Ben pipes up to help volleyball make an impact at the London Olympics

This is how he begins. Every email is clear, courteous and hopeful and they flow, thick and fast, to a huge variety of domestic and international businesses, because Ben Pipes is on a mission. He wants the team he hopes to captain at the London Olympics to perform to their maximum and spectacular capability.

So "My Name is Ben Pipes" missives abound. They have been received by companies that manufacture ice baths (success), circulation tights (awaiting response), restaurants willing to feed hungry hulks (more success), milkshake producers (result again), Tescos for fruit (sorry, not allowed to give away out-of-date food, but might find alternative means of support) and purveyors of household goods (no response), among many others.

One hardly imagines footballers resorting to these methods when they move into their stately homes.

"Hi. My name is Didier Droghba and I am seeking a set of gold-leaf dessert forks for my cutlery drawer."

But volleyball is on a different financial plain in this country and the mission is just another symbol of the ultra-dedication and professionalism of the players, men and women, who are making their Olympic debuts at London 2012.

"Having played all across Europe and having watched the Olympics in Beijing, you learn about all the small one per cents that make a difference to performance.

"So I've tried to make progress on those one per cent issues: getting bedding for our flats, having a good lunch between training sessions, getting circulation tights to help flush out the lactic acid in our legs, importing ice baths from Australia to aid recovery..."

The ice baths, that singular form of sporting torture, might have made him thoroughly unpopular with his teammates. But apparently they are all of the same single-minded devotion.

"We all believe that if we can alleviate a few problems it will boost our performance, not just as individuals but a group. It could in the long run make the difference between winning and losing."

You would imagine 6ft 8in Pipes as a campaigning veteran to take on the burdens of office in such a responsible way. But, in fact, he is only 23. Born and bred in Hull, he committed himself to volleyball at the unusually tender age of 14, having been a sporting jack-of-all-trades as a child.

"I just grew into volleyball – if you'll pardon the pun – as a lanky teenager and training with the England junior squad every weekend. The only problem – it was in Oxford. So my dad had a five-hour drive down from Hull every Friday night and a five-hour drive back. Then he'd repeat the process on the Sunday night.

"He did 20 hours driving in the space of three days, just so I and my brother could train in this big converted military base, sleeping on air beds on the floor in the corner and eating meals out of one little microwave oven.

"At 16, I knew I wanted to keep up with my European counterparts who are already training twice a day. So I left home, moved my A-levels and went down to Sheffield which was home to the only club in England that trained as hard. For two years, I lived in the attic of my coach."

"It might seem strange when most boys are passionate about football or rugby. But, for some reason, volleyball seemed to light a flame within me. I always wanted to be an Olympian as a child. I just didn't know how. In the end, I found volleyball and my original plan was to try and become a beach volleyball player and qualify for the Olympics. But a huge door opened for me when London won the bid to host the Olympics and we knew we would be able to enter an indoor team. That has been my focus ever since."

The team "setter" – roughly equivalent to the quarter back in American football through whom all the plays must flow – Pipes is a key man to the squad. He has learned his trade from the age of 18 by playing professionally in Europe with stints in Spain, Sweden, Holland, Belgium and, most lately, Tenerife.

Perhaps the spell in Holland was the most significant. "Floundering in Flanders" were the unflattering headlines when the British men's volleyball team played a season in the Dutch professional league in 2007 to help the financially-stricken, Club Martinus, which would have otherwise gone bust. It was a fine, innovative idea suiting all sides, until GB/Martinus lost their first seven games. They finally won a match just before Christmas to vast relief all round. But the Dutch supporters adored them.

"We never let them down in terms of drive and desire, and players fighting for every point. If you give everything, the crowd will appreciate you for it."

It is with that same ferocity of purpose that the squad is now approaching 2012. Tonight, the British men play a friendly against Luxembourg at the the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield and then two games against Denmark at the weekend.

All three matches are in preparation for the "Big Games" (home and away) against Azerbaijan in the European Championship qualifying competition a week later.

Re-grouping as a squad under their Dutch coach, Harry Brokking, is vital following their winter sojourns all over the world playing for far-flung, disparate clubs in a huge variety of leagues.

At the moment, 24 athletes, men and women, are reconvening at their home base in Sheffield from 18 different clubs in 17 different leagues in 12 different countries including Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Canada, Bulgaria, Qatar, US, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. They return with smatterings of foreign languages, dirty washing, hopefully few injuries and the knowledge that their competitive season under the British banner begins immediately.

"We don't have time to be tired or unprepared," said Pipes. "That's why we look for all the little ways to improve our performance all the time. They might seem trivial but they add up. We definitely don't blame the governing body for not doing them for us. They would love to provide these things, but their budget goes on the big things like plenty of matches, a good coach, a training hall, accommodation and we completely accept that. I don't believe there's a lot more we could ask of them."

So "My name is Ben Pipes" has a serious purpose. It might just look like a pair of circulation tights to us (retail price 60), but to the young men on the volleyball team it might be the difference between turning up at the London Olympics and igniting them.

"We have no great culture of volleyball in this country. Not many people would know that the top players in Europe can earn 1m a season with huge club sponsorship and tremendous support in countries like Italy, Poland and Russia.

"There's no doubt, we're up against incredible opposition. But we have made massive improvements already and there's no way of telling what extra inspiration we will draw from playing an Olympics in front of a home crowd. Our Olympic dream is about making an impact".

British business: expect an email.

n GBv Azerbaijan, Saturday May 15, Venue: EIS Sheffield. 3pm.

n For more information and tickets: www.britishvolleyball.org