Volleyball inter-insular back after three-year gap
Inter-insular competition returns to the domestic volleyball courts at the end of next month after three years without facing Jersey.
Guernsey will take up hosting honours for three matches – one for women and two for men – on 30 April, with a junior inter-insular also planned for later.
Jersey held the superior inter-insular record before the pandemic and that included a win in 2019, but Guernsey Volleyball Association chairman Dave Bartram has backed the host island’s hopes for 2022.
Bartram is conscious that Jersey have some superb individual players – while they have lacked competitive opportunities in recent years, they reportedly have built up a decent number of workers from European countries where volleyball is popular.
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But Guernsey’s greater experience and recent success in playing as a team, including sitting third in both the men’s and women’s Hampshire Grand Prix tables, could hold the key.
‘In the last two to three years, they have had quite a few new European nationals come in who play volleyball,’ Bartram said. ‘Based on that, there’s going to be a high standard of individual players, but they do not get to play as a team compared to Guernsey.
‘That’s where Guernsey have an advantage, because we play Hampshire.
‘I think it will be quite evenly matched this year, but I would give the edge to Guernsey, as we are playing as a team more than Jersey.’
In the meantime, Guernsey will have the honour of hosting the British Army team as they prepare for major international competition.
The Army will engage in a week-long training camp from 5 April and contest several matches against Guernsey, using the trip as a unique team bonding experience.
