Volleyball
30 July, 2024
Exciting times at Volleyball Horsham
Volleyball Horsham is gearing up for another record season with 47 teams entering for the Winter Season commencing on Wednesday, surpassing the 44 teams from last season.
The response has necessitated the move of the A Reserve competition, which has eight teams, to Tuesday nights, while the women’s competition continues to grow with 12 teams participating enabling the competition to be split into a women’s A and a women’s B.
The response has been overwhelming for the Volleyball Horsham committee, according to Vice President Matt McLoughlin.
“We couldn’t believe it when we saw the entries at our last committee meeting, and we had to make some pretty big decisions on how best to cater for the response which we hadn’t been in that position before.”
“To see so many people wanting to participate was amazing, and the beauty of this was the support from a broad cross section of players. The Philippine community has doubled their numbers from last season, while we have a B grade team made up of internationals representing countries from all over the world, as well as players from all over the Wimmera.”
The growth in numbers will see the Association hit over 300 members in a season for the first time ever, showing just how popular the sport is, said McLoughlin.
“We’ve had 300 members in a year before but not 300 in a season, so we’re stoked with the response.”
With the focus on the juniors, as they gear up for the September junior country champs, the association has made the decision to play through the school holidays, enabling the season to finish at the traditional time of just before the annual tournament.
“We wanted to ensure that the kids played as much as possible in the lead up to the championships, especially our under 19 boys and girls, as they have been entered as squads into their respective grades of competition.”
“The association is looking forward to another fun and enjoyable season and to all the new members we would like to welcome them.”
COACHES APPOINTED
The coaching appointments have been finalized for the junior country championships with six volunteers putting their hands up to steer the juniors towards the event.
The experienced Jack Hannan will dip his toes into coaching for the first time as he takes on the under 19 boys’ team while yours truly will look after the girls.
Justin Brilliant continues his role with the under 17 boys while Matt McLoughlin will coach the under 17 girls.
Young gun Oscar Jackman will try coaching for the first time as he looks after the under 15 boys while the experienced Laelah Robertson will guide a young under 15 group.
PHANTOMS TO FINALS
Phantoms have qualified four teams for finals in a positive result for the club.
Premier 1 men and women, Premier 2 men and State League 1 men will take to the courts at the State Volleyball Centre on Saturday in a day of cut throat quarter finals.
The Premier 1 men failed in their attempt to take top spot on the ladder when they went down to Renegades in five sets last weekend.
They will now square off against Monash in the second quarter final on Saturday hoping to progress through to semi finals the following week, where a possible rematch with Renegades looms.
The Premier 1 women will face a tough task against last season’s premiers Dandenong in their quarter final, but the fact they made the finals for the first time in five years is a positive sign going forward.
The Premier 2 men have a very winnable game against Latrobe Uni while the State League 1 men play KVA Future Stars who finished top in their pool.