Brazil is the talkig point of the volleyball world at the moment after the men and women impressively took all the spoils in Rome! For the first time in a long time I have to admit that the last few days have been a welcome break from volleyball, the world championships was a volleyball overload, the kind of which I haven’t experienced in a long time.

Thanks to FIVB web tv I was able to watch coverage every day at work and it was a fantastic experience. There were some great games on show and the Brazilians once again showed their dominance on the sand. All the games can be enjoyed again here

This weekend is going to be all about the indoor action, which is fine by me given the weather predictions for the weekend. I enjoy staying inside and watching volleyball, but it seems as if everytime I plan to hit the court for some action the heavens open up and stop me. It is almost July and I haven’t even had a chance to get a decent sunburn yet, hopefully this will change while I am on my holidays. I have to say I am really looking forward to this week’s “match of the week” though between Germany and Russia. The Russians are one of my favourite teams and have a great amount of quality. I can’t see it being any different this time than it was before. Two 3-0 wins for Russia already against Germany say it all in terms of their advantage over the Germans. The match is viewable here.

Another big event which is on the cards soon is the draw for the CEV Champions League on the 1st of July in Vienna, Austria. With plenty of  “rookies” in the draw I think it looks set to be another great tournament and I cannot wait for it to start and see if the Italian wonder team Trentino can continue their dominance for a fourth year running. There is still a while to go, but the draw is going to put everything in perspective and will allow us to make some early predictions. The big surprise of course is the omission of last season’s bronze winners Dinamo Moscow, they will certainly be missed. I have a sneaky feeling a team like Belchatow may pull something special out of the hat this year, it would be great to see a surprise in the men’s tournament. As much as I enjoy watching Trentino, no one likes a show off, especially one that ALWAYS wins..Perhaps they should be made to play with one hand tied behind their backs to give the rest a chance. Although they would probably still win. The draw was streamed live online last season, as yet nothing has been announced as to whether this will be the case this time out, but it is well worth keeping a eye out on the CEV website for updates.

The mention of the CEV website brings me to my closing topic of “decent volleyball websites”. Unfortunately I cannot put the CEV in this category. It is about as user-friendly as a GPS system without maps ….it isn’t easy to navigate with! Hopefully they will pull their finger out and make use of the wonderful opportunities the internet offers to provide information AND entertainment at the same time and to make going on their website seem like fun, rather than a day out at the library with the most boring person you could imagine, someone like…hmm, I can’t think of a boring example, but any suggestions are welcome at the bottom. My website recommendation of the week is that of the Ces brothers. Boring, is not a word to describe this site. It is not exactly the kind of website I have just said we need, but somehow the funky colours and design give me a nauseating pleasure, the kind of which I cannot describe. I do advise you to not stare at it for too long however, as it may cause hypnosis.  profitez-en!