Fighting to the very end......

This event that we were about to take part in was quite nerve racking yet exciting, our Yr 8 boys team had won the Eastern Zone title. And now they were headed for the Auckland Volleyball Championship next….

I was given the opportunity to go with them and film their matches. They always knew that this was not going to be easy, I mean of course it’s not! It was the Champions of Champions tournament! The boys were told that they needed to win at least two of their three pool games to make it into the semi final stages.

The team were determined to establish themselves as a real threat in this tournament in their first match, they had all the athletic skill and ability to go all the way, all they needed to do was use it. Really the key to volleyball is awareness and knowing what to do at the right time. In their first game they played with a lot of heart coming back from a 12 point deficit and only losing by six.

Though the score did not show their efforts their determination would show in their next game against the undefeated Block House Bay school. This game was do or die for the boys, if they lost it would be all over red rover. What made it quite emotional was that this would be the last time that the boys would be playing volleyball together as a school team.

I quickly ran to the corner of the huge court to get the camera out as I knew that the boys were ready to play this time round… The whistle went, there was a good passage of play going on between the two teams, the game was flowing quite well with both schools getting the ball over the net into their oppositions position.

The ball was then turned back into Point England’s territory and they were ready to counter the opponents front line defence. The ball went to the back line of attack with the game plan being to get it to the setter(Tamati) on the second hit. Raven set it up for Tamati, Tamati then gently layed up the ball for Ieremus to have a good shot at the ball. Ieremus leap up into the air like a Frog to a fly! WACK!!! The ball came flying to the ground like a meteorite crashing into Earth. One point to Point England! The team gained their confidence from that play, and from their nothing could stop them. The boys successfully kept their hopes alive winning comfortably by 8 points.

After the match boys sat down and talked about what they did well and what they could improve on, kind of like a PMI for Sports if you ask me! The team still needed to win this game to stay alive with the first game costing them dearly making them have to win all their other games. In this next game we found a team like us, 1 win 1 lost and they needed to win this game to stay alive. The boys were looking to carry their aggressive performance in their game earlier on. The game looked like it was slipping away from them at one point but inside they knew that they deserved to go through to the next stage. The boys did that and fought back from a a six point lead and one by 2 points.

The boys were pleased with their effort and went onto the next stage. Coming up against the fearsome Viscount school they were the underdogs. In the beginning of the battle they were leading by two points, but experience and composure for the Viscount side proved to strong for us with Viscount winning the game and going onto win the competition. The boys played to the very end and competed what was to be the last volleyball school team for them.

The boys did exceptionally well to get this far and I am very proud of them, and I'm sure that the school is and will be proud of them too! Well done boys……..