Volleyball News |
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Volleyball two win Australian gold medals, 16 April 2010
The Academy Volleyball Squad's Peter Harasimiuk was a member of the the winning Victorian side at the Australian under-15 Volleyball Championships held during the school holidays. Two of our girls, Jan Klerck and Phoebe Trembath also played in the second Victorian girls' Yellow Team.
Peter was in the Victorian Blue Team which played outstandingly well during the tournament. The side dropped only the one set during the tournament and won the gold medal match in four sets. Peter was one of the more valued players and was kept on court for every game.
The girls' Yellow Team was overshadowed by the girls' Blue Team, which also won the Australian title. The Yellows finished 8th overall out of 19 sides and coaches praised their commitment and performances throughout the 4-day competition.
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State Training Squad selection for volleyballers, 26 February 2010
Four Academy volleyball squad members have been selected to the Volleyball Victoria training squads in preparation for the Australian Championships in July.
The four are Susie Ball (under-21), Anna Williams (under-19 Blues), Max Rounds and Alex Bermingham (under-19 Whites). There is a possibility of a fifth player being selected as there is still one girls' squad yet to be announced.
The players will train with their respective squads in the lead up to the Championships in July. Final team selections will be made at the squad training sessions on 14 March.
The four named in the under-21 and under-19 categories follow another four who were selected into under-15 squads prior to Christmas and who will be playing their championships in April. The under-15s were Phoebe Trembath, Jennifer Klerck, Peter Harasimiuk and Josh Dyer.
Familiar faces who were with the Academy last year are also included in the recent selections. Eliza Smith, who has moved to Melbourne, and Harley Atcheson from the Latrobe Valley, have both been named in under-19 squads.
Sharlene John and Stephen Holder from last year's Academy coaching group have also made the list and will be coaching one of the girls' teams.
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Four make Vic Volleyball squad, 21 December 2009
Four members of the Academy's volleyball squad have been selected into the Victorian under-15 squad.
Those successful were Phoebe Trembath, Jennifer Klerck, Peter Harasimiuk and Josh Dyer.
At the squad's first training session next month selections will be made for individual teams for the Australian Under-15 Championships. They will be held in Albury in April.
The selections followed trials held on the first two weekends of December. Further trials for all other age groups will be conducted in February and lead on to teams for the Australian Junior Championships during July.
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Good show at Good Neighbour, 8 December 2009
by Jessee John
Once again the Academy's volleyball squad had great results at this year's Good Neighbour Tournament held in Canberra over the last weekend in November. There were 34 squad members attending.
The Saturday began with a 7.30am start for most, in preparation for a 9am game. GSA had 4 teams, one senior boys' team, one junior boys' team, one senior girls' team, and one junior girls' team. The boys and girls were each playing at separate stadiums, though only about 5 minutes from each other.
After a long day of games and duties, athletes returned back to the cabin for dinner, a quick swim for some, and bedtime by about 10pm.
Sunday again began with an early start, with the senior boy's team having duty at 8 am. We had great results from our teams, with the senior girls winning bronze in Division 4, and the junior girls winning gold in the Schoolgirls division. The senior boys played to a high standard, winning one game and drawing another, to finish 4th in their pool. Team captain Max Rounds stated it was the best they had done in the years he'd been associated with the program.
The junior boys unfortunately did not win a game, though they played very well, especially as for many athletes this was their first experience playing in a game situation, let alone a tournament situation. This was also the same for the junior girls.
The most impressive act from the athletes, though not at all surprising, was the support they showed for each other on and off the court. Many athletes rallied together to watch the other teams games, cheering them on from the sidelines.
Athletes were able to view games of a very high standard and to visit the AIS, at times when they were not playing. This included seeing the honour matches, as well as games played by the Bairnsdale men's and women's teams.
The squad's Head Coach Dave Smythe also coached the men's and women's teams from Bairnsdale, with the men's team bringing home bronze, and the women's team receiving silver. The GSA athletes rallied behind these two sides as well, attending their medal games.
With our final placings the weekend was a great success. There were no major injuries and everyone enjoyed themselves. While away we also celebrated the recent birthdays of Liam De Vries, Tayla Trembath and Jessica Baillie.
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Australian team dream spot for Eliza, 24 September 2009
Eliza Smith's selection into the Australian Junior Volleyball team is a cause for double celebrations in Gippsland.
Eliza is one of four outstanding Gippsland players, all graduates of the Academy, to have represented Australia in international tournaments. She follows former Academy squad members Danielle Stott and Sally Deed who have been outstandingly successful over several years. The fourth is Brodie Watts who joined Eliza in last year's Australian Youth Team - a younger age group - to play a series in New Zealand.
The junior side is currently competing against New Zealand in a 5-test series for the Jenny Kirk Trans Tasman Trophy.
The reason for a second celebration is that the third test is scheduled to be held in Newborough next week. It will be a great honour for Eliza to represent Australia in front of many of her own friends and team mates. We can bet that Eliza will get a lot of support from the stands.
The match will be at the at Latrobe Leisure Moe Newborough on Tuesday 29 September and starts at 6 pm.
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Valuable volleyballers win awards, 1 September 2009
Two Academy volleyball squad members and a former member have received Volleyball Victoria awards. The awards were presented recently at the State Team Dinner and were recognition for outstanding contributions as members of Victorian teams.
Susannah Ball and Anna Williams won most valuable player awards for their performances at the Australian Junior Championships in July.
Susannah and Anna were selected to state training squads after trials during the Academy's last season. Susannah then represented Victoria in the women's U19 Gold Team and Anna was selected to the U17 White team.
Danielle Stott was the third winner of a most valuable player award. She was a member of Victoria's gold medal-winning U21 side at the championships. Danielle graduated from the Academy in 2005 and has since been a regular member of Victorian and national teams. Although she officially ended ties with the Academy at that time, Danielle has continued to provide mentoring support to a number of the young girls in the Academy's squad.
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Coaches recalled to Victorian teams, 5 March 2009
Once again Volleyball Victoria has turned to Academy coaches to help Victoria maintain its standing as Australia's top junior volleyball state.
Steve Holder and Sharlene John will be coaching the Vic U17 White girls team. Andrew Fisher and Justine White will be coaching the Vic U15 boys gold. Meanwhile our Head Coach, David Smythe, is a mentor coach for all the U15 sides.
Volleyball Victoria is keen to stay with a proven formula. All five had coaching appointments with squads last year when Victoria overshadowed arch-rivals Queensland in the U15 and U17 Australian titles.
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Volleyball's magnificent seven, 26 February 2009
Seven Academy volleyball squad members have been named in Victorian training squads in preparations for the Australian titles later in the year.
They are:
U17 girls: Anna Williams, Chloe Street.
U17 boys: Fraser Cash, William Crawford, Liam Gibson.
U19 girls: Susannah Ball, Brodie Watts.
Anna, Chloe, Susannah and Brodie were members of teams last year. Chloe was captain of the Victorian U15 Victorian Blue team.
Next month the teams and reserves will be announced. Although players are almost certain to win team selection, places will still be competitive as players will prefer team spots over emergency roles.
In addition to our seven, a further three former Academy squad members were named in squads. They are Harley Atcheson, Eliza Smith and Danielle Stott. Danielle, named in the U21 side, has already had a distinguished international career in volleyball since leaving the Academy four years ago.
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Golden weekend for volleyballers, 26 November 2008
Academy volleyball squad members had an outstanding results at the Canberra Good Neighbour Tournament last weekend. The competition attracted top teams from around Australia and New Zealand, but in the school age divisions the Academy teams were the pace setters with two gold medals and one silver.
The boys team and the senior girls' team were finals winners with the junior girls' team finishing second.
Max Rounds won the most valued player award for the boys' event, and Cassie Brei earned the award in the senior girls' event.
A women's Bairnsdale team entered in Division 2 was also successful. It included squad members Brodie Watts and Susie Ball, along with coach Justine White and program manager Sharlene John. The most valued player award went to Brodie.
It was a remarkable achievement that all players were in a winning or runner-up team, and it reflects on their dedication and team discipline that they performed so well. Congratulations to all players and their supporters!
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Top two in Australian Youth Team, 29 July 2008
Two girls in the Academy's volleyball squad, Brodie Watts and Eliza Smith, have been selected for the Australian Youth Team to play in New Zealand in October.
At the start of this year the two girls were amongst a number of Academy athletes who were selected into Victorian girls' and boys' squads over different age groups. Both Brodie and Eliza went into the girls' U17 training squad. Their squad selection was the start of a challenging six months of preparation, with weekends being committed to squad training or Junior State League competition.
As the months progressed the Victorian coaches and selectors progressively pared down and fine-tuned the squad until, at the recent Australian Championship, they had their best possible teams.
In the Championships Brodie played in Victoria Blue which, after a close and exciting battle against Queensland in the final, emerged with the Australian title. As there were two top teams to select from, Brodie was delighted to be invited to join the Australian Youth Team to play in New Zealand in October. She has also been added to the reserve list for the Asian Youth Championships shortly after.
Meanwhile Eliza's White team was less successful, finishing 9th overall. Despite the team's disappointing results, Eliza's stand-out performances in the series impressed the selectors and she too has been added to the team for New Zealand.
Both Brodie and Eliza have participated in the Bairnsdale competition and the Melbourne-based Junior State League. They are in regular contact with another East Gippsland volleyball champion, Danielle Stott, who has supported and encouraged them. Danielle rose through the Academy ranks and was also an assistant coach at one stage. Danielle is now a regular member of the Victorian and Australian girls' U21 teams, and has been a wonderful example to other young players from her area.
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Volleyballers win national medals, 28 April 2008
Four Academy volleyball athletes won medals at the recent Australian U15 championships. They were Mitchell Sanders, Max Rounds, Chloe Street and Alix Porter.
Academy squad members at the Australian U15 titles:
Mitchell Sanders, Max Rounds, Chloe Street & Alix Porter.
Both Chloe and Alix were selected as captains of their sides, the girls' Blue and White teams respectively. For the boys Max Rounds played in Vic White, the no. 2 side, and Mitchell Saunders played in Yellow, the no. 3s.
The boys' final was a surprise with the second ranked Vic Whites steamrolling the Vic Blue team in a straight sets victory. As a gold medal winner Max Rounds was not the only one celebrating since the Whites were coached by the Academy's Head Coach Dave Smythe and Program Manager Sharlene John.
Vic Yellows, Mitchell Saunders' team, finished third. They were also coached by Academy coaches, Andrew Fisher and Justine White.
In the girls' competition the Vic Blue team, captained by Chloe Street and coached by Steve Holder, finished second. Vic Whites, captained by Alix Porter, won bronze.
Victoria dominated in this years championships by winning gold, silver and bronze in the boys division and silver and bronze in the girls division. We had athletes in four of the teams and our coaches supported three of them as well. We congratulate them all, and especially to Steve Holder who received a service award from Volleyball Victoria.
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Selectors honour seven more volleyballers, 26 February 2008
State selectors have chosen five more Academy volleyballers into its Victorian Training Squads, now bringing the total number to 9.
Four successful squad members: Eliza Smith, Melissa
Clarke, Brodie Watts & Cass Hallam at a recent beach
volleyball display.
The successful players are Anna Williams (U16), Eliza Smith, Brodie Watts and Harley Atcheson (U17), and Cass Hallam, Susannah Ball and Melissa Clarke (U19). They join four others who were selected last week into the U15 squads: Chloe Street, Alix Porter, Max Rounds and Mitchell Sanders.
Members of the U17 and U19 squads will be in heavy training for the Australian Junior Championships in July. However, the final teams will be pared down to 10 plus four emergencies. The U15s will play their championships earlier, in April, and their teams were announced last week.
Selection into the State squads has been based on a rigorous selection process, so we congratulate the successful athletes on their determination and effort. We hope all are successful in their state team endeavours.
Ex-Academy players Jacob Lindgren (U19) and Danielle Stott (U21) were also selected. Danielle has continued to successfully play for Victoria and Australia since graduating from the Academy three years ago.
Last year Volleyball Victoria also appointed five Academy personnel to coach junior teams through to the Championships. They are David Smythe (Academy Head Coach), Steve Holder and Andrew Fisher (Coaches), Justine White (Assistant Coach) and Sharlene John (Program manager).
This is an outstanding achievement for the Volleyball program and we offer congratulations to all those selected.
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Academy four make Victorian team, 19 February 2008
Four of last year's Academy volleyball squad have been selected in the the Victorian U15 team.
They will compete at the Australian U15 Championships in Albury from 14 to 17 April.
The successful girls are Chloe Street and Alix Porter, and the boys are Max Rounds and Mitchell Sanders.
There were more than 130 entrants in the selection trials in December, with selections being made into the State Training Squad. Last Sunday, Volleyball Victoria announced its final team selection of 30 players from the Training Squad.
Congratulations to all four on their selection and for their hard work over recent months.
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Victorian squad roles for coaches, 13 December 2007
Five Academy volleyball coaches have been appointed to key coaching roles with Volleyball Victoria.
Our head coach David Smythe, and coaches Steve Holder and Andrew Fisher, will take up coaching positions with the U15 squads. In addition, trainee coach and former squad member, Justine White, along with long-serving program manager Sharlene John, will be assistant coaches to the squads.
The coaches have have previously been involved with Victorian teams.
At present, Volleyball Victoria are holding selection trials for the U15 squads, in a long lead up to the national championships in the middle of next year.
The appointment of our five coaching panel members is a recognition of their skills and achievements with junior players.
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Volleyball selectors pick three more, 10 December 2007
Three more volleyball players have been selected to attend national training camps this summer. They are Cate Jeffrey, Eliza Smith and Brodie Watts. They will be attending Volleyball Australia's training camp at Bendigo on 15-16 December.
Like their Academy team mate, Harley Atcheson, who was previously invited to a summer training camp, the three girls will be hopeful of being drafted into a national training squad next year. Once in the national squad, the opportunity to represent Australia in overseas competition will be offered to the most outstanding of them.
At present U15 volleyball trials are underway for State selection, and this provides another avenue by which young players may come to notice and advance into a national squad.
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Outstanding volleyball result in national event, 30 November 2007
Three Academy volleyball teams all played extremely well at last weekend's Good Neighbour Tournament at Canberra.
Competing against teams from all across Australia, our senior girls finished second, our junior girls were third, and junior boys were also second. Our team members support for each other, on and off the court, contributed greatly to their successful results.
Cass Hallam and Chloe Street played extraordinarily well and both narrowly missed winning the Most Valuable Player award. They both received the same number of votes as the award winner.
A Bairnsdale women's team comprising ex-Academy players Laura Nielsen, Jemi Spriggs, and Sally Deed, along with Program Manager Sharlene John, also finished amongst the medalists. The team finished top of their pool and undefeated, but were runners-up in the final
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Volleyballer vies for Australian selection, 30 October 2007
Sports Academy volleyballer Harley Atcheson is now close to Australian selection following his invitation to a national junior volleyball training camp in Bendigo early in December. The Australian Volleyball Federation runs a series of camps where it progressively grades and reduces the number of candidates and Harley has impressed selectors at previous camps held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
The Bendigo camp is the last step, from which the Australian National Youth Team will be selected. The National Youth Team will play overseas matches next year.
Harley is one of the youngest candidates, still some months shy of his 16th birthday. However he already has the credentials to back up his claim for national selection. This year Harley was in the Victorian Secondary Schools team that won silver in the Australian Schools Championships held at Morayfield, Queensland. Harley played as a middle blocker and opposite hitter, gaining 90% court time and having little rest, and he played strongly in these positions.
The only team the Victorians didn't defeat was the home side Queensland but games against them were always close and the two teams played off for the gold medal. The Victorians came back from four points down to win the first set. The Queenslanders took a tight second set after a struggle and then went on to take out the gold medal in four sets, 3/1. Harley was selected as one of the Victorian's best players and was then honoured with a top six finish in the All Star12 for under 16 years players in Australia! This gives Harley his first National selection in the Australian Schools National team. Last year Harley was a member of the Victorian Volleyball Under 15 team that won the Australian Championships.
Following this event Harley competed for his home team Latrobe Valley in the State League Division 2 grand final. This match against Monash University was filled with exciting rallies and Harley played an important role as middle blocker, with his great height he was easily able to defeat the opposition attack many times. The Latrobe Valley team won gold in their first season and look forward to playing in division one next year.
If Harley makes the National Team he will be the third Gippsland Sports Academy athlete to do so, following in the footsteps of earlier Academy volleyball greats, Danielle Stott and Sally Deed.
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Volleyballers set themselves, 18 October 2007
The Gippsland Sports Academy's volleyball squad players are setting themselves for a major national tournament in Canberra later next month.
The Canberra event is the Good Neighbour Tournament where Academy players have competed successfully over the last 2 years. About 100 teams from around Australia are likely to be involved.
Since the squad's training season commenced two months ago players have been involved in a rigorous training program. In addition, last weekend, 18 squad members completed a Volleyball referees course. The course is and an essential for both game knowledge and being able to support and officiate during competitions.
High level training will continue this Saturday and Sunday when the volleyball athletes attend their second weekend training camp. A third weekend training camp will be held in early November, shortly before the Canberra tournament.
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