You don’t have to be on a beach in Brazil to play volleyball. In fact you only have to drive to Llandaff College to ‘get your spike on’ and join one of the ‘diff’s most up-and-coming sports sides – Cardiff Volleyball Club.

Volleyball is not a new sport in Cardiff. In 1978 current CVC head coach Steve Marshall played for and helped set-up the Cardiff Volts, before going on to create the Cardiff Ladies in 1979. The Cardiff Tigers, LYC Men’s Volleyball Club and the Cardiff Wildcats are just a few of the sides that have come and gone over the years and it was in early 2014 when Marshall coined the name Cardiff Volleyball Club, marking a new era for Volleyball in the Welsh capital.

CVC have two branches. The first is the Cardiff Falcons, a female side who compete in the South West League. Having trained for a just under a year together, the Falcons have ambitions of reaching the National Volleyball League after a promising first season last year – they finished mid-table in the South Wales league. The international Falcons feature players from Wales, England, Slovakia, Spain, Papa New Guinea, Italy and Norway – to name just a few.

Their second side is the Cardiff Jets. They are also a female side, who ply their trade in the Gloucester Volleyball League – a competition which they cruised to victory in last year, even though it was only their first ever competitive season. The Jets aim to fill the potential space left in the South West League by the Falcons as they seek pastures new in the Nationals.

CVC also have a male contingency who are currently not entered into a league competition. They are regularly training with the view of entering the South West league next year where they will be known as the Cardiff Panthers.

Cardiff Jets Head Coach, Martin Reed, said: “The club is very welcoming. Whether old or young; tall or small; it makes no difference to us. We train, we compete, we win or lose as a team. That is what makes us so special.”

“So what is next? We are attempting to broaden our wings to set up a sitting volleyball team. This will allow those with some physical restraints to train and compete at a different aspect of the game.”

“We want our brand to grow, become huge and why not shoot for the skies. The only restrictions are our own ambitions, and we are very ambitious.”

To find out more about Cardiff Volleyball Club visit: http://www.cardiffvolleyballclub.com or https://www.facebook.com/cardiffvolleyballclub or https://twitter.com/Cardiff_VClub