Monday 13 June 2005

UK beach volleyball girls fight injury to take third.
 
A playing injury spoiled UK beach volleyball Olympic hopefuls Debbie Spokes and Hedda Meijer's only chance of taking on the Chinese National team just one game from the final at a California tournament this weekend.
 
The EVP (Extreme Volleyball Professional) tournament at Santa Barbara started well for the pair with an easy first game win two sets to nil. Up against some top EVA players form across the USA, they lost the next game in the third set by just two points, placing them in the losers bracket of the double elimination tournament.

They won the following matches 21 – 16 and 21 - 19 securing their place in the semi-final where at one set up, Debbie dived for a ball badly gashing her right arm on a rock hidden under the sand. Said Debbie: "I have never seen so much blood. They bandaged my arm so we could carry on the game which was OK for a while but blood started pouring out again. We eventually lost by just two points in third third set taking third place in the tournament.

"We were really on-form and looking forward to playing the Chinese before they return home. Thanks to our coaching and training, we felt well matched to play them, but then the rock got in the way. Perhaps we can take comfort from the fact that we lost by so small a margin."
 
After the game, the wound was stitched and bandaged at a local hospital. It is just the latest in catalogue of battle scars the girls have collected during their six months training in California. Shortly after their first tournament win, Hedda injured her elbow in training which put her out of action for three weeks, then in another training mishap, Debbie broke a finger in her left hand.
 
But it has not held back the programme. Said Debbie: "Our coaching is everything and has improved our technical game immeasurably. The standard here is exceptional, beyond anything we could dream of in UK, simply because beach volleyball is so big in California. Everybody plays here and the sport has huge amounts of sponsorship".
 
"Weekend tournaments are regional events and draw huge crowds. The experience has opened our eyes to just how much sport and its supporters in the UK still have to learn."
 
ends

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Debbie Spokes and Hedda Meijer aim to represent the UK at the Beijing Olympics and are California for six months training with leading coaches and to improve their skill playing some the worlds top beach volleyball players.