DRAGON’S NEWS

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

The Presidents Proud
The Schools Cup was recently held in Brisbane and Dragons assisted by running the 6 courts at Boondall. The event is still growing in size and is one of the largest sporting events in Australia with 250 teams competing in 4 age groups, with 4-5 divisions in both sexes.

Competing at this event were three of the school teams from BBC which Dragons looks after. I’m very happy to say that these three teams faired extremely well with two of them finishing first in their divisions. These teams’ results highlight the effects of our commitment to junior development and the strength of players we are channelling into our club for the future (after all a stronger club means better skills levels for all of us).

I am also very proud to see Matt Young awarded with MVP in the open boys second division and David Swan awarded MVP in the intermediate boys second division. Both of these players are currently saturating their lives with volleyball and the results are showing. Congratulations to both these players, their team mates and their coaches and may they enjoy the many years of volleyball in front of them.

Also many many thanks to those people from within our ranks who volunteered to help run the courts at Boondall and helped make this year’s Schools Cup another landmark in volleyball history. Our club has always enjoyed the support of membership, which is what really helps our club stand out and be special, and for your support I say thank you for making me proud to belong to the best club in Queensland (Australia even, heck lets take the world by storm).

The next season of Metro (division 2) kicks off August 3 and we will be fielding 5 teams (two A grade men’s, one junior men, one A grade women and one junior women). Again we will see more juniors coming in from our two current junior development programs. I am very happy to see these players move into adult competition and develop their skills further. We are looking into creating another junior development program at Camira as the adult based competition there is having some difficulty in starting at the moment. As another round of advertising commences for both this comp (Tuesday nights at Camira) and the new comp (planned for Toowong on Wednesday nights). We already have competition managers ready for both competitions and just need some more man power and effort in the leaflet dropping area and these competitions can get under way. Anyone able to help out with the Sunday junior development programs should contact me, we have a number of people willing to help out in an occasional capacity and we need more people to be on standby as our usual coaches are often on call and can become unavailable with only a few hours notice. The more people I have the ability to contact, who are willing to coach on an occasional basis, the easier it is to manage.

Dragons may be starting a club in a regional area in the near future. An experiment will be conducted to see if this type of extension is possible and feasible. This is a classic case of an idea that comes into fruition with the help of someone to manage the idea. If you have any ideas that would help our club grow and be more beneficial to our membership please step forward and make them known (please also remember that the best forum for this is at the committee meetings, I am always talking to people who express ideas/concerns/suggestions and often don’t realise the attempt to present a "believed in" idea verses a random idea that might be interesting to consider [or I simply forget]). Also remember that people power is a little low at the moment.

Things are moving pretty slowly at the moment as the work load piles up and my time is continually eaten away by those niggling things in life like work and family.. If you think you can help out PLEASE DO. Every day I get more depressed at the work load sitting on my shoulders that simply can not get done. (Stardate: Dragons 1998. Captains log: after the eminent collision with the marriage ceremonies over the last two years the toll on the crew was to be expected. With our current helm crew now standing at only 5 of the 15 chairs filled we look now to a strange new opportunity of continuing to function efficiently; it’s time to end this series and create …. "The Next Generation").

Captain Kelly out.

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WHAT’S NEWS?
Rugby Tops - A reminder to let Emmi know if you are interested in ordering rugby tops. A sample is currently being made up and then if all goes well we will be submitting the first order, so don’t miss out. Cost approximately $40. red white

 

black

Tracksuits - If you are interested in ordering a Dragons Tracksuit, please see Billy by 31st August. If no response is received then no orders will be taken for the remainder of the year.

Billy is still conducting rock climbing for those who wish to have sore arms for weeks. See him for details on the next session at Vertical Assault.

Welcome to Brisbane, Michelle Norris. Michelle, a living legend of the club, is moving to Brisbane after gaining employment here.

The NEXT MEETING will be held on the Sunday 6th of September at 6pm at Dave’s house, 12 Zambesi Street, Riverhills.

Troy Van-Veen and Matt Young were recently chosen in the all star 6 at the Australian U18 championships.

The biggest news of all is that Matt Young has been chosen in the Australian Junior Squad. This is a great achievement and reflects on his dedication and attitude towards the game.

Calling all masters. The South Pacific Masters Games are on from the 31st of Oct to the 3rd of Nov at Bond University on the Gold Coast. We are looking at putting teams into the indoor volleyball competition but we need interest to be expressed soon. The age divisions that are included are; 25 - 29 (Women only), 30 - 34, 35 - 39, 40 - 44 and 45 and over. Please contact Robert Mudford if you are interested.

Tour - The route has been announced - Brisbane - Coffs Harbour - Newcastle - Katoomba - Wollangong - Canberra - Cowra - Armidale - Brisbane. Tour is from 28th November to 8th December, so please let Ken or Briget know if you are interested, and don’t forget to put in for holidays!

Bo Larsen is the proud father of a baby boy (named Christoffer) born on the 24th July in Denmark. Congratulations also on his marriage to Jane on the 8th of August. We can expect to see Bo back at training in the next few weeks as he is back in Australia on August 15th.

Coaching Meeting - The next coaching meeting will be held on the 6th of September at BBC from 9.30 to 12.00. It will be a practical session with drills being shown on the court and it is a chance for coaches to showcase their playing as well as coaching skills. If you are interested please see Paul Gaffney or Rob Mudford.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
AUG SEPT  OCT  NOV  DEC  
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COMPETITION AND TOURNAMENT NEWS

Another season has finished and a new one has begun. The results from last season were not as great as we anticipated. Dragons failed to finish in first place for any of the divisions but some great efforts should be noted. The dragons junior teams performed very well. The junior guys finished third wiping out Villanova in the play-off. The junior girls put up a determined fight but eventually lost to Griffith in a marathon game to finish 4th. In men’s A division Dragons Black were the big improvers and took a set off Cossacks in the play-off for third. Some of these players are improving so rapidly that they may be in line for BVL selection next year. Dragons Red had big hopes to take out the A-grade final but they were dashed by an on-fire Vostok team with some impressive hitting from their tall centre blocker. At the moment we are the only club fielding men’s and women’s teams in both BVL and Metro which is a great effort and shows the depth of Dragons. The new season has seen some old faces return such as Sarah Cake, Julia Walker and Nigel Thomas. Once again we have fielded two men’s teams, two junior teams and one women’s team. A big thanks to Brigit Steindl and Ken Thomson who have done an excellent job in coaching the Metro teams. Hopes are high for a better season this roster. Long live the Men’s Reserve Team - not wanting to blow our own trumpet here too much but - we are hot. The winning streak continues. It seems that after our defeat at the hands of USQ we were so disgusted at our performance that we have decided to kick some butt in every game since. The introduction of Troy Van-Veen to the line-up has strengthened the centre blocking, Rob Gould is setting like a man possessed and even Robert Mudford has managed to hit a couple around the block instead of getting shut down. Sorry to the other teams for this self gratification but that’s what you get when one of the editors is in the team. The women’s reserve team has had a mixed bag of performances with some great wins and some ordinary losses. However they are still equal top of the ladder and look like staying there. The A-grade women have continued on their merry five set way - losing one here winning one there. They are still positioned in the top few positions of the ladder so all looks good for the finals. The A-grade men have finally done it. Norths have been defeated by Dragons - A-HA revenge is sweet. After two ordinary performances against UQ and Shados, the guys dragged themselves off the floor and fought tooth and nail to record a great victory in five sets. Hopefully there will be many more where that came from.    V-League Bundaberg The weekend was off to a very early start with the majority of players making the ‘Bundy Trek’ after BVL on the Friday night, arriving at the Butterfly-Checkmate Hotel between 2am and 3am on the Saturday. In the daylight hours all players were raring to go and the tournament commenced. The men’s A-Team made it through to the final, but again were left with silver medals, being defeated by Norths in an exciting final. The men’s B-Team also played well pushing many of the more fancied teams. The women’s A-Team took out the bronze medal in their final, losing to home team Bundaberg. This team put in an excellent effort and their place was not really representative of their play in this league meet. The women’s B-Team had fun, whilst they were unsuccessful in getting points on the board, any ‘Glory-Girl’ behaviour was rewarded with chocolate, is there any better prize?? It was a long weekend, but a good time was had by all. Thankyou to all who helped with giving people lifts to Bundy.

 

V-League Toowoomba One men’s team. Results were not as good as expected finishing in 5th/6th position due to letting Rebels beat us for the first time in a long while. We played a scratch match against the Americans which was an unbelievable load of fun. Pity we didn't have a women’s team, there was 3 visiting American female teams to play against. The hotel was excellent, the cards battle ended up dragons two games each.

The draw gave us a 5 hour break on Saturday and an early return on Sunday. The highlight of the tournament was David Kelly wiping out a spectator (let there be a lesson learnt:- never stand that close to the line person, or court, and not watch what is happening and never never never ... under any circumstances ... hit the ball as a spectator when our enraged President is chasing the ball, unless of course you didn't value your health in the first place).

Next tournament is in four weeks (Aug 29-30) in Gladstone and we expect to see some more tourists on the road for that one.
 

Schools Cup Dragons would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all who helped throughout this tournament, without your support, events like these cannot be successful, and where would that leave the future of our sport??

Throughout the weekend the spectators were treated to some highly skilled displays of volleyball by the juniors. The BBC juniors put in some outstanding performances with the two of the three juniors teams taking out the gold medal in their division, as well as Matt Young and David Swan being named MVP’s in their divisions. Well done to all involved.

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 JUNIORS

The juniors program is proving to be more and more successful as the weeks wear on, the players are showing great improvement and potential. We are still asking anyone who would like to help with running these clinics to let us know, any support is appreciated by both the club and the juniors involved. The next junior carnival is happening on the 6th of Sept at Macgregor.

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PLAY OF THE MONTH

This months award goes to Peter Kelly - Peter Kelly was making a come-back to tournament volleyball in V-League Bundy. He was fighting fit along with the rest of his comrades, only to be sidelined with a leg injury after 5 minutes….of the warm-up for the first game! Peter made the trip down to the medical centre and was left feeling sore and sorry for the remainder of the tournament, lucky he has relatives to keep him occupied. We wish you a speedy recovery Peter and hope to see you on the court again soon!

Other notable performances include: Ken and Josh beginning the ‘Ice and Chocolate Chip War’ with Norths at the Bundy Pizza Hut; Debbie Schuurman and Laura Navone trying to take the net back to its storage spot by going either side of the pole. Vicki Elson-Green nearly catching Robert in the full monty as he took a shower in the girls change room at Bundy ("there were too many people wanting showers in the guys and I was in a hurry to get home - that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it").
 

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PLAYER PROFILES:  
Player Profile

Name: Ray Kemp

Age: 21 again

Partner: Still looking (for someone with hair)

Children: No, I don’t mind if they have

Nickname: Billy

First Club: Dragons

Position: Anywhere they put me

Achievements: Good coin tosser

Greatest moment: Being subbed on from the bench; having hair

Most embarrassing moment: Stuffing up after I just got subbed on from the bench; losing my hair

Favourite food: Meat, Meat and more Meat

Favourite drink: Vodka, Beer, Southern Comfort, H2O, Pepsi, Milk - all mixed together

Favourite band / singer: Hair Soundtrack
 
Favourite movie: Titanic

Pet Hate: Don’t know, don’t have a pet

Person you’d most like to be stranded on a desert island with: The guy who invented "advanced hair - yeh, yeh"

 

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Player Profile
Name: Kate Walsh

Age: 19

Partner: ******

Children: Are You Serious??

Nickname: Moo

First Club: QUT

Position: Setter, Centre Blocker

Achievements: Adding ‘Yeh Yeh’ to Billy’s Hair

Greatest moment: Discovering bald men

Most embarrassing moment: Being seen in the ‘Cool Car’

Favourite food: Nothing in particular, but no meat

Favourite drink: Vodka

Favourite band / singer: The Hammers

Favourite movie: Braveheart

Pet Hate: Men with hair

Person you’d most like to be stranded on a desert island with: Angry Anderson, Peter Garrett, Milton Hanna, Tele Savalas

 

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DEAR COACH…..

Dear Coach,

My knees hurt, my shoulders are sore, my ankles hurt from strapping, I can’t jump like I used to and my hair’s going grey, I am also gaining weight. What should I do?

Desperate.

 
Dear Desperate,

Have you ever tried coaching?….or setting, you certainly have the physical attributes to be a setter.

Coach.

 
Dear Coach,

I live on a desert island with one palm tree. How do I put up my volleyball net?

Lonely.

 
Dear Lonely,

Try putting your net up on windy days.

Coach.

 
Dear Coach,

How do I get to ride in the "cool car"?

Frustrated

 
Dear Frustrated,

As a coach I not only have to deal with problems on the volleyball court but often social and personal problems have to be dealt with as well. The perception of coolness is a very individual thing. One’s understanding of coolness varies between individuals. For example, winning a large sum of money may be considered cool by some while others may consider spending a large sum of money on expensive clothes cool. However, if you consider riding around with Ken in a clapped out canary yellow Camry with dodgy wiring cool, seek medical advice.

 
Dear Coach,

How come if there are five teams in a round robin tournament we only play four times?

Jackie Beck

 
Dear Jackie,

Are you serious? You’re blonde - I forgive you.

 
In relation to this last dear coach Josh Slack had devised a entrance test to see if people are intelligent enough to join Dragons Volleyball Association.

 

  1. What language is spoken in France?

    2.  

  2. Give a dissertation on the ancient Babylonian Empire with
particular reference to architecture, literature, law and social

conditions -OR- give the first name of Pierre Trudeau.

 

3) Would you ask William Shakespeare to;

(a) build a bridge

(b) sail the ocean

(c) lead an army or

  1. WRITE A PLAY
 

4) What religion is the Pope?

  1. Jewish
(b) Catholic

(c) Hindu

(d) Polish

  1. Agnostic
 

5) Metric conversion. How many feet is 0.0 metres?

 

6) What time is it when the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 5?

 

7) How many commandments was Moses given (approximately)?

 

8) What are people in Australia’s far north called?

(a) Westerners

  1. Southerners
(c) Northerners

 

9) Spell -- Bush, Carter and Clinton.

 

10) Six kings of England have been called George, the last one

being George the Sixth. Name the previous five.

 

11) Where does rain come from?

(a) Macy's

(b) a 7-11

(c) New Zealand

  1. the sky
 

12) Can you explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity?

(a) yes

  1. no
13) What are coat hangers used for?

 

14) Explain Le Chateliers Principle of Dynamic Equilibrium -OR- spell your

name in BLOCK LETTERS.

 

15) Where is the basement in a three story building located?

 

16) Advanced math. If you have three apples how many apples do you have?

 

17) The Cornell University tradition for efficiency began when (approximately)?

(a) B.C.

  1. A.D.
 

*You must answer three or more questions correctly to qualify.

If you don’t - OH MY GOD.

 

YOUR SAY

A Valuable Contribution

Mention was made in the last newsletter about the success of the A-Reserve Women’s Team at the State Titles, however, I would like to comment further on the reason for this success. Yes, the girls demonstrated great volleyball skills (with Chris Kelly being rewarded for her efforts with the MVP Award) but the reason these girls were not only successful in winning the championship but in taking sets off much more fancied ‘A’ grade teams was their ATTITUDE.

The girls believed in themselves, but more importantly, they believed in each other. They continuously supported each other giving positive reinforcement and acceptance of mistakes. Vicki Hickling, as a part of this team, didn’t spend a lot of time on the court, but her contribution to the positive feel was major and I’m sure she taught the other players a lot about attitude (as she always does).

Anyone who has been part of a team that has just ‘clicked’ like this, knows this is what we are out there playing volleyball for - it feels REAL good. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen all the time. Maybe if we all made the effort to encourage and support all those involved in our team, not only verbally but through our actions, we could get that great feel more often. It doesn’t take a lot of effort and for the rewards - isn’t it worth it?!!

Judy Pacholke

 
The editors apologise to Chris Kelly for leaving out the MVP information in the last newsletter. Chris Kelly has been playing very well for some time now and thoroughly deserved the MVP award at state titles.

   

Emmi Thomas Is A Legend

Often as volleyballers we focus our attention on the great deeds done on the court and often ignore the time and effort put in by people off the court. Emmi Thomas has not played much volleyball this season but her contribution to Dragons and volleyball in general has been outstanding. I was lucky enough to see this organising genius in action at Schools Cup where Emmi ran the Boondal Sports Venue like a tight ship. She has also ordered equipment, set up social events ran the Metro and BVL competitions and will get my vote for club member of the year at this year’s dinner. She also played a leading part in nominating Dave for life membership of the QVA. I can not praise Emmi Thomas enough for the job she has done this year. Thanks very much.

 

Robert Mudford.

   

AVL

As you may have been aware earlier this year the Australian Volleyball League made its debut on SBS television. It was highly successful and several members of Dragons were a part of the Queensland team (Josh Slack, Bryce Trevilyan, Mike Conlon and Russell Borgeaud). However, what is the deal with the scoring system. Could it be more confusing to the uninitiated. Sure, the present scoring system needs to be modified for television but did it need to be so confusing. Why not go the whole way and have quarters of a certain time period. The highest score at the end of the quarter wins the set. At the end of 4 quarters if the teams are on equal sets then have your tiebreaker. It seems as if this is where they were heading but only got halfway there. Find me one person who enjoys rally point - nobody does. Now not only do we have to endure it for the final set but it looks like it’s here for the whole game. I would be interested to hear from people who saw it on television and the players themselves on what they thought of the scoring system.

Robert Mudford.

 

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Jokes

Q: How many CBU members does it take to change a light bulb?.

A: None, they only help others to do their work.

Q: How many Glory Boys does it take to change a light bulb?.

A: That depends if it was set right in the first place and if their hair will look right in the new light.

Q: How many setters does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 2. But only the one in back court can do it right.

Q: How many coaches does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 8, but only after four weeks of training and one cut from the original squad. You must have the basic skills first.

Q: How many referees does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 3, one to make the call, one to authorise the change and one to record the change.