TeamBath announces top-flight women's volleyball team
21st July 2004TeamBath launches a new high performance training centre for women's volleyball in September and will have a team competing in the top flight of the sport for the first time next season.
Volleyball will become TeamBath's 15th performance sport, with the University of Bath becoming a regional high performance centre for the sport.
TeamBath has merged with the City of Wolverhampton team to form a new side that will play in the English Volleyball Association's National League Division 1 next season. Wolverhampton finished fourth in the table in the 2003/4 season.
Simone Lewis, who manages the Human Performance Centre at the University of Bath and is an England international volleyball player with more than 30 caps to her name, will be a member of the new squad.
England internationals Amy Weemes and Rachel Bragg will also be members of the squad, along with Amanda Glover, who represented Great Britain in beach volleyball at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. All three players will join the HND in Coach Education and Sports Performance at the University of Bath at the beginning of the new academic year.
The presence of a top women's volleyball team in the city will also provide opportunities for young players to have a go at the sport and develop their skills.
Simone Lewis said: "This is an exciting opportunity for us to put volleyball on the map in the region. The University of Bath provides a terrific multi-sports environment for athletes.
"Volleyball players will benefit from the tremendous sports facilities and services at the University of Bath and from the opportunity to train and compete in a multi-sports environment," she added. "It will also be an opportunity for local people to watch this exciting sport at the highest level."
Morph Bowes, who has played for the England and Great Britain men's volleyball team and is a teaching fellow in the Department of Sports Development at the University of Bath, will join Clayton Lucas, the Wolverhampton coach, on the new team's coaching staff.
Volleyball will join 14 other TeamBath performance sports. The existing performance sports are athletics, badminton, basketball, bob-skeleton, bobsleigh, football, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, netball, rugby, swimming, tennis and triathlon.
TeamBath is the collective name for the family of sports activities at the University of Bath, where sports cover a range of activities from 'learn to play' to Olympic champions.