On tonight's episode, we bring you the latest on Kent's stars as the Paralympics continue in Paris and Kent Kings speedway team join us to look back on their revival season.
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00:00Hello and welcome along to Invicta Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated to wrapping
00:20up all of Kent's sporting action. I'm Bartholomew Hall, here's what to expect on this Monday
00:26the 2nd of September.
00:28Too excited today, Rams on fire, FA Cup drama returns and it's derby day in delight for
00:35them. Ashford are ashes on wheels, England and Australia go head to head in Speedway
00:40season finale in Swale, and we meet the indoor volleyball club in Canterbury trying to bring
00:46beach volleyball into the mainstream.
00:49And of course we'll bring you all the latest from Paris as the Paralympics continue, but
00:53first of all here's a round-up of the headlines.
00:55And it was defeat on day three of Kent's county championship meeting with Warwickshire as
00:59the Division 1 bottom sitters lost out by an innings and 21 runs.
01:04Kent were bowled out in their second innings for 243 at Edgbaston as the host seam has
01:08completed the job. It comes after injuries to Tawunda Mawaiye and Grant Stewart which
01:13only added to a disappointing three days in the West Midlands. Our county side is now
01:17left 35 points adrift from safety of relegation. Kent will next be in county championship Division
01:231 action against Hampshire at Canterbury next week.
01:27Jake Hill says despite being top of the British Touring Car Championship standings that he
01:31must stay consistent and deliver his full potential if he's going to win his first title.
01:37The Platseeth racer claimed a nine point lead in the championship race after recording two
01:41third place finishes and a fifth at Donington Park. Now with just two race weekends left
01:47in the season, all eyes will turn to Brands Hatch in October for the season finale where
01:51for the third time in a row, Hill could be staring down the barrel of his maiden championship.
01:56And nominations are now open for this year's Medway Sport Awards. All levels of teams and
02:01individual sporting competitors can be nominated for the awards, all the way from grassroots
02:06through to all of those who are at regional, national or international level. Winners will
02:11be picked from a panel of judges including gold medal winning Paralympic skier Charlotte
02:15Evans and Olympic gymnast Gary Smith. Due to be hosted at the new Cosington Park Sports
02:22Centre in Raynham in December, entries can be submitted to the Medway Council website.
02:28Now let's take a look back at all the weekend's football results where the FA Cup returned
02:32to our shores to the tune of a coastal derby between Ramsgate and Folkestone. And as Ben
02:38Smith's side were hoping to make a repeat of last year's success, it was another type
02:41of repetition in the sights of Gillingham as for two years running they had a chance
02:45to go four games unbeaten at the start of the season. Here's Alex with this weekend's
02:50football.
02:51Two Kent teams clashed over the weekend as Ramsgate faced Folkestone and Victor in the
02:55first round of the FA Cup. The game began a bit testy for Ramsgate, defender Aaron Barnes
03:00with an impressive clearance as Folkestone attacked sharply early on. But soon the Rams
03:05found themselves at an advantage as one of Folkestone's players was dismissed for a foul
03:10as Ramsgate were through on goal.
03:14The following free kick failing to produce any FA Cup magic. Ramsgate didn't stop though,
03:21forcing a save from the keeper. Joe Taylor attempting a cheeky chip from outside the
03:28box which left him as red faced as his kit. Ramsgate weren't the only ones threatening,
03:35with Folkestone forcing some mistakes from the Ramsgate back line. But still the deadlock
03:42was broken by the team in red as Lewis Gard tapped in a rebound from a long range effort
03:47to put the Rams 1-0 up at half time. Folkestone remained in the game but some shoddy defending
03:57left them 2-0 down late into the second half. And though they managed to pull a goal back,
04:08Alfie Paxman put the final nil in their coffin, scoring an audacious goal as he rounded the
04:12goalkeeper and celebrated before the ball even hit the back of the net. The game ended
04:183-1 as Ramsgate bested their high division opponents to go through to the next round
04:23of the FA Cup. Elsewhere in the competition, Dartford demolished Marlow's 6-2 to progress.
04:30To League 2 now and Gillingham continued their unbeaten start, besting Chesterfield 1-0 despite
04:36an hour with only 10 men after Max Emmer was sent off after a series of poor challenges.
04:42Despite a few scares, as Chesterfield hit the woodwork twice early on, the Geels managed
04:46to hold on until the end, with manager Mark Bonner expressing his delight at Gillingham's
04:51start to the season. Gillingham currently sit at the top of the table in League 2.
05:15In the National League, Eves' fleet drew 0-0 against Halifax Town and find themselves
05:20firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. In the National League South, Maidstone drew
05:271-1 against Boreham Wood and Tunbridge Angels managed to beat Salisbury 1-0. The teams now
05:35find themselves 5th and 18th respectively.
05:40I'm Alex Skaife and that was your Football Roundup.
05:46Now an entire roster of Kent Paralympians from Ashford to Sheldwich are in Paris to
05:51see if they can pick up a gold medal for country and of course for county. From a powerlifter
05:56at the highest level to a Strictly Come Dancing star, there's lots to discuss and joining
06:01me in the studio is Finn McDermott. Finn, talk us through the past few days. Paralympics
06:05well underway, we all enjoyed the opening ceremony, but the past few days is when the
06:10real work has begun.
06:11Yeah, I mean there's so much to cover and so much to talk about, I just have to dive
06:15right in. So first off, I mean the biggest story is that we've had the most ever golds
06:19for Paralympics in a single day this century. Twelve first place finishes, this puts the
06:25Paralympic Team GB in second with 23 goals and China in first with 33. Now for us Kent
06:32athletes specifically, it's been a lot of close misses. Tunbridge Wells born Will Bailey,
06:38MBE, you might know him as you said from Strictly Come Dancing fame, has beaten local legend
06:44Stéphane Messi.
06:45And of course world champion as well.
06:46Yes, back in 2014, that is correct. Well I was just going to mention that actually, he's
06:50completely dominated. Three back to back sets to earn a spot in the quarter finals and his
06:54goal is to take back his 2016 Rio gold having fallen just short in Tokyo with a silver.
07:01Now tomorrow he is also the world ranked number one in Paralympics by the way I have to mention.
07:06We also of course have to mention Ashford's Henry Ourand, you can see on your screens
07:10now this is him being consoled by the first place winner, that is Daniel Molina from
07:16Spain and it's really a touching moment. He came in fourth so just a tiny miss off of
07:22getting third. In swimming, Tunbridge's swimming club's own Iona Winifred also again just missed
07:29out on the podium spot in the 200 metre medley but she has the chance to go for gold in the
07:34100 metre breaststroke on Thursday and 50 metre butterfly on Saturday.
07:39There's also the Dartford powerlifter Liam McGarrett, now this guy is truly insane. I
07:44mean there's so many different levels to powerlifting and this is the highest one. It's 107 kilograms
07:49up and he is going in the final against eight other Paralympians. We also have Chatham Archer,
07:56Victoria Kingstone, she competed on Thursday. Now she did come sixth but it's not the end
08:00of her story as that qualifies her to participate in the next round on Saturday.
08:06Sheldwich, Olly Maignon and the wheelchair rugby team, they beat Denmark and France but lost out to the United States and crucially in their third placed match, Australia. So they again just missed out, I mean it's so close every time.
08:22And Calleanne Washington, she was originally from Maidstone, she finished fourth in the 100 metre freestyle and fifth in the 100 metre butterfly. I feel like I'm just rattling off names here and they're just getting so close, it's a real shame.
08:33There's some incredible stories in there as well. Of course Iona Winnifred, as you mentioned, the swimmer, still to compete. Potentially a gold in there, just 13 years old. Some incredible stuff. Finn, thank you very much for those details. We'll be watching closely as the Paralympics continue.
08:46Who said the summer of sport is over, eh? Well, even when it is, don't forget you can watch back all of our sports features, news, interviews and features from right here on the show by heading over to our website kntv.co.uk and clicking on that sports tab there you'll find videos like this one.
09:02Lace up those skates and fasten your helmet as this is no ordinary roller skating disco.
09:07It may be a sleepy Sunday here in Chatham but I'm with the Apex Predators who are here to show me their skill, strategy and strength in a high intensity game also known as roller derby.
09:17This fast paced sport of endurance was revived in the early 2000s where self expression and showmanship were encouraged through unique derby names or flashy outfits.
09:26Established in 2013 as a non-competitive team, the Apex Predators have flourished their talent and now compete in a variety of tournaments such as Eastbourne Extreme or the Super 7 Smackdown.
09:37Roller derby is a very strategic game, there's a lot of thinking involved, it's a very mental game. It's a bit like chess on roller skates, it's very, very strategic.
09:46Basically you've got jammers and blockers, the blockers are trying to, they're like the defensive players to begin with and they're trying to stop the jammers from scoring points and the jammers are trying to get around the track as fast as possible and they score points by passing other players so that's kind of the main game rules.
10:00It is a compact sport and it can get kind of quite aggressive, quite hitty but when we're teaching people how to play it we always start with like the really basic skating skills, those kind of things.
10:08The adrenaline filled spirit here amongst the Apex Predators is certainly alive once that whistle blows.
10:13This sport may seem intense at first but at its heart this game encapsulates the fun camaraderie and teamwork between its members.
10:20It means community to me, it's a really inclusive space, as a queer person it's actually quite difficult to find a space that is completely inclusive, that you feel like you can just be your true self.
10:31Roller derby is for everyone I think, literally is for everyone.
10:34Particularly in the current climate of various sports getting less gender inclusive or less inclusive to kind of our trans friends so I think to me it's a very important part of the team.
10:45After watching the game I think I'll keep my trainers on but I'll stick to finding out more from the Apex Predators members themselves.
10:52I do a lot of combat sports anyway so yeah getting here I'm kind of used to that so being on skates makes it even more interesting.
10:59I think what drew me to derby was no running, obviously there's a lot of like energy that you need for skating but it's just a lot more fun and it has that sort of like a lot of energy that you can burn.
11:12It's really not going to be thrown in at the deep end and if you think actually do you know what playing isn't for me there are still so many ways to be part of the league that just come along and be part of it really.
11:21With an open day in sight this September I hope that Apex Predators continue to expand their community of skaters and keep on rolling through their future endeavours.
11:30Allegra Webb for KMTV in Chatham.
11:33Great stuff there, plenty more features like that available on our website.
11:36Time for a break now, we've reached half time in today's episode but coming up we're meeting the Kent Kings after England vs Australia at the season finale in Swale.
11:47Don't go anywhere, we'll be back in just a few minutes.
11:51Thanks for watching.
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16:24And I'm pleased to say, as you saw from some of the celebrations there, England did take
16:46the home, did take home the win in Heat 14.
16:50Now I'm joined by clerk of the course, John Stevens, and recently awarded Most Improved
16:55Rider of the Year, Nathan Hargrave. Thank you both for joining us here in the studio.
17:00Welcome onto the show. Tell us how the day went yesterday then, because we got the win,
17:03but it was before, you still had more heats to go.
17:07Yeah, so it was pretty close throughout the whole match, if I'm honest. And it got to
17:16the end of the meeting itself. Not hot, very hot day, and then England just gained a few
17:28more points.
17:29Just got it. And of course, sports fans across lots of different sports love it, especially
17:33English supporting ones when there's a win over Australia, of course. John, tell me about
17:37how this whole meeting came about. An international fixture not been held before at Iwade.
17:42No, it's not been held at Iwade. And England versus Australia is quite a traditional test
17:50match series, dates back to the 1930s. First one was held at Wimbledon Stadium, actually.
17:55So there's been test matches throughout the years. But something unique at Iwade, we've
18:00put on various tournaments this year, local derbies, and also the London tournament earlier
18:05in the year. So we wanted to conclude the finale for the season as a great sort of heritage
18:11event. Something to sort of really stick our feather in our cap, really.
18:15Absolutely. And I want to go into that, because Speedway has definitely had a bit of a resurgence
18:19here in Kent over the past year. But I want to talk about this moment, Nathan. You weren't
18:24involved in this pile-up, but it is a big part of the sport, isn't it, having to navigate
18:28some of those really difficult collisions sometimes. Tell me about what that's like
18:33as a rider, because you see there, there wasn't actually a coming together between any of
18:38the riders there. They were all separate, but they all came at the same time. Tell me
18:43how that works.
18:44So it's all down to your track. So, as every Speedway rider knows, a good track makes you
18:50perform the best. With Iwade, on Sunday, there was a bit of water where obviously it didn't
18:59want to be. I think it was Kingston, but only outside of, I believe it might be Marsden.
19:08Only outside of Marsden. I think he just caught it. He's gone down, and then what you do,
19:13you just literally lay your bike down, obviously, so you don't collide into the others. And
19:17that's what all four riders, I think, had to do to obviously avoid any really bad injury,
19:21if I'm honest.
19:22Yeah, of course. But you can't really plan these things, can you, I suppose?
19:25Hit at the moment thing, yeah. You've just got to do what you've got to do.
19:28The track preparation is key, and Speedway's quite unique because of the surface. You
19:32water it too much, it gets too slippy. It sounds bizarre, really. But because it's a
19:37crushed shell, the water and the moisture in the track does affect it, and as you can
19:43see in the footage there, they all slid off and thankfully all got up.
19:48Yeah, the heat don't help. With the hot weather, it's really hard to keep on top of the track.
19:54So then talk to me about that, the fact that we've reached the end of the season now. No
19:57more meetings again until next April, we were saying, before we went to air. What's
20:02it been like for you then? Because it's been the resurgence. There was a big break before
20:06the Kent Kings have reunited. What's been the response?
20:10So yeah, the meetings this year have been well attended. We've had really big crowds,
20:15record crowds in fact. We've had outside catering in, we've revamped it, we've brought international
20:22catering to give everyone a different flavour for what has been done in the past. And as
20:29the season's gone on, we've built it up and we've got a bit of momentum now. We've got
20:33a break now for the winter and then we come back in April. The Kent Kings will come back
20:38then as we left off.
20:42And as clerk of the course and a promoter as well, how do you navigate the next few
20:46months then, having that time away?
20:49We look at how we can do things better, improvements, stuff like that. So through the winter, that's
20:55what we look at. Improving certain elements of the track, the team. We want to keep the
21:03team the same, so we keep that camara artery until next year and then we'll see what happens
21:10in April.
21:11Nathan, same question to you. That time away from the track, how do you navigate that?
21:16When you come back, is it revitalised, refreshed or does time away give you a bit of detriment?
21:21It's hard, it is really hard. I'm hoping they do come back, especially to Iowa, my local
21:29track. There's nothing in the south, nothing at all. And Iowa is the only track that runs.
21:34So like Jon said, hopefully him and all the others can work something out for next year
21:41and again get a good team together and get more fans down here and keep it back in the
21:46south really.
21:47And exactly, Speedway has had such a history here in Kent.
21:51Well with nothing down this end, it's a lot of travelling as well.
21:55Kent's been a hotbed for Grass Track and Speedway. Canterbury was a massive club and remarkably
22:03yesterday we had Barney Kennett make an appearance in honour of Gordon Kennett. So it was great
22:10to see a bit of nostalgia there as well, a pull from the Canterbury fans that still
22:16go to Iowade. But yeah, we are the beacon of Speedway in Kent and we hope to keep that
22:22going, to keep Speedway alive in Kent. There's a historical side of Speedway which I'm quite
22:31closely linked with, being a curator at a Speedway museum in Wimbledon. But yeah, we
22:38need to focus on current Speedway and keep it amongst people's minds and get younger
22:45fans coming as well.
22:46But of course you did mention the history there and we've got pictures up there of Gordon
22:49Kennett and obviously he started his career in the Swale area before going on to become
22:55World Champion. It must be quite nice to give a bit of a tribute to him after his recent
23:00passing.
23:01Yes, I mean Gordon was a former World No. 2 rider. He's rode at Empire Stadium, Wembley.
23:06He's rode at White City, he's rode for Eastbourne. He's a well-known name in Speedway and he's
23:13brother Barney and the others as well. So it's great to actually have Barney on track
23:19to give us that moment to remember Gordon because he's much missed.
23:26Nathan and John, thank you very much for joining us. It's been brilliant to have you and hopefully
23:32we'll be continuing to follow the Kent Kings in April. Thank you very much.
23:37Finally from us today, rugby, football and cricket. The undisputed most popular sports
23:41of the UK but one Kent club is trying to get volleyball to the same level. Invicta Volleyball
23:46haven't stopped at joining the National League and want to pursue becoming a professional
23:50club rather than just a recreational one. But doing all of this starting on the sand.
23:55Well we sent Finn down to Canterbury to have a go.
23:59Brazil, Spain, France and now Kent. While volleyball is highly played and watched around
24:04the world, here in the UK it falls short when compared to our other national sports. One
24:09club, Invicta Volleyball, are looking to change that, starting with a three-day beach training
24:14camp in Canterbury despite being an indoor team.
24:17It's a fantastic opportunity to train, to get a different experience of volleyball,
24:22to play outdoors. It's quite a social aspect to this version of the game as well. And this
24:29is an opportunity to play a different version of volleyball. It's great for development
24:33because there's two a side as opposed to six a side so you're getting a lot more contact
24:36on the ball. You're able to experience the whole game whereas indoors you've got a specialised
24:41position. Out here you're doing everything, you're passing, setting, hitting, defending,
24:44blocking, you're doing the whole thing.
24:46This beach volleyball court is unique in that it's the closest to Calais, which has more
24:51registered volleyball players than the entirety of England, showing just how popular it is
24:55in other countries. Along with this training, the club has increased their efforts to get
24:59volleyball on the map, starting with outreach programmes in schools.
25:04I've just signed an apprenticeship with Invicta Volleyball and that entails I'm going to do
25:08a lot of coaching, a lot of advertising and advertisement behind the scenes. And the outreach
25:15programme, we're going to be going to schools ages like 7 to 11 with Volley Start, delivering
25:22coaching at schools or independently here. It can be indoor volleyball, beach volleyball,
25:29and it's just to get kids into volleyball and expand volleyball in the community.
25:34Invicta, who have training sessions in Maidstone and Canterbury, are hoping to move away from
25:38their more recreation-based model after their promotion to the National Volleyball League,
25:42which will start in September. Now, I've played volleyball for three years, but I'd
25:46never tried the beach version.
25:48Now, beach volleyball has a few key differences to its indoor counterpart, you know, aside
25:53from all the sand. It's actually perfect for training. Because of the sand, it's harder
25:58to move around and there's also only ever two players on it once, meaning you've got
26:02more time to set, dig, spike or whatever you feel like doing. So, I'm going to see if someone
26:08like me, who's been, you know, sitting behind a desk all this time, can still play.
26:12I normally rely on my height for indoor volleyball, but that didn't help me much, as the sand
26:16was a less solid surface and my legs certainly felt the burn. It didn't help that I was just
26:21playing out of practice, but it was nice to get out into the sun and get some exercise.
26:25Well, don't be put off by my skill level. It's not quite as hard as it looks.
26:32Finn McDermid for KMTV in Canterbury.
26:35Thank you very much, Finn. That is it. That is full-time on today's episode of Invicta
26:38Sport. You can watch all of our episodes back at kmtv.co.uk. We'll be back next Monday
26:43with another. See you then. Bye-bye.