Image: 

The Junior Men's (Under 20) Squad has been named today.  Following further squad trainings, the Junior Men's team to attend the South East Asian Junior Men's Championships in Myanmar 17-29 August will be named.  The squad is here

Image: 

VNZ Game Development Manager, Dr Warren Smith, has released the Athlete Individual Performance Appraisal resource for athletes and coaches.  This tool is designed to give athletes an indication of the complexity of the world of a volleyballer. In other words, all of the things an athlete needs to be aware of and improving on to be the very best you can be.

Download the form here

Image: 

The 2012 NZL Under 17 Girls team to attend the Australian Junior State Volleyball Championships in Melbourne in July has been announced.  The team will also play a three test Trans-Tasman Series against their Australian counter-parts following the State Championships.  The venue for the Test series is yet to be confirmed by the Australian Volleyball Federation.

The team is here

Image: 

The second stage of New Zealand’s preparation for the Beach Volleyball Olympic qualification tournament in China in June has seen the NZ teams gather momentum. Both teams have bounced back from a disappointing result at the Zonal stage of the Continental Cup at Mount Maunganui in February.

Image: 

Three of the four Division I semi-finals have produced tight 5 set matches.

In the first of the boy's matches, Trident prevailed over Westlake Boys in a sea-saw match that saw set wins alternate until the deciding fifth set.  Trident earned themselves a place in tomorrow's final 25-27, 23-25, 25-14, 21-25, 15-12.

The other semi, played on the next court, between Tauranga Boys and Western Heights also had the crowd on their feet as Western Heights took out a tight fifth set after the teams alternated set wins with a scoreline of 17-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-16, 16-14.

Image: 

Semi-finalists in all but Division IV boys face crunch semi-finals tonight, Thursday 29th March.  The Division 4 boys teams continue pool play to determine the top 4 tomorrow.

Division I features top seeds Tauranga Boys against Western Heights and the second semi has 2011 champions Westlake Boys up against Trident, in playoffs dominated by Bay of Plenty teams.

Division II Boys is dominated by Auckland teams with Nelson the exception up against One Tree Hill and Manurewa and Aorere battling out the other semi.

Image: 

Thursday is quarter finals day at the 2012 NZSS Championships in Palmerston North with 19 courts in action throughout the day.

In the girls grade, Division I quarter finals see defending champions Tauranga Girls A take on Christchurch Girls A, Bethlehem College A play McAuley High, Otumoetai College against Waimea College A and Mangere up against Marlborugh Girls A.

Division II action features Burnside A playing Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, Whakatane A vs Western Heights A, Nelson College for Girls A vs Te Aroha and Havelock North High play Tauranga Girls B.

Image: 

Day two of the National Secondary Schools Champs has seen some close fought matches throughout the day.  The round one games at 8.15 am were largely 3 set matches but the students soon warmed up and there have been some exciting tussles, especially in Boys Divsion I.

The top 32 boys and girls teams are now in post pool play - playing in Division I and II, whilst the Premier Girls post pools are Divisions III and IV.

Challenger Girls are Division V.

Image: 

Day one of the 44th NZ Secondary Schools Championships has been very busy with all teams completing two games on the opening day. 

The media release is here

Image: 

Play is underway at the 44th NZ Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships.  The opening ceremony held at Arena Manawatu featured a wonderful performance from the Kapa Haka group from Riverdale School which was highly appreciated by the 1500 plus crowd. 

Play is underway this morning with games scheduled on 19 courts over 8 rounds per day.