SOVT 2010: A weekend full of sweat, mud and sport.

The last weekend in May was an exciting one for Sportmeets with two interesting sporting events at which we attended, too! So let me tell you what it was like at the big volleyball event in Scotland.

The Perth tournament was great as it's always been: excellent organization, lots of teams from all over the place, a lot of sun and even more rain, crazy team names and costumes, but also some really good volleyball action and loads of fun on and off the courts.

It was good to see some friends and teams from previous years coming back, too. Especially teams with names like the 'Italian Leather Sofas' or the 'Juicy Lucy's' are quite easy to remember! And the guys playing in an assortment of superhero costumes were probably the highlight of this year...perhaps along with the Spartans, half-naked and complete with spears and helmets.

My team, the Skillful foreigners, was a bit more conventional as to the name and the attire, but then, we like to take volleyball a bit more seriously and a costume of, say, Spiderman does not exactly add to one's performance (although I have to admit that it keeps mud away when diving for the ball).

There were some pretty decent teams in the men's division 1, indeed, and the ocassional downpour or wind gusts made it a whole different experience than your standard indoor match. On the whole we can be satisfied. We only lost against one team - twice. Disguised as a bunch of middle-aged Czechs on a weekend trip to Scotland, these guys went on to become unbeaten winners of the tournament. Congrats to team Pribram CZ! And for us it was once again the 2nd place and a nice bottle of whisky - a very Scottish prize!

Of course, Perth tournament was a great place to meet people that play sports and talk to them about Sportmeets. I was excited to tell people about it and also curious about what the opinions of so many volleyball players would be. So, with my camping hat on and a sign up sheet in hand, I introduced Sportmeets to over 30 teams from across Scotland - this is as much grassroots as awareness-raising can possibly be! And, for those who missed the pleasure to chat with me, we had several shiny Sportmeets posters hanging in some of the most frequented places (like the Aberdeen Angus steak & burger stand!). A big thanks to the SOVT committee for their help with this.

Overall, I am really happy that our idea of a website to help anyone find the right people to sport with and manage sports groups without the hassle has received a big thumb-up from all the teams I spoke with. We are therefore looking forward to welcoming some new volleyball teams among the Sportmeets community. And as for Perth, I'm sure I'll be back next year again! And I hope my team will be one of many that got organized for the weekend on Sportmeets.