17/08/10 - Volleyball England announced the KO Cup draws today and Docklands now know that they will face either Canterbury City or Brentwood Estonians in the 2nd round. The winner of that tie, played at Docklands' home venue, will travel to South Birmingham, Newcastle Staffs 2, Willesden Men or Sussex Dolphins in round three. If Docklands get through those two matches they will be rewarded with a home quarter final probably against Coventry & Warwick Riga or Cambridge.

Meanwhile, Swiss Cottage will be at home against New Forest in round 2. They will also be at home in the third round against Team Bath, Canterbury City or IMKA London.

02/08/10 - Docklands legend Boris Halatchev and his wife Gergana said goodbye tonight with a few drinks with the team. The club will obviously be sad to see them go but wish them well back in their native Bulgaria. The night also saw the first appearance at a club social of Martin and Kate's new daughter Sophie. Click here for the photos.

25/07/10 - Docklands reached their 5th Whitefield final this weekend but were just edged out by Team Northumbria (formerly Middlesbrough College) 3-1. Docklands' squad was down to the bare bones with only seven all weekend. The squad contained four regular Docklands players (Di Bella, Cottignoli, Omylski and captain Senatore) and was boosted by three guests; Antonio Codrington, Rafael Ferro and Christian Perri.

Docklands started slowly on Saturday with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Belgain side Eisden. They picked up in the second match against Team Northumbria but still lost 2-1. However, Docklands continued their improvement to defeat the University of Birmingham 2-0. Crucially, the second set was won 25-13 so when second place in the pool was decided on points, that set proved to be the clincher. This set up a semi final with Malory.

Docklands arrived at Bath SC at 9am Sunday morning to find the surprising sight of Malory already warming up. However, the early start did not pay off as Docklands raced into a 5-0 lead in set one. They maintained their advantage to take the first set 25-20 but found themselves down early in the second set. However, they stuck in and slowly clawed their way back into the set. Despite this Malory had a couple of set points, one of which they thought they'd won until a late touch was called. A Malory error gave the advantage back to Docklands and they took the match at the second attempt, winning the set 29-27.

After the long wait, Docklands started very slowly and Andy Sinclair's Team Northumbria took full advantage, winning the first two sets 25-18. Docklands' small squad dug deep to battle their way to a 25-23 third set win, at last giving the large crowd a proper match to watch. TN took a five point lead in set four but Docklands didn't give up and earned a set point at 25-24. Unfortunately they couldn't take it and TN eventually won the fourth set 28-26.

23/06/10 - Martin Blake became a father last Saturday and played a larger part in the delivery than he had expected. Sophie was born at 2.10am on Saturday morning, weighing in at 6 pounds. Kate and Sophie are fine despite Martin having to act as an emergency midwife.

Well done Kate and Martin!

02/06/10 - Two of Docklands' Italian players took time out from their busy schedules to try their hand at football punditry. Local newspaper Newham Recorder asked a number of local sporting stars to give their views on the forthcoming World Cup. Matteo Cottignoli and Daniele Di Bella's thoughts can be read here.

25/05/10 - It was announced at Docklands' AGM last night that coach Ian Legrand is to take a break from coaching the club. In the lead up to the 2012 Paralympics Ian, quite rightly, will be focusing all his efforts on coaching the GB Men's Sitting team.

The club took the opportunity last night to give their thanks for all Ian's efforts over the last 15 years. He was instrumental in the club establishing itself as a major force in Men's volleyball in England and the club's four national titles are due in large part to him. The club wishes him well with the sitting team and look forward to seeing him at a Docklands match very soon.

18/04/10 - Docklands held their second joint end of the season awards night with Swiss Cottage last night. Amongst the awards handed out were:

Boris Halatchev - Best Blocker
Riccardo Senatore - Worst end to a match/season
Andy Vincett - The Glynn Archibald award for being carded while on the bench
Danny Primus - Transport Selection
Matt Butterworth - Taking Care of Gizness
Cris Madeddu - Lifetime achievement award

Later - as Mohammed Sliti could not attend the awards night he was presented with his Players' Player of the year award at the club's AGM. Other awards presented at the AGM were:

Alessandro Galli - Best Model
Matteo Cottignoli - Ever Present
Mohammed Sliti - Best Server and Best Scorer
Slawomir Omylski - Best debut

Click here for some photos from the evening.

11/04/10 - Docklands legend Boris Halatchev played his final match for the club on Saturday. Boris and Gergana will return to Bulgaria in the summer with their expanding family. After 128 appearances and seven seasons with Docklands Boris will be sorely missed. After the match he was presented with his own Black Knight (Boris is pictured right after receiving it). He ended his career with 15 Black Knight wins, level at the top of the table with fellow legend Albrecht Glitz (who despite reports to the contrary will not, unfortunately, be returning to Docklands' squad).

The club wish Boris and Gergana well for the future and hope to see them again soon.

27/02/10 - Swiss Cottage's defence of their KO Cup title came to an end today against Leeds Carnegie (24-26, 21-25, 22-25). Danny Primus' side put up a valiant effort against a strong Carnegie side who also won the Student Cup two weeks ago. Carnegie will now face Polonia Ladies in the final.

Polonia men produced the shock of the weekend when they came back from 2-1 down to defeat defending champions Sheffield 15-10 in the fifth set. Malory defeated Newcastle Staffs in the other semi final to set up an all London final at Crystal Palace on 24th April.

07/02/10 - Swiss Cottage have made it through to the semi finals of the KO cup for the third year in a row. The defending champions saw off Ashcombe Dorking 3-0 yesterday to set up a semi final against Leeds Carnegie. Although Carnegie are in Div 3 North they will be tough opponents - they've so far won all their 13 league and 4 cup matches without dropping a set. If Swiss win they will face either Polonia or Tameside in the final at Crystal Palace on 24th April.

Meanwhile, Docklands' conquerors Polonia will take on Sheffield in the semi finals while Malory face Newcastle Staffs in the other last four tie. All four semi finals are being held at Volleyball England's Kettering Training Centre on Saturday 27th February.

19/01/10 - It has been confirmed that Docklands' next opponents in the KO Cup will be Polonia after they beat East Midlands Lions 3-0 in the third round last night. The quarter final will take place at St Benedicts School on Saturday 6th February.

It has also been announced that the Cup Final will be staged at Crystal Palace for the first time in nearly 20 years - an added incentive for both Docklands and Polonia to appear in a London based final on the 24th April.

29/12/09 - On Saturday 12th December Docklands held their Christmas party with Swiss Cottage again. The venue was Bloomsbury Lanes, a combination of ten-pin bowling, American diner and karaoke bar.

Click here to see some photos from the evening festivities.

16/11/09 - Docklands now know who they will face in the 3rd round of the KO Cup in January after New Forest beat non-league Canterbury City 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-20). New Forest play in NVL 3 West and are currently top the league after six wins from six games. The only Men's Division 1 side to loose in the 2nd round were City of Bristol who lost to Wessex in five sets.

Meanwhile, Swiss Cottage despatched SGTV Solent Ladies in three sets to set up a 3rd round tie with Team Bath.

10/11/09 - Docklands have effectively been given a bye into the 3rd round of the KO Cup after Plymouth Activate forfeited their match. Plymouth have been hit by a number of injuries and have recently also had to forfeit two league matches. Therefore, Docklands will now start their cup campaign in the New Year when they will face either New Forest or Canterbury City at Bacon's College on 9th January.

Meanwhile, Swiss Cottage take on SGTV Solent Ladies on Saturday as they begin the defence of their KO Cup title.

01/11/09 - Andy Vincett completed his third New York Marathon today in a time of 3 hours, 28 minutes and 42 seconds. His target of breaking the 3.5 hour mark was achieved at his third attempt and he can now return to the UK a happy man! So far he has raised $3,480 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (New York City Chapter). You can still donate to Andy's final amount by clicking here. Well done Andy!

09/10/09 - Mohammed Sliti is making good progress after dislocating a finger in training this week. He was hit by Riccardo Senatore during a blocking drill and had to spend several hours in A&E before being treated. He was already due to miss the next three matches but is hoping to be fit again for Docklands' trip to Newcastle Staffs on 24th October.

If you would like to see his x-rays please click here.

05/10/09 - Docklands now know who they will face in the 2nd round of this season's KO Cup. Plymouth Activate (NVL Div 2) beat Wiltshire Mavericks (NVL Div 3W) in the 1st round (25-22, 25-22, 25-23). This was Plymouth's first win of the season after defeats against Richmond and London Knights.

The match will at Bacon's College on Saturday 14th November. The winner of that match will play at home against New Forest or Canterbury City in the New Year.

12/09/09 - With the start of the new season almost upon us here is a brief introduction of Docklands' new players:

Matteo Cottignoli - started training with Docklands back in February, just missing out on the registration deadline for last season. The Italian has proved to be a solid libero and will look to build on a promising pre-season as he makes his debut this Saturday. Matteo is a physio which always comes in handy when he's off court.

Alex Chevau - following in the foot steps of Docklands' previous French setter Chris Penne, Alex is a fiery competitor who demands equal amounts of passion from his team mates. A landscape gardener by day he will be hoping to drive Docklands onto success this year.

Chris Christoforidis - the veteran Greek power hitter has impressed coach Ian Legrand in pre-season training and is hoping to use his experience throughout the season. Chris works for London 2012 as Lead Venue Planner.

Slawomir Omylski - trained with Docklands for all of last season and since switching to the middle has forced his way into Legrand's squad.

Click on the player photos for profiles.

Matteo & Alex

Chris & Slawomir

11/09/09 - On the eve of the new season, Volleyball England announced today that the NVL will be restructured to try and create more competitive matches and therefore a more marketable product to help increase the profile of the sport in this country. The main change is the reduction in size of the top division to eight teams and the re-branding of the division (working title is the Super 8s). The restructure will also see the current Division 2 drop to ten teams (from 12), whilst remaining as a national league and being renamed Division 1. Below that the new Division 2 becomes a regional league split into North and South with more regional leagues underneath to form a development pyramid.

Andy Hopper, who sits on the NVL Strategy Group, said, "We [Docklands] have been lobbying for a restructure for a number of years and this new format gives the NVL a great chance to re-invent itself after a number of years of stagnation. It should make the top league more competitive with no easy matches and keep it interesting right to the end of the season at both ends of the table."

The new structure will start from the 2010-11 season so this year there will be a different format for relegation/promotion between the various leagues. Division 1 will still see two teams automatically relegated whilst 8th place in Division 1 will play-off against the winner of Division 2 to decide the final place in the Super 8s. It is all to play for so please come and support Docklands as they start their NVL campaign at St Benedicts this Saturday.

09/09/09 - Today it was announced formally that Ian Legrand has been appointed the Great Britain Men's Sitting Volleyball Head Coach. Ian has been coaching the squad for the last few weeks as they prepare for the European Championships in Poland, starting on the 21st September. He said, "We are all very excited by the changes within Sitting Volleyball. With the 2012 Paralympics fast approaching we are building a great set up to be potential medal contenders. I'm pleased to say that the future is looking bright". Ian is hoping to combine his two roles with GB and Docklands but the Euros will mean he misses the first three matches of the NVL season.

Congratulations to Ian and good luck with this exciting new opportunity. Click here for more info about GB Sitting Volleyball.

11/08/09 - Docklands now know who they will face in this season's KO Cup. The draw pitches them against either Plymouth Activate (NVL Div 2) or Wiltshire Mavericks (NVL Div 3W) in round 2 at Bacon's College on Saturday 14th November. A win would give Docklands another home tie against either KS Osemka, New Forest, SGTV Solent 2 or Canterbury City in the New Year. If the other matches go according to seeding, Docklands would face Polonia in the quarter finals. If Docklands got through that tough challenge they would probably face either Sheffield or London Lynx in the semi final. Click here for Docklands' full fixture list.

Meanwhile, Danny Primus' Swiss Cottage begin the defence of their KO Cup title against either Sussex Dolphins or Solent Ladies. They are seeded to face either Coventry Riga or the team they beat in last season's final, the University of Birmingham (formerly City of Wolverhampton), in the semi finals.

Be sure to come and support both Docklands and Swiss as they begin their quest to win the cup again on the 14th November.

27/07/09 - Docklands have won Volleyball England's Club Media/Promotion award at the annual Volunteer Awards. The ceremony held for the first time during the Whitefield tournament in Bath rewarded many of English Volleyball's volunteers in eleven categories. Docklands were joint winners with Richmond who also won the Club Of The Year award.

Earlier in the day Docklands defeated Richmond's mens team in the pool stages of the Men's Premier Division. They also beat the England Juniors and United Nations whilst they suffered narrow defeats against Malory and Newcastle Staffs. These results set up a semi final against Staffs on Sunday morning. After winning the first set 25-22, Docklands saved three set points in the second set before succumbing 26-24. They gave up an early lead in the deciding set and although they recovered to tie the scores at 13-13 they couldn't manage to finish off the match and lost 15-13. Docklands went on to win the Plate competition whilst Staffs lost 3-1 in the final to Malory.

Click here for some videos from the weekend (thanks Eileen!).

07/06/09 - Docklands' league fixtures for next season have been confirmed and they will start with two tough away matches before hosting the current league and cup champions Sheffield. Docklands travel to Polonia on the opening day of the season (12th Sept) and then to Warwick Riga the following week. Docklands have begun their season against Polonia on four occasions and will be hoping to add to their only opening day victory against the West London side in 2004.

For the full fixture list click here.

26/05/09 - Ex-Docklands star Cyril Kubr tied the knot with Simone yesterday with another Docklands old boy helping the happy couple celebrate their big day. The ceremony took place in the afternoon and was followed by a reception on the shores of Lake Zürich. Nik Ruh represented Docklands on the day with girlfriend Kathleen and her sister Maddy. The club wishes Cyril and Simone all the best for their life together.

Click here for more photos.

26/04/09 - Docklands and Swiss Cottage held their first joint awards night yesterday at the Old Crown Inn. During a well attended event all of Docklands' and Swiss Cottage's stars were rewarded with exclusive certificates to mark their individual achievements last season.

For Docklands, captain Alexis Blair dominated the playing awards winning 3 of the 4 awards based on match stats. Additionally he picked up the award for most Black Knight wins. Also for the first time Docklands' players voted for their Players' Player award and it was no surprise that Blair was recognized by his peers for his performances this season. The full list of awards is below. Click here for more photos.

Wayne Davies - Most NVL MVP awards
Mark Hitchcock - Best serving substitute
Matteo Cottignoli - Best physio
Atanas Apostolov - Most number of (unnecessary) press ups completed after training
Riccardo Senatore - Punctuality Award
Wayne Davies - Best line judge
Martin Blake - Best traveller
Mohammed Sliti - Best player called Sliti
Yassir Sliti - Second best player called Sliti (received by Mohammed on behalf of his brother)
Danny Primus - Coach of the year
Matt Mills - Best junior player (received at Docklands' AGM as the awards night was after his bed time)
Marc Schaepertoens - Best Defender
Boris Halatchev - Best Blocker
Alexis Blair - Best Server
Alexis Blair - Best Receiver
Alexis Blair - Best Attacker
Alexis Blair - Most Black Knight Wins
Alexis Blair - Player's Player

20/04/09 - Ex-Docklands star Francesco Riginelli has won the New South Wales beach volleyball competition at the first attempt. After moving to Manly with his girlfriend Alice De Innocentiis last summer he has trained relentlessly to recapture his beach form. He won two of the first eight tournaments and picked up two runners up prizes. A delighted Frank said, "Unfortunately this year there was no national tour, they did just the Masters and I came 13th out of 36. As a new guy I was seeded 36th so it was tough. But I'm very happy with my NSW award." Alice also came 6th in the women's competition. Click on Frank for more photos. You can see more details of his results here www.nbva.org.au.

19/04/09 - Matt Mills won the MVP award as he led Boswells School to their fifth national title in the under 18 Men's final in Sheffield today. Together with Docklands training players Luke French (Nathan French's younger brother) and Andy Saward, Boswells beat Wessex 3-1 in the last final of the weekend at Ponds Forge. Mills said, "I got the MVP but played like a muppet, oh well".

Nathan was a proud spectator as he watched his brother win. He was sporting a cast on his left arm after a freak training accident saw him break his arm while doing box jumps. He has just signed his first professional contract with Tenerife Sur and hopes to be fit for pre-season training at the end of the summer.

18/04/09 - Danny Primus' Swiss Cottage side powered their way to a league and cup double today when they despatched City of Wolverhampton in the KO Cup Final. After winning their maiden Div 1 title three weeks ago, they made quick work of their opponents in the first two sets winning to 15 and 13. They made hard work of it in the third set but eventually took the set 27-25. Primus said afterwards, "It may not have been pretty at times, but I don't care. We deserved to win and it makes all the hard work worthwhile."

Sheffield also achieved their first double after they saw off Malory in three sets. Their second cup win in a row was completed in just over an hour with a 25-14 third set win - they had been 16-2 up at the second technical time out. That was Malory's third cup final defeat in a row and with their ladies team also without a trophy this year, it's the first season since 1986 that the club has failed to win one of the four titles on offer.

31/03/09 - After four seasons with Docklands Efe Eruero is leaving the club to move up North again. Before joining Docklands, Efe spent eight years in Sheffield as the perennial student and is now heading back there to work as a management accountant for his old Polytechnic, sorry University (Hallam).

Efe, who turns 30 in May, has been one of Docklands' star performers over the last few years and was a key part of our double winning campaign in 2006-07. He made 55 appearances for Docklands and although injury has limited his court time over the last two seasons he will be sorely missed by all. We wish him, and especially Tara, the best of luck for the future. Cheers FA.

08/03/09 - Swiss Cottage yesterday made their first KO Cup final after a comfortable 3-0 win over Ashcombe in the semi final at Nottingham University. Ashcombe are currently top of Women's Div 2 and had beaten Malory in the quarter final but Swiss made quick work of their young opponents 25-18, 25-15, 25-18. The final is on 18th April at Ponds Forge (Sheffield) when Swiss will face City of Wolverhampton, KO cup winners in 2006. Coach Danny Primus said, "That was a professional performance and exactly what we needed to do. We can now park that and concentrate on our next league match." Indeed, Swiss next face Loughborough Students on 28th March at Bacon's College when a 3-0 win will see them lift their first ever Div 1 title.

Earlier in the day Malory defeated Polonia 3-0 in the first Men's semi final. Sets 1 and 3 both swung Malory's way when coach Jefferson Williams introduced Docklands old boy Andy Omoshebi to serve. Polonia, who beat Docklands 3-2 in the quarter final, didn't seem able to cope with his serve. Malory will face Sheffield who are still aiming for a league and cup double after over-coming Newcastle Staffs in the other semi.

14/02/09 - Docklands' coach Ian Legrand coached his 300th match today against Polonia. He has led Docklands from the very first match back in 1994 and 14 years and 133 days later he has reached this exceptional landmark. Saturday was the 307th Docklands match but as three of those were walkover victories Ian has only missed four matches. Ned Groy, who holds Docklands' all-time appearance record and was also part of Docklands' first ever match, presented Ian with a framed photo montage of images from Ian's career. You can see an enlargement of the frame and some more facts from Ian's Docklands career by clicking on the image on the right.

17/01/09 - Docklands legends Andy Vincett and Martin Blake both reached appearance milestones today in Docklands' win over Sheffield 2. Vincett became the second athlete to reach 200 caps (after Ned Groy) whilst Blake made his 150th appearance.

Click on the photo to enlarge it and see some facts about Vincett's Docklands career.

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