As an agnostic/buddhist, I can’t help but think that if there is a God, then s/he really must hate the city of churches, because this heatwave [in March?????] has gone on longer than it is tasteful.
Willunga’s annual Beach Family Day (to be held on the Sunday) was cancelled due to “Unpredictable Weather”. Although the news media kept on talking about it, Princi assures me that the fires were always under control. Tea Tree Gully’s Volleyball Association’s anniversary BBQ/party complete with fun and bouncy castles (also to be held on the Sunday) was also cancelled.
But before I could find something idyllic to do, Paul [Finn] gave me a ring to see if I could fill in for the team Esther [Finn] usually coaches as she had to get to U19 training, at a new Tournament up at the new Heathfield Gym. I’ve got a pretty short attention span, so besides taking in the location and times, i didn’t pay too much attention to what Paul was saying.
The Mikasa Gold Ball Tournament was a lot of fun. For U15s, it serves as a good warm-up for the National U15 tournament held later in Albury-Wodonga. Besides the 5 Heathfield teams going up there, Hawks fielded 2 teams and Unley 1. Games only went for 30 minutes, which was a good idea with it being so hot.
We had two teams made up of primary school-aged kids I had never seen before bar 1 or 2, so it’s good that we’re still getting kids come through at a young age. I took the boys and i think by their 5th games they were struggling a bit. Young teams usually peak in the middle of a tournament and then drop off. I find their best game is usually their 3rd or 4th game. Although i didn’t know most of the kids well, they were all the younger siblings of kids I’ve coached – with an exception being a new kid who was an only child.
Eldo mentioned this was the first time he didn’t had to travel to go to a tournament. He hopes that more teams will come in the next few years, and that the matches will go for longer. Janice Scott organised most of it and it was a good event at such late notice. She and her husband Stuart were involved with running the Riverland Open for years up in Renmark which I have a lot of fond memories of going to (I think it’s a pity it died in the arse after they moved to Adelaide).
The gym’s a pretty good venue. Whereas the Brighton gym stands as a beautiful monument for exclusive volleyball use (3 taraflex courts with no other line-markings!), the Heathfield gym has been built as a multipurpose centre. The size of both these stadiums will make them great venues for international and national events.
After 10 days, the heat doesn’t seem to be leaving us anytime soon. Maybe God just doesn’t like volleyballers. After all, we seem to be planning too many things on Sundays!
[N.B. maybe not too bad at Brighton. They have the sea breeze and their gym has awesome air-conditioning]
