Olympic volleyball judge (From Salisbury Journal)

Olympic volleyball judge

10:08am Friday 3rd August 2012 in News By David Falcke

STAFF Sergeant John Postance from Salisbury, currently serving with Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, has been selected from almost 400 applicants to act as a line judge for the Olympic indoor volleyball at the Earls Court venue.

A keen volleyball player and qualified referee, John has been involved with the sport for years and volunteered for Olympic duties well over a year ago.

“I was very excited when I heard that I was going to be a part of the London 2012 Olympic Games, it was a strange feeling to begin with and then it hit home,”

said Sgt Postance.

“I have been playing volleyball for quite a number of years and qualified as a referee and volunteered for the Olympics. We were tested at a number of national and international events over the last year and whittled down to just 26 of us.”

John will have to be on the ball; it takes just 0.25 seconds for the ball to travel from the net to the baseline. And there is no Hawkeye technology so the line judges have to be accurate every time.

To keep the identity of the judges secret before the matches, there are just numbers assigned to each match and the judges will be told later which number they are so they cannot be approached by teams beforehand.

“You have to keep fit for this,”

John continued. “I play volleyball at least twice a week as well as judging, my last match was Great Britain against Albania.

“Judging at this level is phenomenal, you can’t imagine how exciting it is and how your nerves kick in, but once you start it’s a 100 per cent concentration, if your mind wanders at any time you stand a chance of missing something.”

John is not allowed to mix with any of the Olympic players before or during the Games.

“They are all massive athletes, I was surrounded by the United States team at one game I refereed and I felt small beside them and I am six foot one and they towered over me.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am proud to have been selected.”