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Tamworth Spartans are committed to giving young people the chance to play volleyball at our Junior Academy. We hold two sessions per week, one for beginners and improvers (school years 7-11) and one for advanced juniors (school years 10-11, sixth form/college students or working young people under 18 years old).
Beginners & Improvers:
These training sessions are run by the Juniors' Head Coach, Marta Ophide. They are geared towards introducing young people to the sport in a safe, fun and friendly environment. The aim is to build basic skills and have the opportunity to put them into practice in game situations.
We also take part in West Midlands-wide JUVO, JUVOTO and JUVOLLE competitions where our players can meet other youngsters learning the game and take part in a fun game-based competition, with the emphasis on building skills and having the opportunity to practice playing volleyball.
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Beginners and improvers training sessions take place at Wilnecote Leisure Centre on Tuesday nights from 19:00 - 20:00 during term-time. All sessions are staffed by qualified coaches who all hold relevant DBS clearances, with a qualified first aider present.
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Advanced:
These training sessions are run by our Club Head Coach, Bob Fordi. They are for players who are aiming to play competitively and want to progress into our senior squads. The aim is to further develop the core skills, building up their ability and knowledge on court, and learning how to apply this in a game. The team from the advanced sessions currently enters and plays in the national Grand Prix Tier 2 series.
This team will also take part in JUVOLLE competitions and local friendly matches against other U18 teams. For those juniors who excel, there will be the opportunity to try out for the representative West Midlands junior squads. Most recently, Dan Ophide starred as the U15 squad's libero in the 2023 championships.
Advanced training sessions take place at Landau Forte on Wednesday evenings from 7pm - 8pm during term-time. All sessions are staffed by qualified coaches who all hold relevant DBS clearances, with a qualified first aider present.
Junior Academy Membership
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Membership to the Junior Academy is £20 per half term. This guarantees you a space at every training session in that half term.
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The Beginners and Improvers session (Tuesday) is currently full. We will review the membership subscriptions at the end of every half term and full term break to see if there are spaces available for new players. All new enquiries will be placed on a waiting list. Entry to the advanced session is at the discretion of the coach.
If you would like to join the Junior Academy, please send the following details to us at junioracademy.tamworth@gmail.com or via our Facebook page .
Name of player
Name of responsible adult
School Year
Volleyball Experience
Contact email address
We look forward to hearing from you!
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All juniors will be able to try out for an adult squad when they, their parents and both Head Coach Bob Fordi and the relevant squad coach agrees it is appropriate, and we have many academy graduates starring in all five of our competitive adult teams.
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Accreditation and safeguarding
Tamworth Spartans is accredited with Volleyball England.
The club's safeguarding policy can be found here. To raise a welfare or safeguarding concern, welfare officer Marta Ophide can be reached at welfare@tamworth-volleyball.com
Meet The Team
Junior development officer
Lauren Fridlington
Advanced juniors coach
Bob Fordi
UKCC Level 2
Head coach & club welfare officer
Marta Ophide
UKCC Level 1
Assistant coach
Kerrie Hunter
Junior coaching team
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