The Scotland men’s under-20 volleyball team will be in Arta, Greece, for the European Championship finals starting on Monday.
It is the first time a UK team has qualified for the finals and the prize comes after winning the small countries event in Dublin in March beating San Marino in the final.
This event promises to be a significant step up but Ally Jack, Scottish Volleyball’s High Performance Coach and Coaching Manager says:
“The group have been training hard with five sessions per week and nine days in Poland at their olympic preparation facility.”
The squad will be captained by Ewan Ramsay of City of Edinburgh while another Capital club, NUVOC, who play and train at James Gillespie’s HS provided three players plus former member Cole Turnbull who is now at university in England.
Scotland squad: Ewan Ramsay, captain, Chris Drier, (both City of Edinburgh), Duncan MacDonald (Glasgow Mets), Owen Johnston, Jack Rodger (both South Ayrshire), Adam Brogan, Ming Zheng, Finn Cunningham (all Edinburgh NUVOC), Cole Turnbull (University of Nottingham), Daniel Przybylski (Dundee), Ben Khalifa (Glasgow Caledonia University), Uzair Nabi (Forza Ragazzi), Cailean MacAllister (Volleyball Aberdeen), Ayush GC (University of Edinburgh).
Initial schedule: Monday v Scotland v Greece (7pm), Tuesday v Bulgaria (1.30), Wednesday v Israel (1.30), Friday v Czechia (11.00), Saturday v Spain (11.00), Monday, Sept. 2nd – Italy (1.30), Tuesday, Sept. 3rd v Slovenia (11.00). Play offs to follow with top five teams going forward to next year’s under-21 championship.
All matches are listed on UK time and are available on Hellenic Volleyball Federation YouTube Channel.
Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com
