The Elite Women Competition takes to the Court
Western Australia takes on the QAS Pirates in the opening game of the Australian Volleyball League – Women’s Series 2009, on Mother’s Day weekend in Sydney. Playing at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre, the teams are joined by Canberra Heat, who is returning to the competition after a few years’ hiatus, Melbourne Monash University Blues and 2008 Champions, UTS/Sydney Uni. South Australia start their campaign in round 2, in front of their home crowd.
The competition tips off with Round 1 in Sydney, Saturday 9th-Sunday 10th May, followed by Adelaide (23rd-24th May), then across to Perth (13th-14th June) and the preliminary competition closes with round 4 in Melbourne (27th-28th June). Then it’s back to Melbourne for the Finals, held in conjunction with Victoria’s State League on the 25th-26th July.
If you’re in the area come on down and get behind your home team. Venue information, player profiles and the draw can be found on the AVL website, www.avf.org.au/AVL.
The Journeymen over the Young Guns
The Journeymen of Australian Beach Volleyball took it to the young guns at the 2009 BMD Australian Beach Championships, held at Sandstorm Beach Club in Brisbane last month. Triple Olympian Josh Slack paired with Queensland stalwart Brett Richardson to be crowned the Australian Champions, beating out Dan Carey and Isaac Kapa in straight sets, 21-14, 21-16. Carey/Kapa put in some solid performances over the weekend to overcome some big names and to claim their first-ever berth in an Australian Championships Gold Medal game, however experience beat out youth this time.
Isaac Kapa proved to be an impossible obstacle at the net, with his massive frame blocking time and again. It wasn’t enough to get his team over the line, but it did win him the coveted ’Player of the Tournament’ prize.
In the women’s draw top seeds from Belgium, Liesbeth Mouha and Lisbet van Breedam, came from behind in the final set to overcome, Australia’s own Heike Jensen and Becchara Palmer. The Belgians fought hard for the first set, 21-19, lost focus in the second, 15-21, but clawed back in the third and showed true grit to take out the deciding set 15-12. While the Belgians claimed the Gold Medal, it was Jensen/Palmer who was crowned the 2009 BMD Australian Champions, probably not the way they wanted to claim the title, but Champions just the same.
The event attracted 34 men’s and 31 women’s team, in the biggest-ever draw at an Australian Championships. In extenuating circumstances the event proceeded with the help of Natalie Cook, her Sandstorm venue, a handful of wonderful sponsors and a small, but loyal band of volunteers and referees. A special thanks goes to our sponsors, BMD, Waeco, Vending Solutions, Lipton, Bolle, Mikasa, Pradis Water, Enhance Chiropractic & Massage and of course the Australian Sports Commission.
Full results can be viewed in the AVF website: http://www.avf.org.au/index.php?id=774
Aussies Medal in Thailand - Asian Beach Volleyball Tour Asia
Event 2 Phatthalung, Thailand April 9 - 11
Australia’s Sam Boehm and Chris McHugh pulled off a stunning 2:1 (19-21 21-16 15-13) victory over Indonesia’s Andy Ardiyansah / Koko Darkuncoro to win Gold in the Asian Tour event. Indonesia is current Asian Beach Games champions, winners of Event 1 of the tour in Khanom and gold medallists at the 24th SEA Games.
A massive kill block, on match point by Chris McHugh provided the Aussies with their first International victory.
This was a great and well-earned victory for the team after a demanding pre-season training schedule over the past 4 months.
Other Australia Results
4th Louise Bowden and Alice Rohkamper
9th Heike Jensen and Becchara Palmer
Al Lyne and Jens Michel
Event 3 Songkhla, Thailand April 14 - 16
Australia’s Becchara PALMER / Heike JENSEN achieved a fantastic Bronze medal 3rd place (defeating China 1 in Bronze match, Quote from the Asian Volleyball press suggested ‘the Chinese remain one of the indomitable giants for the other experienced teams to be reckoned with in the top-flight five-day meet’) Asian Volleyball Confederation website at the 10th Samila-Federbrau Asian Beach Volleyball Tour at Samila Beach, Thailand.
Other Australia Results
5th Louise BAWDEN / Alice ROHKAMPER
25th Al Lyne and Jens Michel
Event 1 Nakhon Si Thammarat April 4 - 6
9th Sam Boehm and Chris McHugh
17th Al Lyne and Jens Michel
The next Asian Tour event is the 2009 Beach Volleyball Tournament, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, May 10 - 13 where Aaron Crook and Adam Blackburn will represent Australia.
2009 Aussie Junior Beach World Champs Camp Asia
The final selection camp for the 2009 Aussie Junior Beach teams was conducted at the AIS/AVF National Centre of Excellence in Adelaide April 13 - 17.
The selection process started back in October 2008 and continued throughout the summer with Open National training camps in Melbourne and Brisbane during January, while selectors also cast their eyes over the squad in competition at the National Junior Champs (Melbourne - January) and the National Senior Champs (Brisbane - March).
The athletes’ invited and attended the final selection camp were:
Zina Stone, Shae Sloane, Jordan Mowen, Katie Bartoli, Mariafe Artacho, Nicole Laird, Taliqua Clancy, Ariana Paurini, Jennifer Sadler, Monique Stojanovic, Taylor Schulz-Donovan, Jess Ryder, Joshua Court, Michael Snart, Nick Arnold, Patrick Mead, Ben Bell, Harrison Peacock, Luke Smith, Cole Durant, Cam McKenzie, Russell Moore, Jordan Power, Sam Halliday, Curtis Stockton, Will Mercer, Hamish Moore, Alex Pearce, Lincoln Williams, Chris McHugh and Casey Grice
Staff at the camp:
Dan Ilott, Grant Robertson, Adam Maskell, Andrew Schacht, Carlos Galletti, Simon Naismith, Jenny Becker, Martin Suan, Tim Rawlins, Nic Kaiser and Steve Benson.
The AVF Selection panel will make their selections of athletes and coaching staff soon for this seasons International tours:
Up coming tours 2009:
Under 19
August European Tour - with the FIVB World Youth Championships August 19 - 23 in Alanya, Turkey.
Under 21
Mid August - Mid September Tour - with the FIVB Junior World Championships in Monterrey Mexico September 3 - 6
Volleyball Team Australia Men Upcoming Tours09
The month of May will once again be a busy period for Volleyball Team Australia teams with junior and senior teams travelling to Asia and Europe respectively.
On May 18, the ‘91 and ’93 National Youth Boy’s Teams will be travelling to Thailand to compete in the Thailand Junior Volleyball Championships. For the ’93 youth boys, this will be their debut tour and first experience of what international volleyball is like. For the ’91 youth boys; however, this will be their opportunity to make amends on missing out on the finals 12 months earlier in the same tournament.
In the meantime, members of Volleyball Team Australia Men’s squad, and athletes invited to trial for a position on the squad, are assembling at the Australian Institute of Sport for a selection camp in Canberra with a view to make the VTAM touring side scheduled to leave on May 19. This tour will be the first of two preparation tours ahead of the Rnd 3 World Championship Qualification Tournament in China, this August, with the team travelling to Slovakia, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden for much wanted international matches.
2009 AIS Scholarship Athletes
- Nicholas BARRY (WA) *
- Jasper BOYSCHAU (QLD)
- Brendan CLEWES (SA)
- Andrew LILLYWHITE (WA) *
- Craig LOWE (NSW)
- Hamish HINGSTON (TAS)
- William MERCER (QLD) *
- Harrison PEACOCK (SA)
- Luke SMITH (WA) *
- Rory WELSH (SA) *
- Aidan ZINGEL (NSW)
* New scholarship athlete in 2009
Jacques BORGEAUD (ACT) **
Joel TYRRELL (ACT) **
** Training ACTAS athletes
2009 AIS/Volleyball Team Australia Squad Athletes
- Ben HARDY (ACT)
- Brett ALDERMAN (QLD)
- Shane ALEXANDER (QLD)
- Thomas BAWDEN (VIC)
- Paul CARROLL (NSW)
- John DEKKER (QLD)
- Andrew EARL (SA)
- Thomas EDGAR (QLD)
- David FERGUSON (WA)
- Andrew GRANT (QLD)
- Travis PASSIER (QLD)
- Nathan ROBERTS (SA)
- Greg SUKOCHEV (SA)
- Joshua THORPE (TAS)
- William THWAITE (QLD)
- Adam WHITE (QLD)
- Matthew YOUNG (QLD)
- Igor YUDIN (VIC)
Cameron BLEWETT (VIC) ***
Greg MANN (QLD) ***
Paul SANDERSON (VIC) ***
Steven WALLACE (VIC) ***
*** Trialling athletes
Congratulations once again to the following athletes on being selected to an Australian Youth Team:
’91 National Youth Boy’s Team
- Corey BATES (VIC)
- Nicholas BELL (QLD)
- Jacques BORGEAUD (ACT)
- Brendan CLEWES (SA)
- Rowan COOK (QLD)
- Luke HILL (VIC)
- Andrew LILLYWHITE (WA)
- Craig LOWE (NSW)
- William MERCER (QLD)
- Harrison PEACOCK (SA)
- Rhodri SIMMONDS (WA)
- James WINZAR (VIC)
Head Coach: Steve BENSON (VIC)
Assist. Coaches: Stephen ROGERS (NSW) and Alex ROGERS (NSW)
’93 National Youth Boy’s Team
- Nicholas BARRY (WA)
- Karl CHRISTENSEN (QLD)
- Samuel HALLIDAY (SA)
- Corey LEATHART (QLD)
- Morgan LEWIS (QLD)
- Bradley MASON (VIC)
- Brad MILLERS (QLD)
- David NGUYEN (VIC)
- Jeremy PAPPAGALLO (QLD)
- Nicholas PORTELLI (QLD)
- Jordan POWER (ACT)
- Rory WELSH (SA)
Acting Head Coach: Dan HIGGINS (VIC)
Acting Assist. Coaches: Darren WILSON (QLD) and Nic KAISER (VIC)
2009 AIS European Tour (11 Jan - 4 Feb)
Earlier this year, in the heat of the Australian summer, the AIS team with four new scholarship athletes journeyed to Europe on its annual development tour. As per previous tours, this tour has proven to be an invaluable tool in the development of the athletes as they progress through the pathway and eventually graduate through to the senior squad.
This year, the tour took the AIS team to Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and Slovakia where the team trained and played matched against club and representative teams in a series of matches; with the Sweden leg proving to be most eventful as the team bus caught on fire 20 minutes upon the teams’ arrival. Left with only what they were wearing, the team rallied together with the assistance of Swedish volleyball community to finish the remaining two weeks of the tour.
- 13 Jan - AIS def Lugano 3:2 (19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-14, 15-12)
- 15 Jan - AIS def Montichiari Jnrs 3:0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19)
- 20 Jan - AIS def Sweden Junior Team 3:0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-18)
- 21 Jan - AIS def Sweden Junior Team 3:0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-18)
- 22 Jan - AIS lost Linkoping Volleyball 0:3 (18-25, 18-25, 13-15)
- 23 Jan - AIS lost Sweden Jnr Team 2:3 (25-21,14-25,22-25, 25-23, 14-16)
- 27 Jan - AIS lost Svidnik 2:3 (23-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-23, 10-15)
- 28 Jan - AIS lost Svidnik 0:3 (13-25, 20-25, 22-25)
- 29 Jan - AIS lost VKP Bratislava 2:3 (12-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 9-15)
In addition to the countries visited, a day trip to Poland was also organised to watch VTAM athletes Ben Hardy and Igor Yudin play for their club Jastrzebski Weigel in the Polish Plus Liga.
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What's Coming Up
MAY
Women AVL - Various Cities
Arafura Games - Darwin
JUNE
Women AVL - Various Cities
Beach World Championships - Norway
JULY
Australian Junior Chmapionships - Brisbane
World Uni Student Games (Men) - Serbia
Women AVL Finals - Melbourne
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AJVC Fast Approaching
The countdown is on to the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships to be held 5-11 July in Brisbane. Teams have been selected and are knee-deep in training. Initial indications are that there will be 53 teams contesting this year's event.
For more information about the AJVC, go to the AVF website and follow the links to the VQ website.
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Sports Development Report
Referees
It’s been a busy time for referee’s lately. The 2008 NOSP scholarship holder Darren Grimsey was recently appointed the Chief referee for the National Beach Champs held in Brisbane.
This was Darren’s first time as a Chief referee, and what he described as a “very good learning experience”. Darren will be doing a story for the AVF in the return issue of the AVF’s referee newsletter, coming up in June.
Our 2009 scholarship holder Rob Szydlowski is off to Thailand to undergo an IRCC course in May, also going with Rob is QLD’s Shane Clouston. The AVF wish them well in their endeavours to become International referees.
AVJC is quickly approaching us, with the event this year held in Brisbane from 5th -11th of July. Nominations for the grading panel are now due, also if you’re interested in refereeing at the AVJC please get in contact with your State AVRC representative.
Sport Connect
The Sport Connect inclusion program has now entered the Bronze phase,. This is an exciting time for Connect, as the steering committee are focused this year on increasing participation numbers across all 3 disciplines, of Sitting, Standing and Deaf Volleyball. Anyone wishing to be involved or know more about this project please contact John Cheadle, Sports Development Manager on john.cheadle@avf.org.au and he will put you in touch with the right people to get you on the court!
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Senior Women's Update
The Senior Women have two confirmed tours this year. Vietnam Cup will see Australia 'B' compete in the tournament in central Vietnam. This tournament attended each year is an excellent opportunity to introduce Senior Women to Asian style volleyball and integrate the graduating Juniors.
The focal point of the year will be Asian Senior Champs. Expecting to field our best team and equal or better our previous result in the Top 8, the tournament will be held in Vietnam, in the North.
The main team camp for the Aussie Women is expected to follow the finals of WAVL as it did last year for two - three days. Details to come shortly!
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Junior Women off to Darwin
As part of its build up to the 2010 Asian Junior Women’s Championships, the 92/93 National Junior Women’s team will compete at the Arafura Games in Darwin from 9-16 May 09.
The team gathered in Darwin yesterday, Monday 4 May and will spend the week preparing for competition against domestic and international teams.
Athletes selected to represent Australia
* Jen Sadler SA
* Steph Collins SA
* Emma McEwen SA
* Jaimee Lee Morrow VIC
* Ru Kwok VIC
* Monique Stojanovic VIC
* Shae Sloane VIC
* Georgia Sverns VIC
* Sophie Paine VIC
* Rhiannon Judd VIC
* Nicole Laird NSW
* Taylor Schulz QLD
Head Coach - Adam Maskell
Assistant Coach - Bill McHoul
The group will face teams from the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Macau, Tonga, NT, South Adelaide and the Australian Defence Force.
You can follow the teams results on their blog at http://arafura92njw.wordpress.com/
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SWATCH FIVB World Tour 2009 Update
Event 1 – Brasilia Open, Brasil
(April 21-26)
Beach – Aussies knocked out in Brazil
Australia’s Sam Boehm and Chris McHugh faced a challenging task in the first round of qualifying in the Brasilia Open, Brazil
After winning Gold just over a week ago in the Thailand Asian Tour event, Boehm / McHugh got off to a promising start in set 1, with the score line reading 10-10 early.
The first set Technical time-out came with the score line at 10-11. After the break Brazilian team (Rodrigo-Bernardo) took charge of the set winning 21-12.
Set 2 was quite similar to the first set with the Aussie’s showing promising signs early with the score board at the technical time out showing 11-10 in the Aussies favour.
However, Boehm/McHugh struggled to handle the relentless pressure from the Brazilians on their home centre court, in front of screaming fans, Brazil went on to win 21-17.
Boehm-McHugh (Australia) lost to Rodrigo-Bernardo (Brasil) 0-2 (11-21, 17-21)
The Brasilia Open is the first tournament of the 16 event FIVB World Tour season (April-October)
Event 2 - Shanghai Open, China
(April 29 - May 3)
Debuting Athletes - Luke Campbell, Casey Grice and Louise Bawden
WOMEN MAIN DRAW
Round 1
Palmer-Jensen lost to Xue - Zhang CHN
0-2 (8-21, 17-21)
Round 2
Palmer-Jensen def Tanaka - Hiromi JPN
2-0 (21-14, 21-17)
Round 3
Palmer-Jensen def Blundell - Scarlett NLZ
2-0 (22-20, 21-15)
Round 4
Palmer-Jensen def Minusa-Jursone
2-1 (21-13, 16-21,16-14)
Round 5
Palmer-Jensen def Zhang Xi - Y Huang CHN
2-0 (21- 15, 21-19)
Round 6
Palmer-Jensen lost to Renata - Leao BRA
1-2 (21-14, 12-21, 10-15)
Palmer-Jensen Final Placing 7th
Round 1
Bawden-Rohkamper lost Lunqqvist-Ljungquist SWE
0-2 (14-21, 20-22)
Round 2
Bawden-Rohkamper lost Bratkova-Ukalova RUS
0-2 (19-21, 18-21)
Bawden-Rohkamper Final Placing 25th
WOMEN QUALIFICATION
Bawden-Rohkamper def Fischer-Grossner GER
2-1 (21-14, 18-21, 15-11)
This is the best ever International result for Bawden (25th) and Jensen (7th) in their International Careers thus far.
MEN MAIN DRAW
Round 1
Boehm-McHugh lost to Pedro-Cunha BRA
0-2 (14-21, 14-21)
Round 2
Boehm-McHugh lost Ashai-Shiratori JPN
1-2 (15-21, 21-17, 8-15)
Boehm-McHugh Final Placing 25th (Equal best International Result ever)
MEN'S QUALIFICATION
Boehm-McHugh def Grotowski-Weaver GBR
2-0 (21- 19, 21-18)
Boehm-McHugh def Han-Gao CHN
2-1 (26-24, 21-23, 15-8)
Campbell-Grice lost Erdmann-Windschief GER
0-2 (8-21, 8-21)
Campbell-Grice Final Placing 41st
Next Tournament:
MEN
May 12-17 Foro Italico Open, Rome, ITALY
WOMEN
May 19-24 Keihan/Smfg Japan Open, Osaka, JAPAN
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National Junior Women European Tour
The team consisted of 90/91 aged athletes who had, with the exception of one athlete, had represented Australian through the National Youth/Junior Women’s program.
The tour consisted of 8 training sessions, 10 matches and three countries in 16 days, with the teams performances improving at each opportunity. The tour was designed so that each match was against a progressively tougher opposition culminating in two international matches against the Swedish National Junior Team.
The team gathered in London at midnight on 27 Feb, and had its first team training session the following day. The first match of the tour was against the England Volleyball National League champion team London Malory the next night.
A travel day to Venice was followed by the first of 6 matches in 8 days in Italy. Each day the team was hosted by another volleyball club, each providing tours of their towns, lunch and dinner and very competitive matches. The level of competition moved from regional under 18 team to the final match against a Serie C team.
Two travel days to get to Sports School at Falkoping Sweden where their national junior women’s team is based in a full time program. The team first played a friendly and then two official international matches.
It was a great experience for the Australian athletes to see volleyball as a world game and to be so well received and hosted throughout the tour. In return the team approached every training and competition opportunity with enthusiasm and that great fighting Aussie spirit.
The door is now open for future European tours for Australian women’s teams.
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