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From 19-21 March twelve students and two teachers attended in MHC’s first SI Volleyball
Tournament in Christchurch after much training at lunchtimes and evenings.

We were all enthusiastic and ready for greatness but a slow start put us on the backfoot from the
beginning. The venues were loud and action-packed with teams containing highly skilled players.
Unfortunately one of our star players (a setter) injured his ankle in the very first set of the very first
game on the very first day so the challenge increased for the remaining players.

A big congratulations to the players for their persistence and never giving up. We came away with
some wins (sets and game) but finished down in the rankings and learnt a lot about working as a
team. While we do lose quite a few players at the end of this year they all have the opportunity to
join club or university teams and to continue to enjoy the great sport of volleyball. Hopefully some
younger players pick up the sport later in the year and boost our senior team.

The tournament itself was a great opportunity for the team to gain experience in competition play
while immersed in a tournament atmosphere. One thing we miss out on is participation in weekly
competitions and the opportunity to reflect on our play and strategise for the next game. We did a
lot of experimenting at tournament to find effective combinations and to give everyone the
opportunity to participate.

Player list: Liam Campbell (Captain), Matt Castil, Ced Contreras, Michael Griffiths, Max Helem,
Jayden Howley, Will Jones, Dipen Lama, John McConaghy, Sean Serrano, Ashok Sunar and MJ Tagay.

A huge thank you to Mr Campbell for assisting with driving and team management, Mrs Cooksley for
team organisation and to Mr Prince for the training opportunities.

Interesting fact: Volleyball is the national sport of Nepal and some schools have 30 teams. Two of
our players are Nepalese.