When the dust has settled

Finally when the dust has settled Su Ragazzi VC are….Champions!

The season’s finale was played out in front of a happy and noisy crowd at Coatbridge HS on Sunday 29th April. The first team men played and won two top matches, and the men II handsomely defeated a strong and focussed City of Edinburgh II. Our boys had to win 2 sets to secure the Division I championship. They did this in the third set and threatened to go crazy at the prospect of playing in the Premier Division next season. They then realised they had to finish the match they were in and did so with a hint of panache!

Our first team men played and won against South Ayrshire, before again facing City of Edinburgh. The first set we won 25-14, and the only comment that was made was “Where was Ben?” The Edinburgh troops played well and managed to capture a set, but the result was never in any doubt, unlike last week’s Cup Final, and we won this very last match 3-1.

The CEO of Scottish Volleyball Margaret Ann Fleming was on hand to present medals and trophies, and in a terrific show of sportsmanship the City of Edinburgh players and staff stayed to applaud the SVL Champions.

The Su Ragazzi women’s teams were also there on Sunday 29th and their presence reminded everyone that first and foremost Su Ragazzi is all about the people who populate the Club. People like Marion McReady who arrived with the biggest cake you have ever seen; people like Kim and Colin Mackenzie who look after the Macs’ Café; people like Jen Downs who managed to keep everyone on track through the chaos of the postponed matches; people like Mike McConville who does loads of jobs with a smile; people like Kirsty McLean who organises the officiating schedule and never gets flustered; people like Carly Murray who is tireless in her efforts to keep everything in the club running smoothly and at the same time finds the time to play with excellence; people like James Orr, like Raveen Gill, like Simone Barlocco, like Priya Gill who happily give up their time to work with the juniors; people like Ally Galloway and Jillian Barton who are always willing to step in and help with coaching the senor players; people like Callum Stuart who keeps coming up with clever fund raising events, and finally people like the team captains and their players, all of them, who help in so many different ways in addition to playing with excellence and winning!

So the final count for the season is that the Club entered 9 competitions and won 7 of them. The two that we didn’t win we were either finalists or semi-finalists. We played 81 matches and won 66 and we had a whole series of days when all four of our teams played and won…..that’s not a bad record.

On a final note it turns out that we are not finished yet. On May 12th the Su II women have a play-off match, the winner of which will get promoted to the Premier Division. Is that too much to hope for – the Club having two teams in each of the Premier divisions? That’s a big ask of Kelsie and her players……..but we are good at answering the tough questions!

Well done to everyone who has been involved with this winning season and ‘Come-on the Su!’