Chinery pleased with U18 women's progress after seventh place finish in Portugal

The squad played in the multi-nation Cascais Volley Cup, reaching the quarter-finals and eventually finishing in seventh place. 

And while they would obviously have loved to have got through to the Last 4 and beyond, Chinery, who also coaches Essex Rebels in the MAAREE Women's Super League, saw the players react well to the goals that were set them.  

“I’m incredibly pleased with the progress this group made over the course of the week,” he said. 

“Bringing together a squad that had never trained or competed as a unit before always presents a unique challenge, particularly when you’re asking them to compete an age group above themselves against club teams who have spent an entire season developing established relationships and systems. 

“Rather than trying to do everything, we arrived with three clear performance priorities that reflected the identity we wanted to build. 

“The athletes embraced those ideas wholeheartedly and executed them with real commitment, adaptability and courage. That gave us a strong foundation to build upon, regardless of the results.” 

England played six games in all, the first three in Group C, where they won two and lost one of their three matches. 

After opening up with a 2-1 victory over GDU Erieirense (21-13, 17-21, 15-14), they lost to GD Estreito A 2-1 (21-17,19-21, 15-12) but then got the better of EMB Oliveira de Azemeis 3-0 (21-14, 21-13, 15-7). 

That moved the team through to the quarters by finishing second in their group behind the eventual tournament winners, where they were edged out 2-1 by Metrikamedia EEC. 

Their further placement matches brought contrasting fortunes as a 2-1 reversal against AD Penafiel was followed by another 2-1 success over GDU Erieirense. 

Chinery added: “Perhaps even more valuable than what happened on the court was what happened away from it. 

“Shared experiences, challenges and successes accelerated the development of genuine connections within the group, laying the foundations of the culture we want this programme to embody.

“The players represented England with infectious energy, professionalism and pride throughout the week, and I hope they’ll look back on this tournament not only as an important step in their volleyball development, but as the beginning of something genuinely special.” 

Find out more about the National Teams programmes by clicking here. 

Images by @cvphotos.pt