It has been a busy and uncertain term for Shirley Boys' Volleyball.

With Covid affecting anything and everything, it was a tough ordeal to organise teams for tournaments and competitions that we weren't sure would go ahead. The big scalp was the cancellation of the Secondary School Nationals, for the second time in three years. One can only feel for our Yr13's who have toiled away at their craft for 5 years and unfortunately missing out on a chance to test themselves against the best. Nonetheless, Canterbury Volleyball did their very best to provide tournament and competition opportunities for our athletes.

The year started with yet another big influx of numbers with well over 90 players trialing out for teams across the Senior and Junior school. Our Senior A and B teams stepped in to help out with coaching and developing the skill set of our Juniors. This was supported by our outstanding coaching crew of Miss Smith, Ms. Miura, Mr. Pesefea, Mr. Taufua, Mr. Whales and Jasper Van Der Veer. We are very fortunate to have so much staff support with our teams.

Once trials were had and teams were selected we settled into the term with Monday night volleyball. Unfortunately, due to the red light system, there was no Junior Monday nights this year so Miss Smith organised inhouse games on Monday after school. This allowed valuable game time for all our junior athletes, many of whom were new to the sport.

Our Senior teams were able to play Monday nights with our A's and B teams both in the top division this term. Our Year 12 team and Mixed Year 11 and 13 team enjoyed a competitive competition in the lower grades.

Our first tournament came in March when our Senior A Spartans and Senior B teams competed in the annual Mainland Tournament. This was a great way to measure ourselves against the best teams in the South Islands. Our Senior B team battled hard in Division 2 under the watchful eye of Mr Pesefea and Ms Miura. They played every team in a round-robin format only dropping 2 games and finishing 3rd in Div 2. Our Spartans A team competed well in Div 1 finishing 3rd over all. Both teams had to navigate Covid throughout the tournament. A big thank you to those players who stepped in to fill the void, especially a couple of yr 10s who got the call up last minute.

Our second and last tournament of Term One came during summer tournament week. With Nationals canceled for the year, the annual satellite tournament became the next best thing. We were fortunate to be able to enter all 4 senior teams in this tournament; just reward for some of our more senior players who have played for a number of years and were given an opportunity to represent Shirley Boys' for the first time in a tournament. All our teams, in all honesty, suffered the same fate. We didn't play consistent enough to win the big games. This was evident in our Spartan A semi-final where we had a great opportunity to win but ultimately fell short. Nonetheless, important lessons were learnt.

Final results for the 2022 Satellite SI Tournament:

SBHS A Spartans: 4th in Div 1

SBHS B: 8th in Div 1

SBHS C: 6th in Div 3

SBHS yr 12s: 5th in Div 3

We look forward to seeing everyone back for the Term Four seasons.