I have just returned from the 2015 Sainsbury's School Games in Manchester in which Volleyball England were kind enough to offer me the opportunity to run the Go Spike Speed cage as part of the Spectator Zone. Having missed out last year because of the birth of my daughter, it was great to be invited back to be a part of the UKSG Family again albeit in a different role. It was amusing to be able to sneak in under the radar as my name wasn't on the officials list so when I arrived at the hotel, most people weren't aware I was going to be there so I kept up the pretence that I was on some sort of secret mission for VE. However, I ended up being given a couple of nicknames when they found out my job for the Games - The Children's Entertainer and Captain Cageman!
 
I was also asked by VE to bring someone with me to help run the Speed Cage and I chose to bring a relatively new member of our volleyball club but someone who was already very influential and well informed about the School Games Framework. Jeanette Green is the School Games Organiser for South Hams in West Devon and has supported the club in creating two satellite volleyball clubs in the last 2 years. This was her 3rd games but her two previous encounters were as a spectator.
 
Our working days were to be spent at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium between the Colin Bell Stand and the MCFC Store. The Spectator zone was being run by Anthony from the Youth Sport Trust and we were one of 10 organisations present to either promote sport, health, fitness or nutrition. The SZ was an interactive area adjacent to quite a few of the other sporting venues such as Swimming, Athletics, Table Tennis and Wheelchair Basketball. The teamwork and bond between the SZ team was the thing I will remember most. Everyone was supporting and endorsing each other to all of the visitors who attended. The linchpin was Eddie who owns a multi sport company called M&H Academy which is based in Merseyside. If anyone needed anything, Eddie was sure to have it in his van! It coined the phrase by the end of the event that "everyone needs an Eddie!". He was also a very versatile sportsman who had a go at every sport going and was just a bit too good at everything too!
 
Day one was our longest day and because of the volume of athletes in the area on that day it was also the busiest. The speed cage was also one of the most popular attractions at the SZ as myself and Jen didn't stop all day - there was a continuous buzz around the cage from the moment it was setup until the end. With over 500 people using the cage on that day, we had outperformed Wheelchair Basketball by over 200 people due part to the inclusive nature and ease of use of the cage.
 
In terms of the Athletes, it proved to me that being a good sportsperson is more a frame of mind than something genetic. The athletes had a determination to succeed and better themselves after every spike. The athletics teams had the biggest downtime either before or after competing and they also had the more natural transferable skills that lent themselves to volleyball too. We had the Gold, Silver and Bronze medallist Hammer throwers for boys and girls at one point take over the cage - They had great power and Kate the Gold medallist had the joint highest Girls spike for the weekend with 41.7mph (she tied with a Scottish Javelin athlete called Ellie who was seriously considering taking up volleyball when she got back to Ayreshire). The boys were hitting the high 50s but it wasn't the fastest spike of the day. That honour went to a high Jumper called Max from Leeds. He casually walked up and after 3 attempts clocked 60.6mph! It was the first time I had seen a 60+ score and I've used the cage on a number of occasions before. Suffice to say, I was dumbstruck by it and he was the talk of SZ for the whole weekend. What struck me most was his demeanour. He was just a lovely guy...... who could hit the ball really hard! His roommate, Josh competed in the javelin and he was the last to leave on Friday as he refused to be beaten by his roommate. He got close with a 59.7 but the record still stands. Max came back about 3 or 4 times in the day to see if anyone had got close to his record and would prove it wasn't a fluke by having a go at breaking it himself.
 
We had a lot of the locals schools in attendance on the Friday too as well as a lot of SGO's with their representative volunteers from all over the country. We awarded Go Spike balls to schools which were most enthistic in the hope of kickstarting volleyball at their school. One such school was Kingshill in Cirencester in which a number of the students had an impromptu spike off . The same happened with Plymouth SSP which had 3 schools local to myself all wanting to start a volleyball program when they returned. I was overjoyed to see both schools at the Girls Final on the Sunday, as they were selected to volunteer for the volleyball event at the Sugden Centre for the remainder of the weekend including for the medal presentations. 
 
The following days were much quieter as most of the athletes were in competitive action and there was a lot less local traffic aside from a lot of Manchester City fans detouring from the store or from the Stadium Tours. We did get to do a bit of celebrity spotting with Baroness Sue Campbell, YST's CEO Ali Oliver and YST ambassador Jason Gardener. Jason was very enthusiastic and showed his competitive side with his colleagues - his run up was something to behold, especially considering he had on some dapper brogues rather than his running spikes!