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The Spike Newsletter - October 2006: Dates for 2007: Club Night: Wednesday 14th March 2007, 6.00-9.00pm Trials: Wed/Thurs 14th/15th March 2007, 6.00-9.00pm Wed/Thurs 21st/22nd March 2007, 6.00-9.00pm Wed/Thurs 28th/29th March 2007, 6.00-9.00pm Monday night Indoor Competition starts 30th April 2007. Sumner Beach Volleyball Pre-Xmas competition starts Tues/Wed 10th/11th October 2006. There are limited places available for Tuesday nights, still plenty of space available on Wednesday nights so if you are interested in entering a team, please contact Sheri as soon as possible. Entry forms can be downloaded from the CVA or Hornby Volleyball websites. HVC members receive a 25% discount on beach entry fees for the first player, 25% for the second player. Thursday night social volleyball We are looking for a reliable, trustworthy volunteer to manage the door takings for next winter's Thursday night social competition. If you are interested in this position, please contact Hoff, Sheri or Kama. Uniforms There are still a number of uniforms that have not been returned. If you have a uniform, please return them urgently to Hoff. PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2006 2006 has been a busy and exciting year of volleyball. We started way back in March with a club night and then straight into trials for the teams. It was really pleasing to see so many players turning up and this meant we were able to enter a bigger number of teams than in the past and even more pleasing was the fact that everyone seemed to be really enjoying their practices and games. A little disappointing that not everyone was able to attend all practices and so the coaches were faced with a few frustrations of preparing practices and then unable to carry through the plans. We need to all make bigger commitments here if we are to reach our full potential. It was great to see the Men’s A team being competitive against other Southern League Teams and I’m sure that if they stick together, improve on their personal fitness and desire then they can get to the top 8 at Nationals. Thanks Justin you have done a great job of getting the foundations of a good team off the ground. A couple more really strong and committed players and the team will really begin to function. Thanks to Koko and Naomi for your efforts in getting 2 very good and reliable teams together in the Blue and Gold Teams as well as the entry to Div 2 Nationals. We will hear more from your teams later. Julia has worked hard to provide practices and playing opportunities for the Young Guns and has been mostly successful but the busy schedule that many of the players have with other sporting commitments made things very difficult and apart from the early stages of the season the team were not able to get their full strength team to games. The most pleasing aspect of this team is that there is plenty of talent and we hope to see many of these players step up a level next year. I have a few plans to help make this happen. The Classics continue on and great to see them play to a better level than in the past and they were rewarded with the title of Women’s B Champions for 2006. Well done. The Women’s B team did not really manage to all stick together and this became very frustrating for Mika the appointed coach. I do want to give a big thank you to Mika who as we all know is a very able and committed volleyball player. Mika like many other players is very capable of playing in the A Team and has done so for a number of seasons so I certainly felt for her when the team was not operating well. It was very disappointing for her that players pulled out, others did not keep her informed and so the numbers dwindled. However the team did manage to get functioning again thanks to the work of Kelly and managed to get 4th in the A Grade division of the Canterbury Volleyball Competition. Well done Kelly. The Women’s A had a good finish to the season with a Fifth placing at nationals. Thank you to all the coaches and we hope to have you all back next year. We’ll hear more from each of them in the Prize Giving. A big vote of thanks to Mike and Amanda who have run the Beach Volleyball for us. This is our biggest fund-raiser and is really the Backbone of the clubs financial state. I am pleased to report that Kat and Alan will take over this responsibility and I’m sure they are going to follow on with the great job that has been done previously. We are also indebted to Nicola and her team that run the Thursday Social Volleyball and also to Nicola for her work and energies as the secretary of the club. We need more people involved at this level so please come forward and get involved. The club is in a very good financial state but the frustrations of several club members still being unfinancial and not handing in uniforms is frustrating and just irresponsible. When you are issued a uniform you have to pay for it if you lose or destroy it. We will be forced into a situation of having to ban some players from playing in the future and I would really hate to have to do this. Remember also that you must get clearance if you plan to change clubs. We had a situation of a past player at nationals being banned from further participation when he turned up for South Auckland but owed a uniform and had not been transferred. On a brighter note we are a growing club and I think we have more depth of talent, especially in the women’s Teams. We are in a sound financial state and our longer standing players are in a situation of being able to get involved more in the running of the club. This includes coaching as well as committee work. I look forward to a very successful season in 2007. Paul Hoffman President HVC 2005-2006 WOMEN'S A TEAM 2006 Team Members: Enna Ualessi (captain), Florence Taula, Sarona Taula, Sigauta Siose, Pepe Seili, Zara Fa’avae, Kat Braun, Litia Mataese, Litia Soli, Tivo Amosa, Julia Ede, Fehi Ofa, Satalei Liu Asomua This year promised to be a very good one and everyone was excited about our prospects of success in local, Southern Zone and at National Competitions. The above list of team members certainly contains a very strong and talented group of volleyball players. As coach I was very optimistic about our chances of improving our national’s placing of 2005. The team did however lack in fitness and I’m pleased that some of the girls are beginning to realize the importance of this and are doing something about it. The small fitness gains at the end of the season made a big difference to the individual and team play of some of our players. Well done to those who made the extra effort and now lets take it a step further. In local competition the team was unbeaten throughout 2005 and also through 2006 until the very last game when we went down to our local rivals, Smash, by 3 sets to 1 giving up our Canterbury title. The Monday night competition is great as it gives the team plenty of chances to try different combinations but a down side is that often players could only get 1 set or sometimes only part of a set. In 2007 it would be appropriate and sensible to split the team into two or even three teams and place some of the younger up and coming players with the A Team players to develop them so that they can also compete in the Southern Zone Competitions. Southern Zone was a little disappointing this year in that we didn’t ever manage to field our strongest line up because of other commitments and so we were placed 3rd. This was as high a place as we achieved in any of the 5 tournaments. The really good thing was that we attended all tournaments and everyone got plenty of court time. Much fun was had on these trips and they certainly help to create team spirit. Nationals has just finished and we managed to get fifth which is really a great achievement but we all know that it could have been higher honors but for a really bad run in the 5th set against NZIS Wellington in post section play. We had dominated the previous set and were up 18-3 at one stage and won this handsomely, we then went 6-3 up in the 5th before a couple of careless plays saw us lose momentum and succumb to a strong service run. We went down in a bunch of despairing muddles of mistake after mistake. A real pity as we certainly should have won an earlier set and would then have won 3-1. After this loss however the team seemed to gain in confidence and continued on to play better and better throughout the rest of the tournament beating Smash 3-1, Rongatai 3-1, and Smash again by 3 sets to 2. We had many outstanding moments during nationals and the size of the crowd certainly grew every time we played. They must have enjoyed the “what might happen next?” way that we played at times. At our best no-one could match the power and the blocking skills of this team and the spectators certainly were always treated to some big plays. Many a person commented on what a wonderful team Hornby is and that they are the best team but they just need to get fit and go for it. 2007 here we come. Florence Taula was the standout player for the team and argueably the best outside hitter at Nationals. I was really pleased to see the rest of Flo’s play reach higher levels and especially her receiving and backcourt play as this certainly made a big difference to the final outcomes. We had plenty of other good attackers as well, Enna produced her best game of the season in our last game against Smash to get our 5th placing and I’m sure she will produce this form again right from the start of 2007. Siggy was justifiably awarded the best blocker of the tournament for her second time and was part of the NZ super six group, her blocking with the rest of the team was outstanding during much of the tournament as was Satalei‘s. Many of the team have improved their play throughout the season and so picking a Most Improved Player was very difficult. This year the award will go to Julia Ede and Fehi Ofa who have both really stepped up in the later part of the season. Well done to both of you, Julia in learning the trade of setting and in getting a percentage of serves in, Fehi in just working hard, learning how to score points off the block, improve in serving and spike a good percentage of winners. Kat gets the best trainer award. Kat has impressed with her work ethic and the influence it has had on the other players. She kept at it and never gave up, even when a few passes were going astray, she would always bounce back and give her all in receive of serve and back court defense. Well done Kat. Well done to all players, you all had a part to play and the singing and celebrating throughout games at nationals really created the kind of atmosphere the makes the game so much fun. Zar, Litia S, Litia M, Pepe , Sarona and Tivo you all did well and we’ll do even better next year. Get into the fitness, play beach volleyball because it will improve your skills tremendously and come ready to play in 2007. Cheers Hoff MEN'S A TEAM 2006 This year the Mens A team entered the Southern League and qualified for Division One at the National Club Champs. We entered the Nationals in Southern Zone 5 seeding which was 16th spot at Nationals. We had defending Champs Shirley, Playas and Waitakere in our pool. We performed to expectation with convincing wins over local rival Phoenix. It is an exciting time for the Club with a good mixture of youth and experience. The A team has regained the services of the Rongotai Power Houses, Mario and George Enoka after a year away from the club. Alan Asomua returned from his European OE to add stability through the middle. 16 year old St Bedes School Boy sensation Elliot Dixon has alot to learn having only played serious volleyball for since March but is proving himself a genuine Mens A grade player. One of most consistant players is Uni Student Passer / Hitter Nigel Pemberton who is in his second season with the club. Big Hitting Bruce Buakula had a difficult time again carrying injuries into the business end of the season. Takeshi Sato in his first year with the club has made the transfomation from Middle to the ultimate back court specialist but was unavailble for Nationals due to off-shore commitments. Oli Mataese has stepped up this year after two seasons with the B team and has provided great delivery for our powerful attack. We have two NZ Army Reps in Corey Almond and Mike Te'o that missed the first half of the season due to deployment to the civil unrest in the Soloman Islands. Sio Lealiifano covered libero and really played with the passion required at this level. Michael Laalaai stepped up and played well on the opposite. The Mens A team will be having a hit in October just to keep in touch. There has been some interest from a couple of players coming to the club and hopefully we can introduce them during these sesisons. In order for the Mens team to reach its full potential we must ask more of ourselves as individuals and as a team. We must demand more financially, physically but more importantly mentally. I hope that in the next couple of season we will stand here in front of you as serious Top 8 National contenders. Big thanks to Smokefree who have provided Sponsorship for shorts to replace our stubbies. I would just like to add: Hornby Mens A Team have entered into a partnership agreement with Community and Public Health to promote the smokefree message. The team will be doing their bit to promote the benefits of a smokefree lifestyle to family and whanau. Remember - if you do smoke, think of the health of your children and take the smoke outside. Make it a rule that your home and car are smokefree. Best of all, don't smoke around your children.Remember - when they are young they watch, they listen, they imitate. So the only thing you should light up around kids is their eyes. Justin Lambert HORNBY BLUE TEAM 2006 Team Members: Seti Kopelani, Sabrina Manu, Lydia Pua'avase, Usuao Pua'avase, Louise Moevao, Ulva Goodwillie, Jackie Polo, Naomi Ivala, Rene Taku Coach: Oli Mataese From the beginning of the season, I always said "great friends make great volleyball teams", and I have been proved right. The success of the Hornby Blue Volleyball team is due to sound friendships which lays a foundation for understanding each other on and off the court. We played every Monday night, participated in two Southern Zone tournaments and joined with S.W.I.S.S. to form a team for Nationals. All this experience allowed the team to grow and improve each player's game. Big thanks to Oli Mataese for coaching us throughout the season. His guidance, time and knowledge is highly regarded and we hope to continue working with him next year. And last but not least, big UPS to all the girls for their commitment and dedication, for turning up every Monday and doing duty almost every week, turning up to training and having a good time! Cheers girls, you guys ROCK!!! YOUNG GUNS GIRS 2006 Team Members: Natasha Cain, Samantha Ritchings, Joanna Lealiifano, Nicol Hegarty, Ellen Halpenny, Katherine Taylor, Bridget-Ann Brokenshire, Semaema Raeamasi, Jarnelle Wihapi The name of this team sums up the potential that exists in the above players. Coming together from five different high schools and then trying to develop a team pattern of play that all could handle was the first hurdle. The girls took this on board really quickly and very soon were able to establish their defense and attack patterns. With designated player roles being introduced the players soon became very competitive as a team and had some wonderful games of volleyball. All players have learnt a great deal in their club volleyball and will be able to stand out as prominent school players in term 4 and early next year. There were some times of difficulty in keeping the team together as the winter bugs and other commitments occurred but when all girls were actively practicing and playing the team looked like they were ready to upset some of the “older guns teams”. They certainly did this in one match when they took a set off Smash and ran them close in each of the other sets. All of the players in this team are quite capable of playing Southern Zone Volleyball and with some changes for next year we will hopefully see them playing along side many of this years A Team players. The plan is to split the A Team players up for at least the first half of the season and introduce many of the B Team and Young Guns to the next level of play by playing alongside the older players. This might even enable some of the younger players to make the top team. So girls make sure you are back in 2007 and we will work hard to make the season an even better one by moving you all up into more competitive teams for Mondays and for Southern League. This will hopefully enable us to get at least 2 teams to Nationals in Division 1. Congratulations to Ellen who was selected in the South Island Secondary schools Team and to Joanna, Bridget-Ann, Natasha and Ellen who were all selected for the Canterbury Under 17 Team. Well done and thank you to Julia Ede who had her first turn at coaching with this team. With a whole year of learning the ins and outs of managing and coaching Julia will be a fine asset to the club and to volleyball as she continues to develop her coaching and pursue her qualifications. Hoff 2006 RESULTS Monday Night Competition: Women's A - 2nd in Division 1 Men's A - 1st in Division 2 Women's B - 4th in Division 1 Classics - 1st in Division 2 Southern Zone Tournament: Women's A - 3rd Men's A - 4th Nationals: Women's A - 5th in Division 1 Men's A - 15th in Division 1 Hornby Brownz - 4th in Division 2 Congratulations to Siggy Siose on receiving Super 6 and Best Blocker Awards at Nationals. 2006 CLUB AWARDS Women's A: Florence Taula - Most Valuable Player Fehi Ofa - Most Improved Player Julia Ede - Most Improved Player Sigauta Siose - Best Blocker Nationals 2006 & member of the Tournament Super Six Kat Braun - Best Trainer Women's B: Hana Hnidkova - Most Valuable Player Freda Rehua - Most Improved Player Kelly Elson - Most Reliable Leadership SWISS - Gold: Tusiaisi Tanielu - Most Valuable Player Kathy Tausili - Most Improved Player Salelupe Leota - Appreciation of Service Women's Blue: Seti Kapolani - Most Improved Player Naomi Ivala - Leadership Women's Young Guns: Bridget Brokenshire - Most Valuable Player Jo Lealiifano - Most Improved Player Nicole Hegarty - Most Reliable Player Classics: Susan Elder - Most Valuable Player Nicola Harrison - Most Improved Player Keryn Stark - Classics Team Cheerleader Candace Bobier - Most Consistant Player Men's A: Oliver Mataese - Most Valuable Player Elliot Dixon - Rookie of the Year Nigel Pemberton - Most Consistant & Reliable Player Thanks to: Kelly Elson - For coaching the Women's B team this year Sefu Teevale - For coaching the Women's SWISS - Gold team this year Oliver Mataese - For coaching the Women's Blue team this year Julie Ede - For coaching the Women's Young Guns team this year Justin Lambert - For coaching the Men's A team this year Melanie Brereton - For coaching the Women's Classics team this year |
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July 2005 September 2004 Prizegiving August 2004 April 2004 February 2004  |