Spike in Volleball Sees Medal Win

Congratulations to the 2023 Year 10 Boy's team who brought home the bronze medal from the Volleyball Queensland Intermediate Schools Cup held at the end of May.  

New kids on the block, this Year 10 Boy's team comprises two Year 10s, five Year 7s, one Year 9 and one Year 8 student.  The boys achieved a milestone win and brought home King’s Pimpama’s first medal in representative volleyball when they beat St Benedicts in a hard-fought 2-0 sets match to claim third place.  King's sporting culture was also evident at the tournament with the team encouraging one another on the court and from the sideline, which enhanced morale and sportsmanship over the three days.

Coach Glenn Pyne is no stranger to developing a volleyball program from the grassroots level. 

"This is the third time I have developed a volleyball program from scratch. Last year was our first tournament where we took eight dedicated young ladies to the Australian School’s Cup, " he said.

"These girls while finishing middle of the pack had no reason to expect to finish anything above the bottom. Having only trained together for 10 weeks and most of them have no volleyball experience at all."

Then came 2023, the girls' success and fun playing volleyball at this level were infectious and King's Pimpama started the program in earnest. 

"We no longer have eight girls on a Wednesday morning training regime, instead most Wednesdays we have had over 30 girls and boys training and developing their skills to play at the highest level possible for school volleyball," stated Coach Pyne.

As a result, King's Pimpama sent, not one team but, three teams (a total of 27 students) to the Queensland Volleyball Intermediate (Grades 9 & 10) School’s Cup 3-day Tournament on the Gold Coast. The teams consisted of the following players:

With very little experience in their ranks, these teams presumably should have finished at the bottom. However, their dedication to training, their incredible team spirit and their love for the game showed what was possible. 

The Year 10 girls played some amazing volleyball and were unlucky to be relegated to the bottom of their draws at the crossover, but they finished top of the crossovers and 5th overall in their division with a very close 26-24; 26-24 win over Somerset College for the “Battle of the Coast” game. 

The Year 9 girls had an amazing start to the tournament winning both of their first two games before meeting the eventual gold medalist in their third game. This placed the girls at the top of the crossover draw playing the three best teams in their division. One of those teams was our sister school from Reedy Creek; this game was probably the most fun as many of the girls knew each other and the Reedy Creek coach was one of Coach Pyne's ex-volleyball players from his time at Reedy Creek. The girls excelled in their play and although failing to achieve a medal in their Bronze medal match against Indooroopilly SHS, they came away with some incredible plays and skills they did not have before the tournament.

All is bright for the future of volleyball at King’s Pimpama and we would encourage students who might be interested in playing to come and talk to Coach Pyne. In addition, more coaches will be required as the number of teams continues to grow at our campus. Next term, King's Pimpama expects to have at least two teams going to the Senior School’s Cup (Years 10 and 11).  We are also hoping for a boy's and a girl's team for Junior School’s Cup (Years 7 and 8) in October.

Coach Pyne would like to thank parent, Mr Damien Kowaliw, and staff members, Mr Andrew Pickering, and Mrs Olivia Bruneau for their tireless effort over the three days of this tournament in coaching and managing the teams.