure Centre are pleased to announce the arrival of Little Giants Volleyball Club who have chosen the centre as their home venue for league matches and training. The official launch event took place on Wednesday 22nd February just before Giants' first training took place at the centre which saw London Volleyball Association Chairman, Charlie Orton opening the event with an official cutting of the red ribbon ceremony to mark Giants' formal transfer from Battersea Sports Centre to their new venue.
Those in attendance included Douglas Barr-Hamilton, divisional administrator, official welfare officer and referee of the club Radostin Cholakov, Tarique Dar, Warren Bannister. Sponsors, and loyal friends of Little Giants. Sponsor Tooting Cake Box generously provided a huge and delicious cake to mark the occasion.
The club who are currently second in the 2nd Division of the London Volleyball League have recently secured funding through Sport England’s small grant scheme which has supported part of the installation of volleyball posts and equipment. Line markings and installation of the volleyball sockets were funded partly by Little Giants and some funding arrived from the sponsors. Through the new partnership agreement with GLL plans are already in motion to launch a new junior programme to provide a clear pathway from learning to club performance. The new sessions will also support team selection to represent Lambeth at the London Youth Games Volleyball competition. As well as a junior programme the club aims to support the launch of sitting volleyball sessions to provide accessible opportunities for the local community and schools.
Club Director Cisel concluded, "As Little Giants Volleyball, we have been investing time and finances on this project of building a volleyball court in partnership with social enterprise GLL at Clapham Leisure Centre. Although it was a long process of events from working with the centre's management team to floor contractors, I'm proud to say that we finally did it. We look forward to playing Volleyball at our brand new home venue as well as expanding Giants within the league and making volleyball accessible to our local community of any age and ability".
Laurence Oliver, General Manager at Clapham Leisure Centre said “ We have been working closely with the club over the past few months to support the installation of post sockets and line markings to the sports hall floor which has been possible partly through the funding awarded to the club by Sport England and the club's sponsors . This new partnership will not only see the centre host its first ever Volleyball Club but will also offer opportunities to the local community to play volleyball in an indoor venue. Little Giant’s qualified volleyball coaches will be supporting us by delivering a range of programmes for the community including a junior programme offering coached sessions for 8 – 15 year olds, school holiday programmes, with the aim to launch Sitting Volleyball later in the year to provide accessible sessions”.
For more information can be found on the clubs website http://www.volleyballevents.org or email littlegiantsvolleyballclub@gmail.com
Source: http://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/lambeth/claphamleisurecentre/newsitems/volleyball-s-little-giants-set-to-grow-at-clapham