Training 26th of January

Due to Australia Day we will be cancelling preseason training on Thursday the 26th of January

2012 SAVC Coaches

Here is the list of coaches for the 2012 State League Season. These people were selected from the application submitted in Mid December. Congratulations to the following people who will lead our teams in 2012....

League Men
Head Coach:- Scott "Scooter" Mansell
Assistant Coach:- Andrew "Conan" Dwyer
Manager:- Kevin LePoidevin

League Women
Head Coach:- Andrew "Conan" Dwyer
Assistant Coach:- Alex "Monkie" Moncrieff

Reserve Men
Head Coach:- Leon Jacobsen
Assistant Coaches:- Chris Gosling & Josh Hixson

Reserve Women
Head Coach:- Roger Dorshorst
Assistant Coach:- Rebecca Pohl

Division 1 Men
Head Coach:- John "PM" Howard
Assistant Coach:- To Be Confirmed

Division 1 Women
Head Coach:- Samantha Simmonds
Assistant Coach:- Nathan "Wombat" McLeod

2012 Preseason Training

Hello and Happy New Year. Just a friendly reminder that preseason training starts next week for all members. The Committee has worked hard to organise this event for your benefit. These sessions are designed to help athletes develop fitness and work on muscle groups that are specific to Volleyball. Physio Action SA's Josh Scott will be running the sessions with help from Rory Sinclair from Short Circuit Fitness. For the first time in a while we will be combining Men's and Women's athletes together. Sessions will still run if the weather is not great. Sessions will then be tailored to the conditions.

Outdoor Sessions
Where:- Meeting at the Seacliff Roundabout

When:- Tuesday 10th of January and Thursday 12th of January
Tuesday 17th of January and Thursday 19th of January
Tuesday 24th of January
Tuesday 31st of January and Thursday 2nd of February
Tuesday 7th of February (Men Only)
Thursday 9th of February (Women Only)
Tuesday 14th of February (Men Only)
Thursday 16th of February (Women Only)
Tuesday 21st of February (Men Only)
Thursday 23rd of February (Women Only)
Tuesday 28th of February (Men Only)
Thursday 1st of March (Women Only)

Time:- 7pm Sharp

What:- Bring running shoes and swimming gear

Indoor Training
Below are the indoor training times for the start of the year. Once coaches have selected people for teams we will be changing time so that all teams and junior teams have a 2 hour time slot on either Tuesday or Thursday Nights.

Women Tuesday the 7th of February at 7pm - 9pm at Westminster School
Men Thursday the 9th of February 7pm - 9pm at Westminster School

These sessions will help select squads for the 2012 season, get vital repetitions and improving skills for the State League Season. The Club would also like people to consider attending the Warrnambool Seaside Tournament to get some vital match practice against some different opposition and play against some strong competition.
It is in your best interest to get along and take advantage of these sessions. So get along and help South Adelaide Volleyball Club start on the right foot in 2012.

2011 Thanks!

The Club would like to say a big thanks to the following people for their efforts in 2011.
Last year's committee:
Alex Moncrieff
Nathan McLeod
Meagan Jones
Kerin Cross
Teila Jaques
Melanie Brown
Ashley LePoidevin
Elle Galpin
Craig Donnellan
Sam Harvey

Last year's Senior coaches:
Scott Mansell
Alex Moncrieff
Roger Dorshorst
Leon Jacobsen
Ashley LePoidevin
John Howard
Stewart Nancarrow
Jonathon Behrend
Daniel Dempsey
Kevin LePoidevin (Manager)

Last year's Junior Coaches:
Peter Natar
Tyson McLeod
Stephen Barber
Nathan McLeod
Rebecca Pohl
Melanie Brown
Alex Moncrieff
Angela Emery
Britt James
Christina Chrisakis
Leigh Galliford
Luke Thomas
Adam Stribley
Luke Broadbent
Bryson Lloyd
James Goss
Olivia Betro
Angie Cunniffe

Also thanks all the Junior and Senior Athletes for a great year.... Without your commitment the Club would not be in the strong position it is today!

Happy New Year to all South Adelaide Members and their families!

2011 Junior Academy

This year saw the second year of the Club investing time into the South Adelaide Junior Academy. Although numbers were down this year, we still ran quality sessions which saw participants get some quality one on one instruction and given more attention to help athletes improving their own skills. Thank you to all the coaches and senior athletes who came out to help at these sessions.

School Cup Results

Congratulations to all the South Adelaide members who competed in the Australian Schools Cup Held in Melbourne. Below is a summary of all the South Adelaide affiliated schools results from the tournament.

Hallett Cove Teams
Open Boys Division 1 - 13th
Open Girls Division 1 - 15th
Under 16 Boys Division 1 - 17th
Under 16 Girls Division 2 - 17th
Under 15 Boys Division 1 - 10th
Under 15 Girls Division 1 - 13th

Westminster Team
Open Boys Division 2 - 20th

Also congrats to all South Adelaide athletes who played at the tournament with other schools!

Thanks to Physio Action SA

After 2 years of support South Adelaide Volleyball Club wanted to thank Josh Scott at Physio Action SA for his commitment and support to the Club. Josh has worked tirelessly to treat athletes over that time, attended numerous training sessions and sponsor the Club even though the Business has only been running a short time. Below is a token of the Club's appreciation which was presented to Josh on December 31st 2011.

Josh Scott owner of Physio Action SA being presented the framed print with SAVC President Alex Moncrieff

Remember if you need any treatment please make an appointment and remember to show your South Membership card. Also check out their new website - http://physioactionsa.com.au/

Thanks also to Omega Picture Frames at Thebarton for all the great work they have done for the Club over the last few years. Check them out - http://www.omegapictureframes.com.au/

25th Anniversary Celebration – Save The Date!

Next year South Adelaide Volleyball Club will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary. Plans are underway to make this event a very special occasion. This is the first announcement to make people aware of the details so they can plan for this amazing occasion. The details that have been confirmed are below...

Where:- The National Wine Centre
When:- Saturday the 28th of July
Time:- 7.00pm till 12.00am
Cost:- Still being confirmed. $75-$85
Food & Drink:- Canapés and a drinks package are included in the price.

There will be memorabilia, displays, photos, premiership trophies, visual displays and old uniforms on display. So put it in your 2012 diary and hopefully we'll see you there. If you know of anyone who played for the Club that needs to attend, please spread the word...

If you have any questions, wish to receive updates about this event or any photos or videos from your playing career at SAVC, please email Ashley "Lunchbox" LePoidevin - a.lepoidevin@hotmail.com

South Adelaide Presentation Night

Saturday the 17th of September saw the Mitchell Room at capacity as the Club's annual presentation kicked off at 7pm. The night saw the Club award 11 Junior teams and 6 Senior teams for the 2011 State League season. Thanks to junior players, parents, family, senior players and life members that attended the evening. At the end of the evening John "PM' Howard received the Craig "Slugger" Watson award for his service to the Club this year and John "JB" Bennett was honoured with Life Membership of South Adelaide Volleyball Club.

Below is a list of award winners from the 2011 season.

Senior Award Winners
League Men
MVP – Jack Fleming & Alex Bill
Coaches Award – Jonathon Behrend

League Women
MVP – Alicia Davidge and Samantha Simmonds
League Women Coaches Award – Kim Wigg

Reserve Men
MVP – Dylan Hurem
Most Improved – Luke Bonser

Reserve Women
MVP – Leila Haghighi and Rebecca Pohl
Coaches Award – Elle Galpin

Division 1 Men
MVP – Ashley LePoidevin
Coaches Award – Ben Saunders

Division 1 Women
MVP – Yvette Halstead
Coaches Award - Jaimi Farmer

Junior Award Winners
SAVC 1 - Under 19 Division 5 girls
MVP: Nikita Shastri
Coaches Award: Anja Hauer
Most Improved: Kayla Faulkner

SAVC 2 - Under 19 Division 4 Boys
MVP: Axel Thurlow
Coaches Award: Daniel Hutton
Most Improved: Elijah Tardio

SAVC 3 - Under 15 Division 1Girls
MVP: Caroline IshakSaad
Coaches Award: Steph L'Estrange
Most Improved: Courtney Healey

SAVC 4 - Under 15 Division 1 Boys
MVP: Zac Munroe
Coaches Award: Lucas Ruth
Most Improved: Alex Wilson

SAVC 5 - Under 19 Division 3 Boys
MVP: Dylan Jaspers
Coaches Award: Matt Burchall
Most Improved: Turner Matene

SAVC 6 - Under 19 Division 2 Girls
MVP: Danni Burchall
Coaches Award: Kelli Powell
Most Improved: Hayley Ford

SAVC 7 - Under 19 Division 1 Boys
MVP: Kyle Miecienski
Coaches Award: Damian Roach
Most Improved: Ben Saunders

SAVC 8 - Under 19 Division 3 Boys
MVP – Tom Mildren
Most Improved – Mitch Gray
Coaches Award – Tom Dalby

SAVC 9 - Under 19 Division 4 Boys
MVP - Austin Pladson
Most Improved - Tim Dean
Coaches Award – Matt Reseigh

SAVC 10 - Under 19 Division 3 Girls
MVP - Peyton Lloyd
Most Improved -Ruth MacKinnon
Coaches Award - Alice Bradley

SAVC 11 - Under 19 Division 5 Girls
MVP – Georgia Murray
Most Improved – Meg Hamilton
Coaches Award – Maddi Sellick

Senior Finals Results

On the 10th of September our Women's Reserves and Division 1 Women both lined up against USC Lion. The Division 1 Women were up first at 10.00am. This match has a great atmosphere with the South Army of supporters filing in to support the girls. The girls fought their way through a see-sawing battle which ended in a tight contest at the end of the fourth set. With the set scores locked at 2-2 and a frantic fifth set began with the South girls racing out to a small lead. The trend that defined the match continued throughout the fifth set with both teams putting together mini runs of points to snatch the lead from each other. The match ended with USC Lion taking the honours 15-13 in an epic set. Big thanks to Coaches Jacobsen and Lunchbox for guiding the team all year. It would be fair to say that the girls improved greatly across the year and put together a fantastic second half of the season. Many of the girls in this team will be pushing the current Reserve women for positions in 2012 and hopefully they can go one better next year.

The Reserve Women were next up. The girls started solidly in their warm up. The ledger had been set at 2 wins each during the year and this match was not only going to determine who the grand final winner was but also the better record between the two teams for 2011. The girls were coming off a week's rest after beating Lion in the semi final and coach Dorshorst pushed the girls hard in the training during the week off. Confidence was high as the South girls turned in a great performance during the semi final. The girls fought hard during every set, but unfortunately they succumbed to more consistent Lion attack. The South girls were unlucky at crucial times in the set where they were not able to capitalise some extremely long rallies which saw some great defence from both teams.

VSA Award Winners

Congratulations the following South Members who won awards at the VSA Presentation Night which was held on preliminary final weekend at the Arkaba Hotel. The night saw all State League Awards presented, Volunteer of the Year, Referee of the Year and Junior Referee of the Year. South Adelaide would also like to congratulate referee Bob Bates on gaining Life Membership of Volleyball SA.

South Adelaide Award Winners

Alicia Davidge – League Women's Best Blocker

John Howard – Reserve Men's Best Blocker

Kim Wigg – Reserve Women's Best Setter

Michael Mendoza – Division 1 Men's Best Receiver

It was a great night with some decent food, a very witty MC and our very own DJ Ben Earle spinning the wheels of steel until the early hours of the morning. Thanks to all the members that were in attendance and hopefully next year we can get more South Adelaide people along to make it bigger and better!

Well done to all State League Award winners. It is fantastic to see all those athletes acknowledged for their efforts during the State League season in 2011.

Semi Finals Action – Saturday the 27th of August

This Saturday sees South Adelaide teams battle for grand final Glory. Here is a quick run down as we start the all important finals at Mt Lofty Community Sports Centre on Saturday the 27th of August. It would be great to see all current members, former members, friends and families out to help the Black, Red and White achieve final success in 2011…

League Men
The boys come off a narrow loss to Norwood in the final round and will be looking to advance further towards the grand final. In the tightest race for finals spots in years the League Men finished in fourth position and now face arch enemy "USC Lion" in a knock out match. If Saturday's close loss is anything to go by we should be expecting fiery match. The dominant net play of Josh Hixson, Jonathon Behrend and Jack Fleming will be working over time to secure a victory against the arch rival.

League Women
After the dust had settled after the final minor round the girls finished third and managed to avoid the dreaded duty after the match. That will be performed by Austral as they finished fourth. The League Women have the upper hand going into this contest after beating Austral twice this season. The only loss Austral inflicted was in Round 1. The girls will be looking to advance to the preliminary finals with outside hitters Samantha Simmonds, Summer Lochowicz and Mel Cross controlling the strong outside attack. The girls will be looking to make some noise during the finals and take down a few big scalps on the way to the grand final!

Reserve Women
The girls have secured a double chance after finishing second in the minor round. This sees them facing arch rivals USC Lion. The South girls have been the only team to knock off the dominant Lion team during the season. This match will be reliant on the strong setting of Kim Wigg and the outside hitting of Rebecca Pohl, Leila Haghighi and Captain Fiona Millken. The girls are a tight knit group who have worked hard all year to improve and prepare for finals. Coach Dorshorst has them well drilled and ready to rumble in the finals!

Division 1 Women
This young group has snuck up and managed to grab the Minor Premiership in the final week of the season. This team is lead by the experienced duo of Rachel Pater and Tess McDuie will be looking to continue the stellar form that has seen them rise to first place. The girls secured a second chance for the first final and will look to utilise inform Cherise Boothey and Megan Hulbert whose blocking has been a highlight for the team. These girls have galvanised as a team and will be making a run towards finals glory!

Game Times for the Semi Finals on the 27th of August
League Men - 2pm vs USC Lion
League Women - 2pm vs Austral Phoenix
Reserve Women - 12pm vs USC Lion
Division 1 Women - 4pm vs Mt Lofty

Unfortunately the Reserve Men and Division 1 Men finished fifth and sixth respectively. The boys will now focus their attention to supporting the other teams over the next 3 weeks…

Good luck to all South Adelaide athletes and coaches for the 2011 State League Finals.
Hope to see you out there supporting the Black, Red and White!

2011 Warrnambool Annual Seaside Tournament

On the Adelaide Cup Long Weekend, South Adelaide Volleyball Club made the 7 hour drive to Warrnambool for the Annual Seaside Volleyball which is hosted by the Warrnambool Volleyball Association. This year saw 3 teams entered, Honours Men, Division 1 Women and Division 1 Men. Most cars left early on Friday morning for the trip and had a leisurely trip with a few stops on the way. We arrived at Emmanuel College in Warrnambool around 5pm local time.
Emmanuel College Gymnasium has been our home for 15 years when we travel to the tournament and provides us with the essentials for the tournament such as showers, a roof over our heads and a place to relax and socialise after long days at the stadium. For $5 a night who can really complain! Warrnambool is the cheapest trip that South Adelaide organises and we would like to increase the number of teams in 2012 that attend this great tournament.

Honours Men
This year saw a strong Honours Men's competition featuring Heidelberg, Monash Uni, Melbourne Uni Renegades, Yarra Rangers and the Canberra Heat. The first day saw wins against Canberra Heat and Milton Storm. The boys were looking strong with some great Volleyball played in the first day. The first match saw Scott Roberts take control of the serving with a great string of aces which left the Canberra Heat lads scratching their collective heads in amazement. Late in the second match John Bennett popped a finger which saw him change rolls from a middle player to a designated serving substitute.

Sunday morning was the last of 2 pool matches against Monash and Yarra Rangers respectively. The first game saw a tense match between us and Monash. The first set went the way of Monash and mid way through the second the boys rallied from a small deficit to even the scores up a 24 points a piece. We traded points in a sideout frenzy. Monash was leading 27-26 when Tim "DY" Martin flicked up a back court set to Craig "Max" Donnellan. Max transitioned perfectly and cracked the ball towards middle of the court in position 6. The ball flew straight into the position 6 player's face and promptly out the back of the court. Our boys cheered loudly as Max had saved set point and set us up for a furious finish to see who could claim the last set. As the boys were celebrating the referees pointed to the opposition and awarded Monash the point. 2 linesmen, a net referee and the top referee could not see the ball ricochet of his face and into the back wall. This meant that we lost the match and needed to beat Yarra Rangers in the late morning match.

The boys lost the first even with the full South Adelaide cheers squad perched in the grandstands. The match saw some very average serving from the boys and a lack of double touch calls made by the referee. The second set was snatched by the lads from Yarra. This meant that the cross over matches saw a showdown between us and arch enemy USC Lion. The match started with some very even play. The boys opened up a small gap and maintained it to the end of the set. The second set started with some great play by both sides. A major change in the line up for our boys did nothing to slow down the solid play at the net. The third set was a non event with Lion taking the dead rubber without too much fuss. This led us to play Melbourne Uni Renegades for a final match.

This match left us with a mathematically impossible chance of making the grand final. The boys cruised against the big hitting outside attack of the Renegades and could have potentially beaten them if we had played them when our boys were fresh. Equally most of the successful teams had solid numbers of players and rotated them well through the tournament. Just a heads up for anyone interested in coming along next year…

Division 1 Women
The 2011 trip to Warrnambool saw a vastly different Division 1 Women's team to that which took out the title last year. It was an interesting mix of young new blood, some familiar stalwarts and a couple of returnees from the Volleyball wilderness. Without having so much as met all team members before the tournament started, the girls had a great challenge in front of them playing against some good talent and tremendous experience in the likes of Black Swans, Geelong Phantoms, Heathfield, Monash, Van Diemens, Renegades and Ballarat Phantoms. The team had an early setback with new recruit Rachael Natar unable to attend the tournament due to illness, which left us with just one setter in Meagan "Moogs" Jones.

It seemed as though it might be the longest long weekend of Volleyball in history when the girls started out by losing the first 5 points of the first game against Monash. To their credit, the team pulled themselves together with a dominating display of serving from Bec Pohl and worked well together to produce a 2-1 win. We had a consistent line up which saw the more experienced players work tirelessly over the weekend without a break and a few of the young girls showing their intent to move their way up at South. Despite another slow start by the girls, the second game proved to be a bit easier for the team after playing a game together already. The girls were able to put away the Ballarat Phantoms in a convincing 3-0 defeat with great contributions from all players. After a long day at the stadium starting with an 8am duty, the girls struggled to maintain focus for their third game at almost 5pm against a very experienced Geelong Phantoms team. We managed to regain some of our composure to take the second set but couldn't carry on with it, finishing with a 2-1 loss. Despite the girls' first loss for the tournament, we were still in good stead going into the crossovers on Sunday, knowing we would probably need to win all 3 games to see ourselves in the Grand Final.

The group was grateful for a more reasonable start on Sunday at 9.15am against the third placed Melbourne Uni Renegades from Pool B. With growing confidence and all players' skills improving with every game we played, the girls showed that their second placing in Pool A was no fluke, taking down the Victorian team 2-1. With some long rallies being played out during this game, Mariah Mannix and Elle Galpin were instrumental in their specialist back court roles along with Rachel Pater, keeping the team in points time and time again. After a sound win, the girls were eager to take on the unfamiliar bottom placed Tasmanian team, Van Diemens. With some encouragement from the South crew, the change of surroundings on a new court was not to deter the group from taking a dominant first set victory, almost doubling the Tasmanians' score. The star of the first set was Game Captain Bec Pohl, who served Van Diemens off the court, giving the team a massive lead early on. Bec continued her display of excellence throughout the game with her best demonstration of back-court hitting yet. Our senior setter Meagan "Moogs" Jones fed all hitters well and led the team with her tenacious defensive skills. We also saw some very encouraging efforts by young guns Cherise Boothey and Megan Hulbert through the middle, both playing in their first tournament for South Adelaide. Along with Tess McDuie, they proved to be a wall at the net against the fairly tall Tasmanian team and no doubt will turn some heads at State League this year. After a comfortable win against Van Diemens, the girls had 2 ½ hours before the all important clash against the impressive Black Swans which would almost certainly determine which team would earn a Grand Final spot. This was a very even game which saw both teams trading strings of points at a time. The consistency and power of the Black Swans proved too much for the South girls though, losing narrowly in each set. Again this game provided excellent experience for the group and new mum and Game Captain Cheryl Ann Bennett was ever-reliable, leading the team by example.

Unfortunately with this loss, the girls not only missed out narrowly on a Grand Final appearance, but also got lobbed with the dreaded Monday duty. The older girls stayed behind to do the Grand Final duty, leaving for home early afternoon well after the rest of the South crew headed off on their journey. Overall the weekend was a resounding success for the girls' side of the club with a few players getting some valuable touches ahead of State League and Arafura and our debutants receiving invaluable experience in a tournament atmosphere. The whole group put in a tremendous effort over the 6 games, but special credit should go to Bec Pohl, Rachel Pater, Meagan Jones and most of all, Cheryl Ann Bennett who not only played her first game since Arafura 2009 and having her first child, but also played without rest over the weekend. A special thank you to Mr and Mrs Hulbert who chaperoned Megan and Mariah for the weekend and cheered the girls on. Last but not least, thank you to Lucas Head who helped drive the team around all weekend and stayed behind to make sure we all got home safely after the duty. It was fantastic to see a fairly inexperienced team achieve such a great result; the improvement and bonding in the team over the tournament was evident for all to see.

Division 1 Men
The Division 1 Men had a daunting task as they were technically defending last year's grand final win. It should be mentioned that it was a completely different line up to that of 2010. The competition saw Division 1 stalwarts Spotty Dogs, Monash, Q Redbacks all back for the tournament. Also in the mix was Horsham, Letrobe and the boys played their hearts out all weekend regardless of what the opposition threw at them. The boys were captained by Ashley "Lunchbox" LePoidevin who played through the middle with Michael "Gary" Bonser for the whole tournament. Chad continued the traditional SA verses Vic rivalry with a duty team asking him to not yell during the serve of opposition players. He was asked not to yell "hopper" while the server was performing a jump serve. Apparently it is not allowed in Victoria. Chad being a quick witted lad he changed the word to "Rice Crispies", but that was frowned upon too. Wombat had a crack at playing Libero and saw how the other half lives. Stewart Nancarrow made a triumphant return to playing in Warrnambool and tested his knees playing the majority of the weekend. Pete Natar played as a passer hitter for the whole weekend and produced a magical set that mystified everyone playing and watching. Tyson McLeod gained a new nickname and has written a letter of complaint to a Warrnambool restaurant. Luke Morrison made his debut and only decided to make the trip at 7.00pm on the Thursday night before the tournament. Although the boys didn't win a game they pushed every team in most sets. The dramatic improvement was easy to see with the boys starting to gel together on Sunday.

Thanks to all the members who attended in 2011. A special thanks to Scott Roberts who travelled all the way from the other side of Melbourne. Also to John and Cheryl Ann Bennett who popped across from Mt Gambier with 1year old Bailey. Bailey was a source of entertainment all weekend for the South Crew. Thank you to Emmanuel College for letting us stay in their Gymnasium. Lastly thanks to Alex Moncrieff, Leon Jacobsen and John Howard for coaching across the weekend. From all accounts everyone had a good time and bring on Warrnambool 2012….

2011 Training Times

Now that squads have been picked for our senior teams we now resume normal training times. All trainings are helod at Westminster School Gymnasium. Please take note of the training time allotted for your squad. These will be the allotted times for the entire 2011 State League Season.

League Men: Tuesday Night - 8pm-10pm on Court 3
League Women: Tuesday Night – 6pm-8pm on Court 1

Reserve men: Thursday Night – 7pm-9pm on Court 1
Reserve Women: Thursday Night – 7pm-9pm on Court 3

Division 1 Men: Tuesday Night – 8pm-10pm on Court 2
Division 1 Women: Tuesday Night – 8pm-10pm on Court 1

Junior Men: Tuesday Night – 6pm-8pm on Court 3
Junior Women: Tuesday Night – 6pm-8pm on Court 2

If you have any questions or concerns please email the following people…

Senior Women's Query's please email Elle Galpin

Senior Men's Query's please email Craig Donnellan

Junior League Query's please email Melanie Brown

Thank you to our major sponsor:

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2011 Newsletters

South Adelaide Cycling

If you are interested in going for a weekend cycle, email Scott "Scooter" Mansell

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Coaches Needed

SAVC is always looking for potential coaches. If you're interested in helping out, please contact Alex.

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