Dear Volleyballers
SOVT 2026 – Thanks to All
The carnival that is the Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament (SOVT) rolled onto Perth’s North Inch at the weekend for their annual spectacle of one of sport’s more colourful, fun events in Perth’s Fair City.
And the Fair City it certainly was as the sun streamed onto the North Inch for two consecutive days with sunscreen being the order of the day and pink bodies aplenty.
The 147 teams came from all over the UK and abroad competing in the UK’s most popular outdoor volleyball event of the year.
This year’s tournament was dedicated to the memory of local volleyball player and coach Doug Crockart who devoted over 20 years to the sport from playing at top national league level as well as coaching talented youngsters to national team level as an integral member of the national team men’s coaching programme.
Walkers Shortbread also deserve recognition for their support of the tournament by providing samples of their special Scottish product to each player who participated this year.
Spread over seven divisions of men’s, women’s and mixed competitions, teams started play at 9:30 am on the Saturday morning with the mixed competitions taking up more than half of the total entry.
It is the mixed competition which adds colour and fun to the weekend with their humerous team names along with their fancy-dress costumes. This year the fancy-dress prize went to the team dressed in Harry Potter gear including a stuffed owl.
Numerous local sides from around Tayside and Fife were there and it was fitting that Lewis Crockart, Doug’s son, captained the men’s top league side The Setpranos to this year’s trophy title, especially as the specially engraved glass trophy was presented by none other than his mother Karen.
Now that the dust has literally settled over this year’s spectacular event there will be hundreds of tired, aching, sun-burnt bodies who will return to normal life with multiple memories of a most magnificent volleyball experience, some for the very first time and some for the umpteenth time as tournament regulars. The weekend brings out the best in sport with banter, camaraderie and laughter aplenty.
The small band of local volunteers deserve credit for providing this unique annual local event which brings in much revenue to local businesses as well as bringing people together from many corners of Europe. A large pat on the back to the people of Perth who turn out in numbers to sample the “buzz” that the tournament brings to Perth’s historic North Inch and many thanks to Perthshire Rugby Club for providing shower facilities to competitors over the weekend. With Bell’s Sports Centre now slumbering as an empty shell, it remains a sad shadow of this unique local sport facility which could potentially provide so much for sport and leisure from local to international level competitions over multiple sports.
David Munro
Tournament Director