SPORT: Men's volleyball team takes on "best of the best of the British army"

Wednesday 06 April 2022

The men’s island volleyball team narrowly missed out on a win against “best of the best of the British army” last night.

The British army volleyball team took a victory in three straight sets in the first of three games they'll be playing in the island this week.

The three-day event marks the first time that the army has played Guernsey. Army Team Manager, Jed Charlot, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the standard of the Guernsey team.

Pictured: The Guernsey men's and British Army volleyball teams. 

“The Guernsey team has been very well trained and I would give credit to their coach, Neil, for that,” said Mr Charlot. 

“I’m not surprised that the sets were close throughout the game, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Guernsey team received the ball when we were going for the pipe [backcourt attack].”

Volleyball games are played to the best of five sets, with each set being played to 25 points, or until one team is two points clear of the other. The army team beat Guernsey 25-21, 27-25 and 25-23.

Pictured: Guernsey Coach Neil Elmy said the army team players were "excellent at jumping".

Guernsey Coach, Neil Elmy, said he was encouraged by last night’s scores.

“We had a really good game and I’m very proud of the boys and they show a lot of promise. We didn’t take our opportunity in the second set when, at one point, we were up 21-18, but it’s all a learning curve,” he said.

“I believe that we can take them [the army team] on Thursday; we’ve got everything in place to take them, we just need to learn the fine details that you can only learn on court.”

Pictured L-R: (Back) Coach Neil Elmy, CJ Elmy, Harry Wood, Captain Harry Barrett-Giles, Ashley Gordon (front) Jack Robilliard, Jack Nurdin, Jake Elmy.

Mr Elmy said that the standard of the army team was higher than the island team had experienced before.

“The army team is the best team I have seen in Guernsey since the 2003 Island Games, and they probably would have won that if they’d been playing. They have very tall players compared to us and they’re excellent at jumping so they’re hitting the balls down at much steeper angles than we’re used to,” he said.

“It’s important to remember that the ball is coming over the net at 60 or 70 miles per hour, and the players are only about nine metres away on the other side, so there’s only a fraction of a second to make your mind up on how to play the ball.”

Pictured: The Guernsey team lost to the British Army team in three straight sets. 

Army Head Coach Alex Menya MBE said he was "confident" that his team will win the remaining games.

"Volleyball is a strength sport and you win points on errors; if the sets aren't close then it means you're too weak for your opposition, so it makes sense that we saw close sets here tonight for the level both teams are at. The key thing now will be who takes the lead. I am mostly excited for the island players for the next two games because it's exciting for me to see them learning by playing against us," he said. 

“We are used to playing a much higher standard and these men are capable of playing much better than they did, although we have seen glimpses of excellence from them in tonight's game. In sport you tend to match the level of your opponent and that's what we did here tonight because it's not about us. It gives me enjoyment to watch the Guernsey players because they clearly love the sport and are fighting to win; I'm looking forward to seeing more of that."

Pictured: Army player George Morris.

Players on both sides said that part of the excitement of the game was not knowing the level of the opposition.

Army player George Morris said: “We were intrigued about the Guernsey team before coming over and tried to look them up on YouTube but could only find a video from 2012, so we really had no idea what level of team we were going to face.

“Our mentality is to focus on what were doing; we bring our A-game every time and we are always confident in our abilities.”

Pictured: Both teams are keen to play the remaining games. 

Guernsey player Jack Nurdin agreed: “The Guernsey team have recently been playing in the Hampshire league and that’s been great preparation for us. You never know who you’re going to come up against but to have the opportunity to be hosting the army team and gaining experience with a top team is fantastic for the sport.

“It’s also great to be holding events that gather a crowd and we’re appreciative of people coming to watch. I think this is a great way to promote the sport and what we’re doing and I’d encourage people to come down and watch the games on Wednesday and Thursday.”

Pictured: Guernsey player Jack Nurdin.

Mr Elmy said hosting such events is important for the sport. 

"We have never played against the army team before but I would be very keen to organise more games in the future because it's a fantastic opportunity for us. We have experience of playing teams in the UK but it's very different being able to host teams locally. It's also great preparation for our interinsular against Jersey which we are hosting on 30 April," he said. 

"It would be great if people come down and watch the next two games. Personally, I'd love to see more former volleyball players come down and see the standard of the current island team."

Pictured: The army team are "confident" they will win all three games against Guernsey men's.

Both coaches said that they would be keen to organise more games between the teams in the future after the success of this event.

Mr Charlot added: “By the very nature of being an army team we have natural progression as players come in then are promoted or get posted out. This is a fairly new team, formed during the covid pandemic, and we have competed in the National Volleyball League. They are a young and athletic team and this is the first time as a cohort we have played away from the UK mainland and we would like to come back in the future."

Pictured: Army Team Manager Jed Charlot. 

The next games will be held in the Sir John Loveridge hall at Beau Sejour at 18:00 on Wednesday and 18:30 on Thursday.