A question of sport:-

Su Ragazzi wins and Glasgow City Corporation busses - you wait and wait for ages, then a whole bunch of them show up at the same time!

Last weekend the Club won three matches on the same day for only the second time in a long season. The Weekend of the 6th and 7th of March we went one better and won six matches on the same weekend! A fantastic achievement, and ridiculous at the same time.

Saturday 6th saw the three teams involved in the last round of league matches. The men II were first up and played NUVOC in Edinburgh. Solid opponents, bucketloads of experience, most of them having spent a career in the first division, was always going to be a tight match. We won 3 : 2 `stealing` the game in the fifth. It had see-sawed back and forth. They won the first set, we won the second. They won the third set, we won the fourth. Both teams battled for the fifth, we emerged with the plaudits. Job done! Callum Johnston and Kevin Curran had lead our team throughout, but the key to success had been the set selections of young Umair Ansar in the fourth and fifth sets, where he encouraged our middle attack to dominate the net.

The City Boys were next. They travelled to the Kingdom of Fife, and dispatched Team Fife in the three quick sets with young Andrew McGregor again starring. Two out of three.

The Fabulous Suettes travelled to Prestwick Academy and faced South Ayrshire in the third match of the day. SA are a talented young team who have not had the rewards this season their commitment deserved. The Suettes won 3 : 1, taking their foot off the gas and losing in the third set, but all in all a successful day.

Sunday 7th March was semi-final day. First up again were the men II, and in a bizarre scheduling twist they travelled back to Firhill High School in Edinburgh to again face Saturday’s opponents NUVOC.  The winning of this tie became even tougher when setter Tomasz Kostek was declared unfit to play a scant two hours before the match, and experienced utility player Dimitris Kosikopoulos who had to call off for personal reasons. We were there early and regrouped in the changing room before the match. The atmosphere in the team meeting was very focussed. The players listened to the match plans, thought about their roles and responsibilities, and warmed up thoroughly. Just before the match start, Team Captain Bobby Jackson took the players into a huddle, and they had a ‘player’s talk’. Whatever was said in that huddle worked. The Su Ragazzi players came out at the start of the match and were on fire. Kevin Curran, and Stuart Haddow were dominant on the outside. Callum Johnston and Radek Kleszewski continued their success in the middle, Umair Ansar carried the responsibilities of running the offence with studied calm, and Captain Bobby Jackson passed and served like a demon.

We won 3 : 0. Dave Stoddart the match official kept a tight lid on proceedings, so the event was only about the quality of the volleyball, and there was lots of that from both teams.  We jumped about for a bit at the end, then headed for the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

At the Kelvin Hall, in match three of the day’s programme, the Fabulous Suettes were facing North Grampian, a very experienced District League team from Inverness. The Suettes were on a hiding to nothing. They were the overwhelming favourites, and all of the sympathy would be with the gallant `Ladies from the North`. The Suettes won 3 – 0, they dominated proceedings, but there was spirited resistance, and batches of very good play from the Northern Opponents. Job Done!

5 out of 6 for the weekend, but the most difficult one to come. The City of Glasgow Ragazzi boys V City of Edinburgh. City of Edinburgh are the dominant team in Scottish Volleyball at this moment. They are unbeaten in all competitions this season. They have already won the Top Teams Cup, and they enter the play offs for the Championship in pole position : in this semi final they were the favourites by a country mile. The City of Glasgow Ragazzi boys have played Edinburgh three times this season already, and lost all three encounters. After the last match which we lost 3 : 1 we had a lock in with the players which had been designed to clear the air to identify the problems to try and find solutions; the focus of the prematch meeting was to encourage the players to recognise that the semi final was an opportunity.

The Su Ragazzi players took the opportunity, and delivered excellence.

The performance was stunning! We won three sets to zero. We dominated the game. We had top drawer performances from every one of our players. In what was an outstanding volleyball match, expertly handled by Barney McDougal and John Swan, we had solutions to all of the games’ problems.

When it was done the players celebrated theie first win this season over their Edinburgh rivals, andgave each other high fives – Job Done! Su Ragazzi Volleyball Club will feature in the men’s and women`s Cup Finals, and in the men`s Plate Final, in the celebration weekend at the end of April – that`s an achievement which rivals anything in the Club’s rich history.

So, where has all this excellence been during the season, in the midst of the dark Winter when we could not buy a winning Saturday? that’s the ‘Question of Sport’ and if you could find the answer and bottle it you could make a fortune!

As a final note to this weekend’s excellence the first team players have dedicated their stunning semi final win to Millie Galloway. Millie was born on Sunday 7th March to Mum Alexis and Club Captain Ally Galloway. Welcome Millie, and everyone`s very best wishes to the delighted parents, and very proud Grandparents John and Helen.