28 Jun 2019
The opens girls Volleyball team continues their winning streak by taking out gold at the State Cup in Sydney for the first time, attributing their success to strong teamwork.
“If you don’t have teamwork, you don’t have a team,” said Year 11 student Elizabeth Legge.
“You can’t win without teamwork,” added teammate Emma Biddick.
The apprehensive students travelled to Sydney Olympic Park to compete against the top teams in the State with high hopes of taking out the elusive gold medal.
“We took the challenge head-on and absolutely smashed it,” said team captain Maddison Symons.
“The reason we haven’t won in Sydney before is because the level is a lot higher,” she said.
Although the Camden Haven High School team often triumphs in Newcastle competitions, the Sydney teams are stiffer competition as they have more variety of highly competition training.
“We played against private schools who have facilities, funding and full-time coaches that we don’t have,” said Emma.
The team made it to the grand final in second place against St George Girls, who they lost against in qualifying games.
“It was a really hard game for us” said Year 11 student Jamie Swift, “it was probably the best game of volleyball we have ever played.”
The girls benefited from training after school with teacher Mr Phil Legge, a former player at an International level.
“The two hours after school, especially with a coach who is so good, was really beneficial to us,” said Year 11 player Emma.
“We have been doing some drills to improve placement, working as a team, and developing advanced strategies to impact on other teams,” Phil said.
“I saw myself more as a facilitator of their learning of skills, tactics, and gameplay. We looked at their weaknesses and trained them to improve in those areas,” he said.
“I set up their captain, Maddy, to take on the role of leader, which she has taken to with absolute gusto. From that, they have become a more cohesive team,” said trainer Phil Legge.
“Their level of teamwork and skills has improved out of sight,” said organising teacher Ms Kim Nicholas.
“The girls always support each other very well, which is wonderful to see,” she said.
“We kept the encouragement up throughout the whole competition” said player Elizabeth Legge, “there wasn’t a player who didn’t encourage another so that was really nice.”
The school would like to thank Ms Kim Nicholas, Mr Phil Legge, and parent Lee Burdett who took on a managerial role for the team.