Ben Pipes (born 21 October 1986) is a British

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player who plays as a setter. Born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, England, he competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in the men's tournament at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Early life

Pipes attended

Cottingham High School Cottingham High School is a secondary school in Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The school has specialist Arts College status, with facilities for media arts, music, drama and dance for performing arts. In July 2011 the sc ...

in Cottingham. Pipes played a variety of sports until taking up volleyball at the age of 13 after a taster session at a community centre.

Playing career

Pipes made his international volleyball debut in 2006. In 2011, he played club volleyball with Dutch side Langhenkel Doetinchem. He also played in Belgium and Spain. He was selected for Britain's 2012 Olympic squad and captained the team.

Post-playing career

After working as an athlete mentor for the

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust is a British charity that was set up in 2008 by double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes. It supports retired athletes as they transition from sport, and uses their skills and experience to transform the lives of disa ...

, Pipes took a role as Club & Participation Development Officer with the Scottish Volleyball Association.

References

English men's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Great Britain 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Beverley {{UK-volleyball-bio-stub