The 2017 Australian Junior Volleyball Championships were held last week at the Coomera Indoor Sports Complex on Queensland’s Gold Coast, for its second year in the 2018 Commonwealth Games host city. The WA delegation saw a total of seven teams make the trip across, accompanied by coaches, parents support and physio staff and including a referee contingent of 7 officials. The tournament itself saw the best young volleyballers from around the nation meet to compete over seven days packed full of volleyball action. Although the eventual President’s Cup winners Queensland were a dominant force across the competition winning 10 of the 11 gold medals on offer, Volleyball Australia and Tournament Director Job Gibbs made special mention of our WA athletes being the “big improvers of the tournament”, with Gibbs saying in an interview that he “was very impressed that WA women made medal matches in all three age groups.” (full article here)

Despite having a comparatively small delegation among the larger contingents from Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, WA’s athletes shone and were fan favourites to watch with their passionate and exciting brand of volleyball. 

Our under19 Women’s Team became the centre of attention on Saturday, when they took on Queensland in the U19 gold medal match. Unfortunately they were unable to repeat their spectacular win over the Maroons from earlier in the week, but their efforts did not go unnoticed with over five thousand tuning in to watch the match courtside and online. The Women’s head coach, Laurel Wentworth had this to say:

“U19 Women’s team played consistently well over the 7 days of competition. these young women showed great team unity, fighting spirit, and passion for volleyball. They enjoyed themselves and improved throughout the tournament. I am proud of their achievements and the manner in which they represented WA.”

You can revisit the match on the Volleyball WA Facebook page.

As well as multiple medal winners, four WA athletes were also selected in the AJVC All-Star Seven for their respective divisions. This accolade is one of the highest honours in the tournament, with one player from each team position being selected by a panel of coaches representing all states to form the ‘All-Star Seven’ for their age group. Congratulations to our four athletes who received this great honour!

Summary of WA results:

U19 Boys Championship: 5th

U19 Girls: Silver Medal

U17 Boys Championship: 5th

U17 Girls Championship: 4th

U17 Girls Division 1: 5th

U15 Boys Championship: 5th

U15 Girls Championship: Bronze Medal

All-Star Seven recipients:

Thomas Heptinstall-U19 Boys

Waverley Burling-U19 Girls

Elysse Hislop-U19 Girls

Ky Landers-U17 Boys

Congratulations to all involved in this year’s WA delegation to the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships. You have done your state proud!

For full results, click here. For photos of the tournament by Rogue Gun Photography, follow this dropbox link.