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Super League round 7 preview - Olympian Hunter relishing maiden Super League Live event
The downtime experienced by all during the Covid-19 Pandemic, coupled with the birth of his daughter just a few months before, made the former Wessex youngster consider his future in the sport, and it seemed at that point he may have played his last serious game.
But, after a four-year break, Dorset-based Hunter, now 34, is back on court and throwing his body around as an energetic and streetwise libero.
In the end, he was tempted back into the fold by a former coach in Carol Gordon and long-time volleyball friend in Jefferson Williams, who pitched a return to action at Malory UEL to replace Chester Searle, who has moved north for work reasons, and now plays for Stockport.
Feeling he still had something to offer, Dan decided to give it a go – and, so far at least, is delighted that he did, even if it is now that much harder to fulfil his commitments to his new team with the extra family and work commitments he has as a software engineer.
“My daughter was six months old going into Covid, so it seemed like the right time to draw a line, especially because Wessex had pulled their teams out of the Super League,” he said.
“But now my daughter has started school this year and I wanted to see if I could still play the sport to a high level.
“I now work in London one or two days a week and I spoke to Carol and Jeff, who are coaching Malory, in terms of volleyball. They asked me what I was doing and if I would consider coming along in the summer.
“I decided I would go along and see, try to enjoy it and not put too much pressure on myself, but I have found it to be a very good environment to play in, where it’s a great training group with a lot of players willing and wanting to work hard.
“We are all getting to know each other, and getting more and more comfortable with each other, and that definitely helps when it comes to the games.
“As a libero, I’ve not had the impact on the knees the same as players in other positions, so that has definitely helped a bit in terms of extending my career!”
Dan’s journey into the sport began when Wessex’s Lynn Allen came into his school, Haymoor Middle School (as was) in Poole, to run a session.
With an appetite for trying any sport, he went along to give it a go and subsequently joined the South Coast club.
By the time he was ‘13 or 14’, he had already progressed into the England Junior Pathway, playing in both the cadets and juniors.
He said: “I was quite a competitive kid, as were a few of my mates, and we all played football, tennis and golf together.
“When the volleyball opportunity came along, we did that too and all went into Wessex together – we got quite addicted to it.
“I think it’s fair to say I enjoyed it from the start. Then, when I was 15, they announced that London had got the Olympics for 2012 and that then gave me a potential ticket to be there – everything just fell into place.”
And Dan did, indeed, made that a reality. Following on from the England Talent Pathway, he joined the GB Development Programme in Sheffield, put together ahead the volleyball tournament in London, for which the hosts had a guaranteed place.
“Part of me feels so fortunate that I was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of being able to play in an Olympics, something that in volleyball we wouldn’t otherwise have had,” he said.
“I managed to take that chance and made my senior international debut against Australia in 2009 (having played for the juniors previously) and played pretty much every game, playing over 100 times, until 2013. I think the coaches trusted in me and I was proud to have that record.
“I think the most amazing thing about the Olympics itself was being around other sports people who were at the top of their game and going up against the world’s best in volleyball.
“We played some of the top teams in preparation, but at the Olympics it was different because everyone wanted that gold medal, so everyone was in top form, playing their strongest sides and there were no excuses.
“I personally had my best game against Poland and the noise from the crowd was just amazing. It was so special to see how you measured up and what it was like at that level.”
Having played for Coníche Topvolleybal Zwolle (previously Landstede) in the Netherlands in the lead up to the Olympics, Dan returned to Wessex following the conclusion of the Games until Covid intervened.
His last game before the onset of the Pandemic was against Team Sunderland and, in a strange quirk of fate, so was the first game of his return when he played for Malory Eagles UEL against Newcastle Knights (was Sunderland) at Opening Weekend in October.
While some teams have played four, five or even six matches, the Eagles have only contested two matches, meaning it is hard at this point in time for Dan to assess where exactly where the team is at compared to their DYNAMIK Super League rivals.
However, an intense period over the next few weeks, including a double header this weekend, will be a strong indicator of how the team are likely to fare for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign.
Dan said: “We lost our first game at Opening Weekend and then got a good win against Durham and against Staffs in the Cup, but we haven’t been as active yet as some of the other teams.
“We have got a really tough block of games coming up, five or six in quick succession, including both Essex teams, Richmond, London Giants and Stockport, so we will be able to see where we are really are after that.
“It will tip our season one way or another, so we are determined to take advantage of having so many points to play for and put ourselves on the path to finishing inside the top four.”
The team’s second match this weekend, against IBB Polonia, comes during the first-ever Super League Live matchday, being held at Crystal Palace.
It will see the Volleyball England live streaming cameras broadcast two men’s matches back-to-back with Richmond Docklands versus London Giants the other.
Four more Super League Live dates will follow in the coming months, which are bookended by the live streams from Opening Weekend and Final 4, helping to bring top-fight volleyball to a wider audience.
“I think Super League Live is a great concept,” said Dan. “I think we have to showcase the top of the sport for people to show how far they can go and have something to aspire to.
“It’s particularly important for junior players, where there are so many competitions, as well as England, that we show them there is a good reason to keep training hard once they get into the adult ranks.
“There was a huge uptick of interest among juniors wanting to play the sport after Haikyū!! was released, so hopefully this extra coverage can do something similar.
“Not only will it help attract commercial support and partners, but the raising of the standards will help to bring more people into the sport.”
As for their match with Polonia, Dan says Malory will be taking nothing for granted, despite a difficult start for their opponents that has seen them lose their first three matches.
He insists the team who finished top of the regular-season table in 2023-24 will come out all guns blazing and be tough to take on.
Dan said: “You can’t write off anyone in the Super League, least of all Polonia with their track record in recent years and what they have done in the sport.
“Last year they were the top side in the league and only lost in the gold medal match at Final 4 so they have a strong pedigree and we have to go into it knowing just how dangerous they will be.
“Teams can really build form over the course of the season and you have to be in the right form come April, so they have plenty of time to get their season up and running. We have to try to make sure it is not against us where their change in fortune starts.”
Images by FIVB and Nathaniel Macrae
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