Planning in place for annual tournament

Achange in Australian Volleyball League structure could be beneficial for the 24th annual Horsham tournament coming up next month.

With Volleyball Australia in high-level discussions regarding a revamp of national league to make the game more professional going forward, this year will be a transitional year for Australia’s elite players participating in the league.

As a result, the competition will scale back to a three-day weekend in December.

I’ve been in discussions with Victorian teams Uni Blues and Vultures, as well as Adelaide Storm and Tasmania Echidnas, offering them the opportunity to gain valuable match play and to use our tournament as that vehicle.

We have Phantoms players in Nick Adamson, Ashby Smith and Zac Hermans in the Vultures squad, so they are working for us to promote our event within their club.

I also had a good chat with Adelaide Storm’s AVL team manager and he sees benefit for his teams in travelling over to Horsham to get match play.

So we are pretty lucky in that we have plenty of people around the volleyball community pushing our case, which is great.

All teams are screaming out for practice matches, with the Centre of Excellence in Canberra bringing their teams to Melbourne this week to play, as an example of how the clubs are trying to get their teams ready for the titles in December.

Volleyball Horsham cancelled its tournament last year due to low numbers owing to a forced change of date.

But a new date – November 24 and 25 – has been agreed upon by all parties, giving Horsham the chance to potentially see some of Australia’s best volleyballers in action.

We’ve already heard from Norwood Bears in South Australia saying they will be back and perennial supporters Mazenod Ol’ Boys and Padua Sharks are getting their teams together.

Not to mention our own Phantoms teams, which are beginning their preparations for next year’s state league season, with the appointment of new coaches who are keen to see players in action.

But the beauty of Horsham’s tournament compared with others is the combination of both seniors with junior divisions.

Our event is unique in that way, and we pride ourselves on that.

Our National Schools Cup teams receive valuable match play and with teams from Horsham, Murtoa and St Brigid’s colleges deep into their training programs, they will be at their prime when it comes time to play.

I know they look forward to testing themselves against teams from Sunraysia, Warrnambool, Bendigo and those metro teams that participate.

The Horsham tournament is well regarded across the volleyball community and this was never more evident than when we had to cancel last year.

Those loyal to our event have put their hands up to support us and get us back to where we want to be, and that is the most respected and regarded tournament on the calendar.

And we are working hard to ensure that happens this year.