My IRB Experience 2023 – Rosie Miller

Each year we ask a number of our young athletes to report back on their experience, today we focus on Rosie Miller, who was selected to represent the SW at this summer’s Inter Regional Beach Championships.

Freya Astbury (Left) & Rosie Miller (Right)

I first played beach volleyball just after my GCES roughly a year ago. I was honoured to be chosen to play as part of the SW squad for the Inter Regional Beach Championships in July. I had an amazing weekend and learnt new skills and tactics throughout the tournament.

I played with Freya who had more experience than me and we quickly worked out how to play as a team. I learnt a lot from Freya and I was lucky to have a partner with such patience because I’m so new to the sport. We didn’t win any games but we scored some great points, I was particularly proud of a solid block I played against one of the better teams.

I learnt that there are many parts of beach volleyball that I can develop and improve on with time and training. Something that I won’t forget is seeing the wide range of experienced players, the techniques they use and their teams tactics. Some of the skills they demonstrated that I would like to work on include perfectly executed jump float serves, cut spikes and some incredible dives.

The Cardiff Beach centre was a great place to play because there were so many matches to watch In a relatively small area and the pavilion provided great protection from the torrential rain shower that hit us on the second day. It was fun to spend the weekend with players my age and to get to see what Cardiff Mets accommodation was like.

All in all it was an amazing experience. I came away motivated and inspired to become a much better volleyball player. I would like to thank all the coaches and volunteers who made the tournament possible for us to enjoy and special thanks to Torexe for sponsoring me.

Rosie Miller