THE inaugural Ian Berry Volleyball Tournament has been hailed a resounding success by the competition's organisers.

Teams from all over the North-East took part in the event held at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington and plans are already underway to make it an annual contest.

The mixed league and knock-out format was split into three tiers: The North-East Volleyball Association (NEVA) Elite Cup, Open Cup, and Ladies Cup.

The NEVA Elite Cup was open to all sides who competed in the National Volleyball League. Any team could take part in the Open Cup competition and the Ladies Cup was exclusively for women and girls.

In the NEVA Elite Cup, five sides took part, with first and second placed teams in the league round-robin format playing each other in the final.

Remarkably, nothing could split Nunthorpe-Middlesbrough Mavericks and Haughton in their league clash as they finished all square at 26-26. It was just as tight in the final but Haughton eventually took the honours by a single point 27-26.

In the Open Cup, Grangefield enjoyed a 28-23 triumph over Haughton after both sides came through their respective group formats and a semi-final. Grangefield beat Tynedale 27-21 in their semi-final; whereas Haughton enjoyed a more comfortable passage to the final by beating South Tyneside 31-18.

Haughton took the Ladies crown when they came top of the group with Hebburn finishing runners up. And an extra trophy, Spirit of the Tournament, was awarded to South Tyneside.

NEVA were the competition's organisers and their press officer Caroline Little revealed the event was a tribute to Ian Berry who has been a major catalyst in promoting the sport in the North-East.

Berry last year received the overall Local Heroes Award for his dedication over 25 years in establishing junior volleyball in the region "It was in honour of Ian Berry and it's a celebration day which will be held annually, " said Little. "All of Ian's family were there and he presented all the awards and gave another trophy, the Spirit of the Tournament, to South Tyneside.

"They were a new club who thought they would be thrashed in every game.

But they played their hearts out, won some matches and revealed real potential. They have now been motivated to come back next year."

When Berry, who lives at Hutton Bonville, near Northallerton, began his quest, volleyball had hardly any profile at all in North-East schools.

But his commitment to coaching, promoting, refereeing, encouraging and administering the sport has paid huge dividends.

And despite the former lecturer being in the twilight of his career - at 69-years-old - Little revealed he is still very much hands on.

She said: "Ian is involved and does the refereeing courses for the kids.

There was a big crowd of families who all came to watch and it was a fabulous day. "The youngest player there was 11 and the oldest about 50.

"We're looking for the tournament to grow every year now and we're hoping to have a junior tournament every year.

Ian wants to see that but we couldn't physically organise that this year."