2022 has been a great turn out for the Burnside Senior Volleyball team.

We started this year with a low with the NZSS Volleyball Competition being cancelled (last chance for the Year 13's to play at a national level for Burnside High School).

In Term 1, with Nationals being cancelled and Canterbury's being postponed, everything was derailed a bit. But thankfully, we were lucky enough to play in Mainland's and Satellites. And out of the two we were able to come away as champions for the Satellite tournament beating the Cashmere team in the final with a set score of 3-1. I think that we were able to finish the tournament victorious because we were not only very aggressive and confident with all the plays we were doing throughout the whole game, but also overall played as one team instead of 6 individuals on the court.

Thankfully, the Canterbury Championships were rescheduled to Term 4. Meaning that a lot of the players will be coming straight out of the club volleyball season, which will increase the overall level of all of the teams making the tournament more exciting. We came out of pool play in second place because we lost to the Shirley Team. But we were once again given the chance to play against the Shirley Team in the finals. The finals went to 5 sets and we were at championship point with a 4 point lead (14-10). Luckily for me I was able to score the last point of the tournament with a roof block on the opponent’s best hitter. I think this was a historical moment for our team because we won the Senior Boys Canterbury Champion Title for the first time in Burnside history.

We had an astonishing finish for the BHS Senior Boys Volleyball programme, as we came away as the Satellite and Senior Canterbury Champions. On top of being the first ever senior boys team to win the Canterbury Champion in all of Burnside High School history.

I would like to leave a special thank you to Ben Laing (coach) and Ms Barker (manager), who allowed me to grow my passion as a volleyball player over the past 5 years to finish my last tournament with a bang! Good Luck to all the next generation of players for next year, and GO WIN THE NATIONAL TITLE!!!

Mark Chang