Sporting challenge for our man in the sand

9:50pm Thursday 28th August 2008

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Watch Richard attempt to play volleyball above

We asked readers of The Argus to put intrepid reporter Richard Gurner to the test by sending him on a series of missions to see just how durable the human body can be. Following his spell in the ring with cagefighter Sol Gilbert, Richard was invited to try his hand at volleyball at the Nivea Sun Yellowave for the latest Challenge Gurner.

Volleyball is not really a challenge, said several members of The Argus’s very own beach volleyball team when I announced my latest challenge.

“It is if you’ve never played it,” I replied. “I’ll give it a go.”

Buoyed full of confidence that if my colleagues could roll about in the sand with a ball then I could, I headed to Brighton’s Nivea Sun Yellowave in Madeira Drive, where the 2008 Junior World Championships will be held next week.

I was greeted by Katie Mintram, the director of the Yellowave centre and a former top ten ranking player on the British Grand Prix beach volleyball circuit.

She said: “We’ve got the first ever beach volleyball championships coming up.

“These will be the best players in the world in this age category.

These are the players who you want to watch ready for the Olympics in 2012.

They’ve got four years to get super good and we’re going to see them here.”

Before unleashing me in a game on the court, which has been transformed into a 2,000- seat arena for the championships, Katie told me the basic moves of the game.

First to be demonstrated was the dig – a deceptively simple looking move where a player’s arms are outstretched in front of them, hands joined and with the knees power upwards to hit the ball.

No problem. I sent a few balls in the wrong direction but I thought it wasn’t a bad start.

Following this was the set, where the ball is flicked in the air using just the fingertips, and then finally the spike – where the ball is thumped at the opposition using one hand.

I told Katie the lesson was bringing back memories of PE class many years ago and my confidence levels were soon up ready for a game with several of the staff at the centre.

This is where it should have all come together. Unfortunately it all fell apart.

My digs were certainly not good enough to get any team out of a hole and my spikes were less than sharp.

“You’ve done pretty well,” said Katie, ignoring the fact that she had mouthed that I was rubbish to Argus photographer Sam Stephenson.

“Maybe we’ll see you again here soon.”

The beach volleyball 2008 Junior World Championship will be held at the Yellowave Beach Sports Complex from September 3 to 7. The event will be shown on Channel Four but tickets are available from brightoncentre.co.uk or 01273 672222.