King’s High School placed first and third in the Otago Junior Volleyball Championship. It was an exhilarating weekend of Volleyball.

Because Covid robbed the boys of the opportunity to travel to Nelson for the Junior South Island Championships the Otago Champs became a major focus.

The boys trained all winter. Getting up early every Tuesday for a squad training in the King’s gym starting at 7am. Garry Turner and Jesse Dryden ran these sessions focusing on footwork, skill execution and serving accuracy.

Trials for the top two teams, the Vikings and the Eagles were run at the end of Term 3 with two very strong teams selected. 

The Vikings were coached by Andy Campbell and the Eagles were coached by Jesse Dryden. John Salisbury managed the Eagles at the tournament and provided valuable insight.

The Otago Champs consisted of two pools of four teams, with Saturday for pool play and then the cross-over semi-finals on Sunday. 

The Vikings went through undefeated, although they did drop a set against Bayfield A, while the Eagles fought hard all day to come second in their pool. Forcing a cross-over semi-final between the Eagles and the Vikings early on Sunday morning!

The Eagles played extremely well to take a set off the Vikings, but the Vikings proved too strong in the end and won in three sets. 

The Eagles had a third/fourth play-off game against Bayfield while the Vikings were in the final against our old, and respected foe Otago Boys' Year 10.

The Eagles lost the first set but rallied to win the next two very tight sets, to take out third place against a resilient Bayfield team. 

The Vikings played their best Volleyball of the season to totally dominate Otago Boys' in the final and win in two sets. 

As a result, King’s High School was first and third in the Otago Junior Volleyball Championship. Another Banner to hang in the gym!!

Volleyball is a team sport and the tournament team players would be the first to admit that they could not do their jobs without the accuracy of the players around them. "We before me".

Special mention to super coach Andy Campbell, assisted by manager Garry Turner. 

Andy has turned King’s High School into a school of Volleyball excellence and with such a talented group of juniors coming through, our drive for success at the national level looks in good heart. 

Lastly, it would be remiss of me to fail to mention the highlight of every Volleyball tournament, Mrs Turner’s exceptional baking (no bias from me, Mr Turner. Just ask the boys).