UTS Junior Boys Gold Medal Point U18 Schoolboys Division at Canberra Good Neighbour
The UTS Junior Boys had an intensive training period led by Artem Ipatyev. Artem took the boys through all the basic skills and techniques, and each session finished with some Russian-style strengthening exercises. The boys kept coming back for more each week, and slowly we could see improvement across all players. Finally a squad of 10 players was selected for competition and the team was entered into 2 tournaments. The first prep tournament was the NSW State Cup #4 and the boys were entered into Division 2 Men. The highlight of the morning was when each player received their very own brand new UTS hoodie.(Thanks Deb!) Talk about pride in wearing club colours! As a new team, it took a while for the boys to combine properly and although they played well in pockets, it wasn’t enough to secure a win during the round robin. The boys played off in the wooden spoon final, and were able to beat the Endeavour Academy to avoid last place. The tournament was a great way for the coaches to test out players in different roles and work on various playing formations. It also gave all the boys a chance to experience the demands of a full day of volleyball. Overall Tally: 3 losses, 1 win and 5th place overall. [Special thankyou to Clara Loth (Assistant Coach) for running between her own games, and helping out on bench whenever she was free, and to Jeff Horn for stepping in as Team Manager for the weekend]
The following weekend we all boarded the UTS mini-bus and headed down to Canberra for our first road trip as a team. We checked into the same hotel where the rest of the club was staying, but even more exciting for the boys was that McDonalds was located underneath… oh dear! On Day 1 the boys made a quick stop at the Volleyball shop and spent all their spending money on new shoes and other gear. We then made our way to the Hockey Centre where the Under 18 Schoolboy Division matches were to be played. Our first game was against Canberra Hornets and we came out firing with a 3:0 win. Our 2nd game was against local school Lyneham Blue, and we continued in great form with another 3:0 victory. Our last game was against BHV Khalsa, who surprised us with us draw. Saturday evening the whole team joined the crowd to support UTSSU, play against AIS in their last round of AVL. For most of the boys, this was their first experience of watching an elite level of volleyball competition, and many were inspired by the great plays demonstrated during the match.
Mens AVL in Canberra: UTSSU v AIS
Day 2 of Good Neighbour started off with another solid 2:0 win against BHV Rippin (2nd Team), followed by one of our best matches of the weekend against BHV Rams (1st Team). The boys played some brilliant volleyball, with massive kills from the outside and middle. The backcourt defence never stopped and everyone hit the deck to save every point. (Thanks to Artem’s defensive work at all of those training sessions, refer video below) We finished the match with a 2:0 win! The last of our round robin matches was against local favourites, Lyneham Gold, but our boys put on another brilliant display of volleyball to outclass the opposition with a 2:0 win! With 5 wins and one draw, the boys made it thru to the Gold Medal FInal against BHV Rams. The final saw all of our boys play at their peak, with some great defence and solid attacking by everyone. We took the Gold medal with a solid 2:0 victory and a fitting end to many weeks of solid training and preparation.
2013 UTS Junior Honorary Team Awards:
#1 Ali Rizarie: Best Captain/Worst Server/Best Passer
#5 Andreas Damouras: Best Rookie Middle & Double Roof Award
#6 Toee Naing: Most Improved & Team Player Award
#7 Louis Johansson: Best Rookie Outside Hitter
#9 Hao Yin: Best Middle playing Libero
#11 Libbee Sukirthan: Best Middle & Unstoppable B-Quicks
#12 Willis Choi: Most Consistent All Rounder
#19 Matthew Jigalin: Best Universal playing Setter
#18 Jarrod Horn: Best Middle playing Setter
#3(L) Laymond Chu: Best Team Motivator & Outstanding Libero
On behalf of all of the boys, we would like to thank the UTS Volleyball Club for commencing a Junior Boys Program and to Deb Chung for all of her kind support. A big thankyou to Artem and Clara for their time as coaches in preparing the team properly. Also, many thanks to Sam Morrison for booking our training venues and organising the mini-bus for our Canberra trip. We also appreciate and acknowledge the support of all of the parents/families of the boys. We will re-commence our training sessions early in the year and we look forward to continuing the Junior Boys Development Program in 2014 and preparing a team for SVL. …Go UTS!
George Jigalin (Coach)
UTS Junior Training at UTS Broadway Multi Purpose Sports Facility: Artem teaching the boys how to dive
UTS Volleyball Club 
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