TAUNTON Junior Volleyball Club member Georgia McGovern capped off a very successful summer with a silver medal representing England Under-19s at the Home Nations Junior Beach Volleyball Championships in Cardiff.

Taunton School student McGovern and her team-mate, Frankie Frize, were unbeaten through the pool matches but lost in a tight final to the other England team.

Earlier in the summer, McGovern captained an invitational team from four countries at the Global Challenge in Pula, Croatia.

Her team were knocked out in the quarter-finals, having beaten the Hungarian national team in the previous round, and McGovern was voted on to the all-star team of the tournament.

She is now looking forward to representing England Under-19s at an international tournament in October, as well as the domestic season for Taunton and also Bristol Volleyball Club in the National Super League.

*** FOLLOWING a successful 2018-19 season, Taunton Junior Volleyball Club’s preparations for the upcoming campaign included a week-long tour to Slovenia.

The team, led by coach Jurek Jankowski, trained in the Slovenian Olympic Training Centre, along with football teams from Germany, the Austrian ski team and Slovenian tennis prodigies.

The centre contained constant reminders of Slovenian and Yugoslav Olympic success, with excellent sporting facilities.

Two matches saw the Taunton team record a narrow loss against a very good (and tall!) Bled Volleyball club (4-3), and a comprehensive victory against Jesenice Volleyball Club, with a much improved performance.

Team bonding exercises included swimming in ice-cold glacier lakes, zip-lining down the longest natural ski-jump slope in the world and hiking to waterfalls in the beautiful Julian Alps.

A successful trip both on and off the court was ideal pre-season conditioning for a busy upcoming season in both regional and national competitions.

Taunton are always looking for new players; anyone interested can get in touch via facebook.com/tauntonJVC or twitter.com/VBTaunton.