September 1998 Volume 79  Number 9 "serving the protectors"
VOLLEY BALL
By Chris Payne, President, Police Volleyball Club

Finals

The SA Shrikes Police Volleyball Team has finished the minor rounds in top position after competing in the A-grade Volleyball SA competitions at the Superdrome. The team lost only a couple of games during the season.

The standard of the opposition was disappointing and not very challenging at the beginning of the season. It improved later in the season, however, and the Shrikes had to exert much more effort to win games.

The semi-final against Quambies was a best-of-five-game final played on 11 August.

The Shrikes won the first game comfortably. The team was then charged for game two. In the second game the opposition had a resurgence of form and was leading by nine to three early, but the Shrikes won by a two-point advantage after a huge comeback.

The third game was a repeat of the first and put the Shrikes into the grand final scheduled for 18 August. While the Shrikes won all three games, it was a hard-fought semi final and all players on both sides of the net performed extremely well.

The grand final is our fourth in succession in this competition and will hopefully be our first win.

High-Standard Competition

Monday nights competition at Christian Brothers College has been a different story with few wins and problems providing a team on quite a few nights.

Unfortunately, in this competition, an automatic forfeit results if a full team isn't supplied. Competing at this standard is difficult - with only five players, it's near impossible.

Considerable interest has been shown by members wanting to play in this competition next season - filling a team shouldn't be a problem.

The new season commences on 14 September and may include two different grades, depending on the number of teams entering.

Players Wanted

The volleyball club is still looking for new players to join its teams in competition at both venues. Anyone interested should contact me as soon as possible. Training remains at 5.30 pm Wednesdays at MFS headquarters, Wakefield Street, Adelaide.

Team For Stockholm

Volleyballers' interest in attending the WPFG in Stockholm was initially high. However, due mainly to the high cost and the low value of the Australian dollar, the club has only enough players to fill a mixed team and a number of four-a-side and doubles teams. Selection is almost automatic for anyone interested in attending these games. An alternative to filling a team from SA Shrikes members is to invite players from other states to form a composite team. While this will ensure the placement of a team in, it might cause problems with training. Entering our own team would be preferable, but we will certainly consider approaching other states if no other players come forward.