WHILE football's Premier League is renowned for its ethnic diversity, the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea have got nothing on Tonbridge Volleyball Club.

The club's eight women members hail from an incredible seven different countries – with players from Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark, America and England.

"There are no problems with the different languages and if there are, we can translate quite easily," said captain Maria Rzadkowska, 32, who is originally from Poland.

But the club is constantly faced with a membership drought, because many of the team are in the country to study or work on temporary visas.

And as six players are needed to field a team, the club is already cutting it fine with eight.

Most other teams in Division Three of the National League – where Tonbridge finished eighth out of ten last season – have 12 to 15 to choose from.

But Miss Rsadkowska insisted the team would not fold.

"We will survive," she said.

"We're not giving up, we always manage to produce eight players.

"But then you never know what can happen – someone can get pregnant or can leave, so we need more players.

"It's always a lot of fun. If foreign people are looking for friends or anything like that, it would be good for them to come along to meet people from other countries.

"We're looking for young females especially, because they can train well and create a better team and could play with the super eights."

Miss Rzadkowska blamed the shortage of English players on a lack of support in schools.

"It is hard to get anyone to play volleyball," she said.

"There's not that much involvement with it at school level and most people prefer football or cricket."

"It would be brilliant if more English people got involved, that would be really nice," she added.

In recent years the team have dropped from Division Oneto Division Three, but are hoping for a speedy return to their former glory.

Their season runs from October to March, and training begins in August,

Anyone wanting to join Tonbridge Volleyball Club should email Miss Rzadkowska at garbi77@interia.pl or call her on 07707798672