Rangi Ruru’s Senior A Volleyball team has won Division 2 of the Mainland championship at Pioneer Stadium in Christchurch.

Competing against teams from across the South Island last Sunday, Rangi Ruru beat Waimea College 3-0 in the final.

The girls started the match with a close set (32-30) before drawing away in the second (25-14) and then finishing in a nail biter for the third (25-23).

Rangi Ruru volleyball convenor, Paula Rule said finishing top of the pool going into the semi-final against local rivals Lincoln College was a huge confidence boost for the team.

“The team had a tough start to the tournament with a loss in the first game. It forced the girls to regroup and take some lessons from the game that they were able to apply to the rest of the tournament,” said Ms Rule.

“It was a huge weekend for the girls and a great opportunity to build strong combinations leading into nationals,” Ms Rule added.

The National Secondary School’s tournament takes place in Palmerston North at the end of March.

ENDS                                                                                               www.rangiruru.school.nz

The first of New Zealand’s High Performance Beach Volleyball athletes left New Zealand on Friday  to begin their international campaign on the Asian Tour.
Brendon Heath (34), originally from Nelson and Sam O’Dea (22) from Mt Maunganui leave this country as New Zealand Tour champions after their domination of events over the New Zealand summer.
The number one NZ Men’s Team will be competing in the Thailand National Beach Volleyball Championships in Kalasin from the 1st to the 5th April with the objective of continuing their successful partnership on international soil.
The number two men’s team of Jason Lochhead (29) and Ben O’Dea (20) from Mt Maunganui, and the reigning women’s national champions Julia Tilley (23) and Shaunna Polley (19) of the Waikato will join O’Dea and Heath on the 6th April to compete in further events in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
With 5 Asian Tour wins, 1 World Tour bronze medal and a top 5 Asian Tour placing between them, this New Zealand team has the potential to dominate the ranks and is looking to start the road to Rio Olympic qualification with the points gained from this Asian Tour.
For more information please contact Alison Storey – High Performance Beach manager
Alison@beachvolleyball.co.nz

As the 2011 National Secondary School Volleyball Championships enters into the fourth day of competition at Arena Manawatu, Christchurch based team, Burnside High School, has withdrawn due to a team tummy bug.

Burnside were placed 13th in the top pool play-offs and were due to face Nelson College for Girls Thursday afternoon but one Burnside team member, who arrived with the illness from Christchurch, inadvertently infected the whole squad.

The Nelson College team is now straight through to their grades semi-finals and coach Pru Bell although sympathetic with the situation, is excited with this opportunity.

“The Burnside coach Sam Ryburn is a lovely man and he’d done a lot of work with his girls this year”, says Mrs Bell. “It’s unfortunate that they’ve had to pull out, but for our girls this is a fantastic opening to further our tournament.”

Volleyball New Zealand Tournament Director, Pamela Brodie, is empathetic with the Burnside High School team too.

“This is such an unfortunate position the Burnside girls are in,” Mrs Brodie says. “They have had such a fantastic tournament so far and were really standing strong for the people of Christchurch. Then one tummy bug wipes them all out, I just feel so sorry for them.”

Locally, the Palmerston North Boys High School are currently ranked 9th in the second division while girls teams from Freyberg and Fielding High Schools are ranked 14th and 15th in the girls fourth division.

Top of the tables sit Tauranga Boys High School and last year’s reigning champions Tauranga Girls High School.

The final games are set to take place tomorrow, April 1 from 1pm at Arena Manawatu.

For more details on the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships please visit volleyballnz.org.nz.

Full results are at: http://pnvolleyball.co.nz/VNZ%20SS%202011/VNZ%20SSChamps%202011.htm

With the second day of the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships completed at Arena Manawatu, four Tauranga based girls’ teams have made the first cut into the top 16 play offs.

Returning champions, Tauranga Girls College A, secured themselves a spot with three easy pool wins but face more gruelling competition moving into the next round.

Tauranga Girls College B team also feature in the top 16 along with two other Tauranga based schools, Otumoetai College and Bethlehem College.

Tauranga Girls assistant coach, Allen Saifu is feeling confident in his team’s abilities..

“Our tournament is running smoothly and to plan” he says. “We face no real threats and aren’t too concerned about any upcoming teams we are to face.”

Locally, Palmerston North Boys High School missed out on making the top 16 after losing to Bayfield High School 3-0 and with another loss for Freyberg High School boys’ team, they too aren’t progressing into their division’s playoffs.

Sport Manawatu events coordinator, Stephanie Dench however is looking forward to the play offs which commence tomorrow morning.

“The teams are really getting to the nitty gritty part of the tournament,” she says. “With more pressure riding on the games, any mistake could be crucial to their final outcome later in the week”

For more details on the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships please visit volleyballnz.org.nz.

The 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships are underway at Arena Manawatu with round one of pool play kicking off at 8.15am yesterday (March 28).

Local favourites Palmerston North Boys High School have a golden opportunity this week after being pushed up into the Top 32 Boys Grade, as a result of unfortunate withdrawals from a few Christchurch based schools.

PNBHS won their second game of the day against Whangarei based, Kamo High School, with a confident 3-0 triumph, Canadian coach Dante Di Panio was over the moon with the boys’ efforts.

“The boys were lucky to be promoted into the top grade and I am pleased that they are really fighting to prove themselves here” Mr Di Panio says. “We are looking forward to the remainder of the week and have high hopes for finishing in the top 16.”

Local girls’ teams, Awatapu College, Freyberg High School and Fielding High School lost their first games while Freyberg High School Boys team won all three sets against Hamilton’s, Fraser High, yesterday afternoon.

With over 140 games completed in the first round of pool play, New Zealand Volleyball Tournament Director, Pamela Brodie was happy with both the attitudes of players on their first day of games.

“The teams showed great enthusiasm for their first day of tournament, which is great to see” she says. “It foreshadows the promising week we have ahead of us and I am looking forward to the tighter games where the players can really show their skills”

Pool games will continue until Wednesday afternoon, with the final senior matches scheduled to take place Friday, April 1 from 1pm.

For more details on the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships please visit volleyballnz.org.nz.

Over 1,700 keen volleyballers will descend on Palmerston North when the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships kick off on Monday. (March 28)

An opening ceremony for the 150 competing teams will be held on Sunday March 27 at 6pm. The first round of games will start Monday morning with finals held Friday April 1 from 3pm, all at Arena Manawatu.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Sport Manawatu have helped host the Volleyball championships and events coordinator, Stephanie Dench believes that Palmerston North is the perfect place for it.

“Not only do we have the facilities,” she says. “But we have a tremendous amount of support from local businesses and the community to help ensure the success of the tournament.”

The teams will bring around 300 extra supporters with them including coaches and managers and the event is estimated to bring $2m of benefits to the local economy.

The Tournament Director, Pamela Brodie from Volleyball New Zealand believes this year will be better than ever.

“We’ve had so much success in the past few years and the team numbers still remain high. It’s is also great to see that four teams from Canterbury will also be making the trip here,” she says.

For more details on the 2011 Secondary School Volleyball National Championships please visit volleyballnz.org.nz. 

In a first for New Zealand Beach Volleyball, two inland centres in the Waikato will host two of the four legs of the 2011 Pro Beach Volleyball Series.

The 48-team ‘Hamilton Open’, with both Men’s and Women’s sections, takes place at two venues in Hamilton city on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th January – Te Rapa Beach Volleyball Centre for preliminary matches on the Saturday, and at a special show court being purpose-built for the weekend in front of the old Grandstand at Claudelands Events Centre – with playoffs and finals on the Sunday.

The following week, on Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th, the Karapiro Open will be held at the Karapiro Beach Volleyball Centre, alongside the National Rowing Centre in the Karapiro Domain.

Eight international teams (see initial list below) will be joining 40 NZ pairs at the events, with the series being the only international event in Australasia this summer, following the collapse of Australia’s national series.

Top NZ women’s and men’s pairings will be aiming to boost their international rankings during the series, with Hamilton’s Hannah Croad joining partner Micah Lindsay-Brown (Blenheim) to continue their early summer form where they have won both the Te Rapa and Mairangi Bay Grand Slam events.

Top 30 international Men’s pair, the Bay of Plenty’s Kirk Pitman and Jason Lochead have 2009 and 2010 FIVB World Series podium finishes on their CVs, and a London Olympics spot in their sights.

Men’s International Pairings likely to participate in Hamilton Open:

Aaron Crook & Al Lyne (Australia)
Valentine Bergeman & Paul Becker (Germany)
Kevin & Andy Ces (France) tbc
1 more pair to be confirmed
Women’s International Pairings likely to participate in Hamilton Open:

Eliza Dean & Katie Bartoli (Australia)
Sarah Goller & Laura Ludwig (Germany)
Great Britain No.1 (in training for 2010 Olympics)
Great Britain No.2 (in training for 2010 Olympics)
At both the Hamilton and Karapiro Opens, a preliminary Qualification Tournament will take place the day prior to the main event, with up to 8 places in the main draw being at stake. The12 top-seeded New Zealand teams will go straight into the main draw in each event, along with the 4 international teams.

Good young Hamilton teams, like Fraser High’s Kurt Stewart & Isaac Brouwer, and Shaunna Polley (Fraser) & Holly Sprosen (Hillcrest High), will be attempting to replicate their national age-group successes by breaking into senior ranks through the qualification process. ….over

Having the national series visit the central Waikato is a coup for the local Waikato Volleyball Association, with the sand courts at te Rapa only being in place for 13 months, and those at Karapiro for just over a year.

In the Hamilton Open’s case, Volleyball New Zealand has a 3-year agreement with the Hamilton City Council to run the event in the city.

Entry to the Hamilton Open will be free at both venues, with games running from 9am each day, until about 5pm on Friday and Saturday, and with the Women’s and Men’s finals at Claudelands taking place on the Sunday afternoon. 

The 2010 National Secondary Schools’ Volleyball Championships are in full swing at Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North as teams get down to the business end of the tournament.

With pool play now over, the tournament has seen 140 secondary school teams fight it out to see which schools will top each division. There have been 420 games played, but the best is yet to come.

Waimea College boys of Tasman is looking strong to take the boys title, not losing a set in 25 matches leading up to the tournament. This record has continued into the week with 3-0 wins in all of their games so far. They are however, faced with tough competition as Tauranga (A), Trident (A) and Orewa also head into the quarterfinals top of the other pools.

Defending girls champions Waimea College were unable to match the youth of Bethlehem College losing their first game of the tournament in an exciting five setter in the second round of cross section pool play. Waimea now have a real fight on their hands if they wish to retain the trophy as Tauranga (A) Otumoetai (A) and Trident (A) top the remaining three pools in Division 1.

“There have been so many games go down to the wire with nail-biting finishes, which shows the level of competition at this year’s tournament”, Pamela Brodie from Volleyball New Zealand explained. Many schools will be looking to step up another level to try and upset the favourite schools and carve their school’s name into the trophy and take out this year’s boys and girls national championship titles.

The anticipation is building as quarterfinals and semis get underway today, before the finals on Friday with the Division 1 crowns being up for grabs from 3pm.

ENDS.
Tournament information, draw, and results can be found at the following link: http://pnvolleyball.co.nz/VNZ%20SS%202010/VNZ%20Senior%20SSChamps%202010.htm 

The Volleyball New Zealand 2010 National Secondary Schools’ Volleyball Championships are underway at Arena Manawatu.

On Sunday night, 140 volleyball teams from around the country arrived in Palmerston North for the 42nd National Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships.

The Opening Ceremony commenced with a moving Hato Paora College welcome and an enthusiastic opening statement from Palmerston North’s Mayor, Jono Naylor. While Coaches and Managers attended the Technical Meeting, athletes were entertained by local celebrity – past New Zealand’s Got Talent runner-up, Joshie and a celebrity volleyball match featuring Jono Naylor, More fm DJ’s, Jets Stars Kaine Hokianga and Coach Ryan Weisenberg, with Manawatu Stu supporting on the sideline.

Manawatu is this year represented by Feilding High School, Freyberg High School (boys and girls), Palmerston North Boys High School (3 teams), Longburn Adventist College and Awatapu College. Palmerston North Boys High School found out the level of competition early, as they confronted last year’s champions De la Salle College in pool play - loosing 3:1.

Top seeded teams from Tauranga Girls and Boys Colleges are looking strong and will be serious contenders for the Finals and a gold medal – a goal that slipped away from them in 2010. From the South Island, Waimea College from Tasman are showing potential to rattle the North Island teams in both girls and boys divisions as they also pursue the champions titles.

The Finals for all divisions will be held on Friday and should not be missed. The day will conclude as the Boys and Girls Division 1 teams set serve and spike their way to this year’s gold. With free entry to this event throughout the event, organisers expect Arena Manawatu to be packed to full capacity on Friday afternoon with the commencement of the Girls Division 1 Final at 3.00pm and the Boys to follow at 4.30pm.

ENDS.

Tournament information, draw, and results can be found at the following link: http://pnvolleyball.co.nz/VNZ%20SS%202010/VNZ%20Senior%20SSChamps%202010.htm

The largest annual secondary schools tournament to occur in New Zealand will return to Palmerston North in 2010.

Volleyball New Zealand’s NZ Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships have been confirmed to be hosted at Arena Manawatu for the third year running, and 2010’s event is set to be bigger and better than ever.

The tournament is growing every year, and this year Palmerston North was home to 145 teams from all over New Zealand, creating close to 12,000 bed nights for the city. Despite the current economic climate, 2009 was the largest tournament to date.

“Securing the tournament for three years in a row is a great testament to the region and is proof that all the work that has been put in by PN Volleyball, Arena Manawatu, and Sport Manawatu has paid off,” says Thomas Buchanan, event coordinator at Sport Manawatu.

Historically, this event has rotated to a different region each year, however due to its size it has become increasingly hard for many regions to host. Arena Manawatu is currently the only venue in New Zealand that can host the event under one roof, playing a huge part in Palmerston North’s ability to convince Volleyball NZ to return in 2010.

VNZ’s General Manager, Pam Brodie, says “Arena Manawatu is the ideal venue for this event, and we get exceptional support from Sport Manawatu and PN Volleyball.”

Beyond 2010 however is not yet secure. The event needs local funding in order to continue in its current format, and has received assistance from the Palmerston North City Council in the past. Due to current funding guidelines however, this funding cannot be confirmed in advance, nor for the long-term, which may mean the end of the event in the city after 2010.

“Other regions are now competitively bidding for our event, offering significant monetary incentives. We need significant financial commitment to see the event continue at the same level.” Says Mrs Brodie.

“Returning to Palmerston North after 2010 is not out of the question, but a competitive bid would have to be submitted, with a confirmed level of financial commitment.”

The 2010 NZ Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships are scheduled to be held in late March/early April 2010.

The 2009 National Secondary Schools’ Volleyball Championships are underway at Arena Manawatu.

With pool play now over the tournament has seen 145 Secondary School teams fight it out to see what schools will top each division.

Defending Boys champions Otumoetai College are looking strong in defending their National Boys title but they will have strong competition from Tauranga Boys (A), De La Salle, and Trident High School (A) who have also topped their pool play in Division 1.

Of the Manawatu schools competing, Palmerston North Boys High School has qualified the highest and is one of the top seeds in division three. They will be a serious contender to win a medal in that division.

McAuley High School is also looking very strong to defend their National Girls title, but will have to bring their top game in order to stop Trident High School (A), Tauranga Girls (A), and Waimea College (A) taking their crown off them.

This year’s tournament has seen many games go to the wire with nail biting finishes to their sets. Many schools will be looking to step up another gear to try and upset the favourite schools and carve their School name into the trophy and take out this years Boys and Girls National title

Finals day Friday should not be missed as the top two Boys and Girls Secondary Schools will set, serve and spike their way to this year’s title. Entry is free so organisers Volleyball New Zealand expect Arena Manawatu to be full to capacity on Friday.

The country’s top secondary schools Volleyball teams will compete in Palmerston North this week (March 30 - April 3) to serve, spike, and dig their way through the National Secondary Schools’ Volleyball Championships at Arena Manawatu.

From the opening ceremony at 6pm on Sunday night through to the finals on Friday afternoon, Arena Manawatu will be jammed packed with 1800 plus competitors. The 145 teams from around the country will compete in different grades to determine who will be crowned this year’s National Boys and Girls champion.

The opening ceremony will be lead by a Kapa Haka group from Hato Paora College which will be performing a number of traditional Maori acts, there will also be a dance group, and up and coming local artist Sio Vaelau performing as well.

This year’s Championships will see McAuley College from Auckland defend their National Girls title, and Otumoetai College from Bay of Plenty defend their National Boys title.

Seven teams from schools in the Manawatu will compete in the tournament.

Organised by Volleyball New Zealand, with assistance from Sport Manawatu, this year’s Championships should not be missed - New Zealand’s next generation of top volleyball players will be at their best.

Pam Brodie, General Manager of Volleyball New Zealand says, “The outstanding local community support this year has endorsed Volleyball New Zealand’s decision to bring our major Secondary Schools’ volleyball event back to Palmerston North. We are especially grateful to the Palmerston North City Council, Perry Foundation, The Edge, The Rock, McDonalds, Harvey Norman, Trophy Specialists & Engraving, The Coffee Club, New World, and Hell Pizza for their commitment to this event in 2009 and look forward to an outstanding week of intensive competition”.

Entry throughout the week is free, the public is encouraged to attend and see some of the best volleyball on offer this year.