We at PMVC are keen to establish community links with Local Businesses as well as embracing all of the things that make Plymouth a great place to live. Therefore, it was inevitable that our Satellite club PMVC's Ivybridge Tigers would cross paths with Dartmoor Zoo sooner or later so they could meet the real Tigers!

Over the summer, Dartmoor Zoo invited our Junior Development Squad to be Zoo keepers for the day and to "Meet the Tigers" as part of a community engagement project. In return the Young Leaders ran a volleyball taster session for the families and visitors to the zoo.

The junior development squad are mostly from Ivybridge Community College which is local to Dartmoor Zoo. The squad were also debuting the new membership T Shirts following sponsorship from local training provider, Skills Group .

Thoughout the day, the group were chaperoned by Adam Cook, who is the head of the Dartmoor Institute of Animal Science for DZP. He gave us a behind the scenes look into how the zoo operates and all of the amusing stories that came with it regarding the unique problems they have to solve to support the animals.One such example was with the hot weather, they had made blood ice lollies for the big cats to keep cool which our junior keepers had to use their sporting skills to throw across the moat to the Tigers and the Jaguar. It certainly got the big cats excited!

From then on, it was a feeding frenzy as our Tigers looked to feed everything in sight - the meerkats, the goats, the coati, the monkeys...

Around midday, we set up a court next to the monkey enclosure (but not too close!) and gave the visiting families a chance to learn some volleyball skills and play a few games. As all of our players have trained as Volleyball England Young Leaders, it was a chance to put test their leadership skills to the test. They proved to be perfect ambassadors for the Club and for volleyball in general as they made it fun and made the children enjoy their learning experience. The Monkeys enjoyed the action too as they sat in their tree watching the games towards the end!

When asked about the day, young leader, Rosy Stanesby said "It was a great experience and we just had a lot of fun. Adam had us laughing all the time and he clearly loves his job. Now I want to work at the Zoo!"

It was a great day for the PMVC Tigers as they learned a lot about the conservation work that goes on and also how the Charity shares PMVC's enthusiasm in embracing its local community. The Players have already agreed to arrange a fundraising project in the Autumn as a way to say thank you for the experience with the proceeds going to DZP. Details on that will follow. In addition, DZP are happy welcome us back next year to repeat the experience.

A huge thank you must also go to Shelly Monk for providing us with the opportunity.

Now for the season to start - Get em Tigers!!