1
Celine
Haederli
Outside Hitter
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Celine was last season's best 'find'. She was attending a local University on a volleyball scholarship even though they did not actually have a team for her to play for! Celine's arrival strengthened the squad drastically just at a time when injuries were beginning to look like they'd got the better of us, and she settled into the outside position brilliantly. Celine has moved over here from Switzerland, but unlike her country's stereotype, Celine will quite vociferously claim her pronunciation of the French language is better than Fan's!
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Sophie comes from Oldenburg in Germany and has joined Riga for most of this season as she is studying for half a year at Cov Uni. Celine showed up to training all excited after Sophie approached her at the activities fair in September and we've all felt the same enthusiasm ever since! Sophie is a natural linguist and speaks more languages than I've even heard of, putting us pathetic Brits to real shame. She claims it's due to living near the Dutch border, but we all know she actually eats dictionaries! She's been playing volleyball for 10 years now and brought some more strength to Riga's middle position just when we desperately needed it! Sophie brings extra volume to the team through her cheering at all times and heaven forbid we make it to the cup final this year, she's promised to return for it and now it's in writing she can't escape! |
2
Sophie Louen
Middle |
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5
Lisa Purcell
Setter |
Lisa is now in her fifth season for Riga and is well settled in her
specialist role of setter! Now one of the mature members of the team but not
quite up there with the 2 oldies - Jules and Tracy! Travelling from
Loughborough and London she is clocking up some miles like many other
members of the team. In her younger years Lisa played at a regional level
and trained nationally with the Cadets. Previously from Smoke Free
Birmingham she joined Riga from Loughborough where she had played for 5
years.
Lisa is the team's captain and can be contacted on w1captain@rigavolleyball.com
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Michele transferred from Leicester
City after their demise, in September 1999. (Should have done this sooner.)
She played in the team that won promotion from Division Two to Division One. Michele then joined the 2nd team to try and help them win promotion
again. Michele's now trasnferred to the first team for the 2007 season and is enjoying being back in division 1.
Michele is also Riga's General
Secretary the email address for which is generalsecretary@rigavolleyball.com |
6
Michele Peryer
Outside hitter |
7
Fanny
Gueguen
Outside hitter |
This is Fan's second year in a Riga shirt, despite scaring us at the Leeds tournament with a knee injury that had her in hospital, she's back stronger and fitter than ever. Fan is French, but don't hold that against her. She moved over here to enhance her English as she wants to be an international referee in the game once she hangs up her kneepads. Meantime we get to keep her and benefit from her kamikaze style defence when she plays libero and her beach style placing skills when she plays through 4.
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At 29 years of age, Jules is becoming
one of the maturer members of the team (she'll love me for that) She normally
plays libero (that's back court specialist to you and me) and as such is the
only one who gets to choose what colour shirt to wear on court. In recent
appearances Jules has guested as off-setter - her back court hitting has been
awesome! W1secretary@rigavolleyball.com |
8
Julie Bromell
Libero |
9
Anna Meister
Universal |
Anna is Riga's newest recruit, and made a terrific debut to her career against Tameside scoring 10 consecutive points on her serve! Julie is looking forward (!) to practicing passing Anna's serve! Anna is German and over here as an Au Pair. She is a versatile player having also spent a couple of years coaching. |
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Julia joined Riga last season and showed her versatility instantly, starting in every position but setter last year! She is a natural all rounder and demonstrated this by a fantastic beach season this summer, ranked as the 2nd best woman in the country! Julia brings another language to the team as she hails from Germany, having moved over here for University. She was Portsmouth's best tennis player at Uni, so she's skilled at hitting all sorts of balls! |
10
Julia
Werdich
Outside |
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12
Ellie Beattie
Middle |
Ellie, former member of Cardiff
volleyball club, originaly joined the team for the 2006/7 season. During the 2008/9 season she has transferred to the first team. Ellie brings height (!) and strength to
the team with some excellent middle hitting.
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Tracey transferred to Riga last season to strengthen the setting line
up. Her arrival has forced Julie
to give up her reign as the most ‘mature’ player on the team, a title Tracey
is not accepting without a fight. She has brought many things to the team, most notably her excellent
ability to sing children’s songs and her cure to all therapy sessions; the chocolate
game! Tracey had ankle surgery earlier this year and we feared we would be without her for the first half of the season but her rehab has gone really well and we are looking forward to her full return soon!
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14
Tracy
Whitley
Setter
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Juliane hails from Aachen in Germany and is completing the last year of her business studies degree. Her university in Aachen kindly sent her over here to Cov to do it because they knew we could do with another middle player! In between her classes, writing her dissertation and playing volleyball, she's trying to see as much of the country as possible. Good old national league means she can return home having visited the dizzy heights of Dorking and Loughborough! Juliane is 23 and has been playing for about 8 years and will be a great asset to the team this season adding a strong middle attack to the team's armoury. |
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Hannah Tyre, is an ex Mavericks player who has
been the team's best blocker for the last 2 years. She made the middle role her own and has been a dominating force on the net. Hannah, unfortunately, still lives the wrong end of the M5 and has decided to take a break from travelling this season. We are still trying to coax a few games out of her, but the 200 + mile round trip means we won't get the pleasure of her company as much this year.
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Hannah Tyre
Middle Hitter |
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Sally Keates
Middle Hitter |
Sally joined Riga in 2001 and was a major factor in the teams promotion to division 1. She continued to be a dominant force through the middle and was a brilliant captain to the team.
Sally is taking a season off to focus on hockey and to spend more time with her fiancee and less time travelling the country!
She will be helping us out at as many games as we can coax out of her!
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Ketlin hails from Estonia, and moved
up to Riga last season having dominated in National League Div 2. She settled in instantly
and was just establishing a first six place when her body decided to bail on
her. She was out fo rmost of last season with a torn ACL. Unfortunately it has taken her a very long time to get surgery, which means she may well be out for most of this season too. We wish her a speedy recovery! |
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Ketlin
Varkki
Universal
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Chloe has played volleyball for many years, dominating the Northern Irish Beach scene. She played with Riga's Ellie Beattie in the Urban Tour last summer in Belfast and we have been trying to find her ever since. As Chloe is now living in Cardiff, Julia eventually hunted her down and is dragging her accross the country with her twice a week now.
Chloe has represented GB in the indoor squad, although we are relieved she has not gone to sheffield and instead we get the benefit of her experience. Chloe made her debut on 19th Jan '08 and made an instant impression (literally!).
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Chloe Walkingshawi
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Chris Anderson
Coach
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So it's Chris (Kiwi) that has drawn the short straw this year (and probably not so lucky as Damon to escape after a year!). Chris can becontacted at:
W1coach@rigavolleyball.com
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Tom is assisting Chris this season in helping the women's 1 team to work its way up the divisioin 1 table. |
Tom Young
Assistant Coach |