Unsung Heroes

Tania Green sees her share of Whakatane’s troubled teens.

The physical education relief teacher also sees their potential being unlocked, through a net, a court and a stitched ball.

Vast chunks of her spare time are spent coaching the town’s children and teens in volleyball.

She then helps them fundraise, enabling even those with the least means to travel to regional and national tournaments.

Read more with The NZ Herald

NZ Girls Thwart Australian Sweep

The Secondary Schools Trans-Tasman Volleyball Competition has been contested and completed in Nelson. The final result saw Queensland girls beating the North Island girls 3-2 ( 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12 ). In the boys competition Queensland defeated defending champs North Island 3-0 ( 25-21, 25-21, 27-29 ). The Trans-Tasman competition involved teams from the North Island, South Island, Queensland and New South Wales. At the conclusion of the Trans-Tasman competition, test teams were selected to create a match of Australia vs New Zealand.

 
Queensland prospered although New Zealand shared the international spoils when the Trans-Tasman secondary schools volleyball series ended on Thursday at Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre.

Queensland walked away from the four-day tournament with both the boys and girls’ titles. But Australia missed the sweep when the New Zealand girls won their test in a five-set thriller, leaving the Australian boys’ team to wrap up the series with a 3-2 win over New Zealand.

More with the The Nelson Mail.

2008 Wellington Secondary Schools Volleyball

Secondary Schools Volleyball has started back up again for 2008 Term-1. This is a big time for Senior Volleyball as the National Tournament will be held in Palmerston North on March 30th – April 4th. The Wellington Secondary Schools Volleyball Competition Draw is being posted on “College Sport Wellington’s” website.

So check the draw to find out times for the game, Junior Volleyball is being played around the Wellington area from 4pm or 5pm on every Wednesday of the First-Term. And the Senior Volleyball games are being played from 4pm or 5pm every Friday of the First-Term. The game is back for a full calander season, and so the Terms are not spilt but Term-1 is now carried on into Term-4.
Update: Wellington Secondary Schools Volleyball Tournament held at Walter Nash Stadium (Taita), Thursday March 13th (for boys) and Friday 14th March (for girls).

Feel Too Short to Play Volleyball?

Posted by studentsports.com on November 21, 2007

John Kessel:
Director, Membership Development & Disabled Programs for USA Volleyball serves as its number one ambassador for the sport.

In 1995, Volleyball Magazine named him as one of the 50 most important people in the sport of volleyball in the first 100 years.

John is a prolific writer and shares his enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport with the Student Sports Volleyball audience.

Here you will read from Kessel as he responds to the very real question volleyball players have asked for decades and especially recently as the sport has exploded in growth …

Am I Too Short to Play Volleyball?
By John Kessel, USA Volleyball Director of Membership Development & Disabled Programs

Good Morning John:
I have a question and a HUGE favor to ask if you are willing. The favor first. My child is playing volleyball for a Jr. Olympic volleyball program this season. My child is (honestly, not a parent talking) the best player they have. He can set, hit, block, serve and pass (consistently) and has wanted his whole life to grow up and try out for the Olympic team. He works every chance he gets on perfecting his skills. Unfortunately, the coaches have decided that his dream is not valid an told him last night that “you don’t stand a chance on making the Men’s national team because you are not tall enough”. He is 6’1″ right now and will probably get another 3 inches max. He came home from practice last night and had he been 6 instead of 16 he would have curled up in my lap and cried.

Dear Parent -
The Olympic dream is one we all seek in principle and conduct for our children – Citius, Altius, Fortius is a way to live life, not just play volleyball, always seeking to improve and do your personal best. I am sorry to hear that some coach, who is not with the National team, was so inflated with his/her expertise, to make such a statement. Any coach who says such should consider not coaching, or having kids – for in the desire to be an expert, they are stepping on the spirits and souls of developing quality humans. As Hodding Carter put it so well, we are here to give our children roots, and wings. That coach is wrong, but mistakes are simply opportunities to teach, so let’s look into such a thought …

When I first read your note, this quote from Marv Dunphy came to mind ….

“It is not how tall you are, it is how GOOD you are.”
- Marv Dunphy, 1988 Olympic Gold Medal coach

Then my mind was filled with images from other Olympics I have been a part of- on the women’s side to start, for your son’s dreams are also shared by girls who are under 6 foot tall and sharing the same Olympic dream. Watching 5’4″ Debbie Green lead her USA team to a silver medal, behind the great serving, passing and attacking of captain Sue Woodstra, all 5’8″ of her. Meche Gonzales, sitting on the bench for Peru as a 13 year old, then four years later leading her Peru team in the 1976 Olympics as a 5’6″ middle blocker. Leanne Sato, dominating on defense for the USA team in the 1988 Olympics – all 5’2″ of her. The wizardry of setting by 5’8″inch tall Lori Endicott as the women brought home a bronze medal in 1992…and even now, the court leadership by Robyn Ah Mow for this century’s USA Olympic teams, who is 5’7″.

When you get to the men’s side, the list is also very long…as 5’7″ Waldo Kantor leads his
Argentina team to an Olympic medal in 1988, 5’9″ Korean setter Kim Oh Chul, swing blocking to stuff far taller hitters at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics. Sato sibling Eric, all 5’11″ of him jump serving gold medal match point for the USA men, causing an overpass that was killed to win the highest honor in our sport. These women and men, other than Robyn, are all players who played before there was the libero, a position now where talented players of any size, the Dutch men’s libero is 6”9″, contribute to their team. Most nations have liberos for women who average about 5’7″, while on the men’s side it is about 6’1″.

Wellington 2008 College Volleyball Dates

 

• Junior Volleyball.
  Competition will start Term 1 February 13th 2008.

• Senior Volleyball.
  Competition will start Term 1 February 15th 2008.

• 2008 Wellington Senior Secondary Schools Regional Volleyball.
  Date: 13th March (Boys) / 14th March (Girls)
  Venue: Walter Nash.

• 2008 VNZ National Senior Secondary School Championships.
  Date: March 30th – April 4th
  Venue: Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North.
  Closing date for entries and payment of Early Bird
  ($550 per team) - Friday February 22
  Closing date for entries and payment of entry fees – Friday March 7
  Website on VNZ
  The Opening Ceremony will be held at 6.00pm, Sunday 31st March, at Arena Manawatu. The finals will be held on Friday 4th of April. Event Flyer.
   

• 2008 VNZ National Age Group & Secondary School Team Trials.
  Date: April 5th
  Time: 9am – 12pm
  Venue: Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North.
  Schools should ensure athletes who wish to trial for these teams, arrange to stay on following the National Secondary School Championships, or that team travel arrangements are made to accommodate.

2007 Junior Inter-Provincial Champs

Another year of Junior IPC Volleyball, and the games seemed to be real spectacular. This is the 6th year the IPC Tournaments have been run. A Senior IPC Tournament will be schedule for the 1st-Term of 2008.

Competing Teams:

Junior Girls – Bay of Plenty – Waikato – Manukau-Auckland – North harbour

Junior Boys – North Harbour - Waikato – Bay of Plenty – Counties – Hawkes Bay

Junior Boys IPC Finals

Boys Elimination Final:
North Harbour defeat Waikato 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-13)
(Waikato Finish 3rd)

Finals: Bay of Plenty defeat North Harbour 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-11)

Junior Girls IPC Finals

Bronze Medal Playoff:
Manukau-Auckland defeat North Harbour 3-2
(25-23, 25-20, 24-26, 18-25, 15-8 )

Finals: Waikato defeat Bay of Plenty 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 18-16)

To read about how the games went, click below.