April 27, 1999
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)

The following is being distributed at the request of Sport Newfoundland and Labrador:

1999 Investors Group Canadian Juvenile Volleyball Championships

The Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association will be hosting the 1999 Investors Group Canadian Juvenile Volleyball Championships. Teams from all over the country will travel to Newfoundland to compete for the national title on May 7, 8, and 9. The organizing committee is expecting to have 24 women's teams and 20 men's teams to attend this event, which will take place in St. John's, Mount Pearl and Conception Bay South. Seven facilities in total will be used to host the tournament with eight courts to be used. Venues include: Memorial University (two courts), Prince of Wales Collegiate, Booth Memorial, Mount Pearl Senior High School, Queen Elizabeth Regional High School, Holy Spirit High School, and School for the Deaf. Marine Institute may also be used as a spare court.

The 1999 National Juveniles Organizing Committee has been preparing for this exciting event for the last year and have worked extremely hard to make it a success. The committee's chairman is Peter Hickman, who is responsible for overseeing the entire committee and all planning and implementation that the sub-committees organize.

The Sponsorship Committee chair is Sandy Hickman, who is responsible for obtaining all sponsors for the tournament, as well as arranging and coordinating all public relations activities leading up to and during the event.

Todd Martin, vice-president of Volleyball Canada, is the chair of the Venue Committee, and is responsible for coordinating the use of all venues, as well as enlisting venue managers to look after each venue throughout the tournament.

Eric Downton, chair of the Communications Committee, assesses the communication needs of the tournament and obtains appropriate equipment for the event, while Bruce Cocker is responsible for the Program Committee, which develops and distributes the tournament program.

The Graphics Committee was lead by Geoff Clouston, who is responsible for all graphic designs for the tournament program, t-shirts and posters and the Hospitality Committee was chaired by Danielle Walters, who organizes all social events and welcome packages for the participants.

The Officials Committee is chaired by Noel Lilly, who recruits and assigns all officials and enforces all match protocol, and Graham Horwood, chair of the Awards/Protocol Committee, is responsible for organizing the awards presentations and the closing ceremony.

Both Margo Hanlon and Cathy Spurrell are responsible for the Merchandising Committee, which organizes and operates an information desk and boutique at the tournament. Other members of the committee are Jeff Saunders, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association and Craig Neil, the program coordinator of the Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association. They are responsible for the Competition Committee that develops the competition format and schedule.

There will be nine teams representing Newfoundland at the nationals this year, which will include four women's teams and five men's teams. The host women's teams set to compete are the City Chrysler Vipers from Corner Brook, the Exploits Valley High team from Grand Falls-Windsor, the Conception Bay North Diggers and the Botwood Volleyball Club.

The men's host teams are the Conception Bay North Chargers, the Loopers from the Gander Bay area, the Hitmen Volleyball team from St. John's, the Conception Bay South Sabres and Discovery Collegiate from Bonavista.

The City Chrysler Vipers are members of the Humber Valley Volleyball Club from Corner Brook. This team had a very successful season winning gold at the Provincial Juvenile A Women's Volleyball Championships finishing with a 14-0 set record. This team is made up of players from both Herdman Collegiate and Regina High School, having six players from each school. Ten of the 12 members of this team have provincial team experience, including Jennifer Collins, Erin McCormick, Deanne McCarthy, Heather Oates, Kerri Penney, Allison Pitcher, Katherine Skanes, Jennifer Trask, Laura Watton and Sarah Watton. Other members of the Vipers are Vikki Locke and Joanne Warren. The team is coached by Finton Gaudette.

Vikki Locke was named to the All-Star Team at the Juvenile Provincials, and during the season received an all-star award at the Dalhousie High School Championships and the Top Offensive Award at the Herdman Invitational. Erin McCormick received the MVP award at the Abitibi Price Invitational Volleyball Tournament, while Deanne McCarthy was given the Sportsmanship Award at the Provincial A Juvenile Championships.

The Exploits Valley High Volleyball Team is a member of the Beothuck Volleyball Club from Grand Falls-Winsdor. With the amalgamation of the three high schools there, players who were once opponents had to come together and play as one team. As a result, the team had a very successful year finishing second at the Provincial Juvenile A Women's Championships which secured their spot at the nationals. The team also won the Botwood Invitational and came just short of the finals of the 4A Provincial Championships losing in the semi-finals. The team is coached by Bruce Andrews and members of this team include Denika Andrews, Stephanie Blackmore, Amy Bouzane, Pam Bradbury, Jennifer Butt, Catherine Hennessy, Leanne Hibbs, Allison Janes, Andrea Ralph, Melissa Rideout, Jennifer Sutherland and Sarah Thompson.

There are seven players who have been involved with the Provincial Elite Volleyball Program. Denika Andrews who played Midget Elite and Midget Plus One, Amy Bouzane who played Midget Elite and Andrea Ralph who played Midget Plus One are the grade 12 players who have had some elite experience. The midget elite team in which Andrews and Bouzane played on in the summer of 1997 captured the gold medal in the Eastern National Championships defeating the Midget Plus One team from Newfoundland . The Midget Plus One team travelled to two tournaments this past summer, taking Andrews and Ralph to the Espoir in Quebec where the team came 13th and to the Eastern Nationals in Fredericton where they finished in 6th place. There are also four grade 11 players who travelled to Quebec this summer playing on the Midget Elite team and they are Stephanie Blackmore, Catherine Hennessey, Sarah Thompson and Jocelyn Mercer. Blackmore and Hennessey are once again a part of the elite program this summer along with Leanne Hibbs.

The Conception Bay Chargers have dominated the provincial volleyball scene this season. During the year this team from Avondale won gold at the Roncalli Invitational, Ascension Invitational, and Abitibi Price Invitational, as well as silver at Volleyfest. This outstanding team captured the Provincial Juvenile A Men's Championship for the second consecutive year, which secured their spot at the Juvenile Nationals. The Chargers also won the Provincial 4A High School Volleyball Championship for the second consecutive year. The last two years this team has only lost one match. Members include: James Bennett, Corey Buck, Adam Dawson, Adam Doyle, Blair Ezekiel, Kenneth Hurley, Jonathan Kelly, Tommy Kelly, John Robinson, Matt Spracklin, Alan Walsh and Carlos Woodland. The team is coached by Bob Alcock.

Tommy Kelly, a 6'6" middle blocker, is a star member of the Conception Bay Chargers. He has won numerous all-star awards over the past few years, including all-stars at this years Juvenile A Provincials and Ascension Invitational. He was also named MVP of the Abitibi Price Tournament this year. Last year, Tommy was a member of the Provincial Midget Plus One Elite team, who won a bronze medal at the Eastern Canadian Elite Tournament. He received an all-star award at this tournament. He also played on the Midget Elite Team the previous summer, which captured the silver medal at the same tournament. He received an all-star award here as well. As a result of Tommy's incredible volleyball talent, he has been named the Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association's Junior Player of the Year for both the 97-98 and 96-97 seasons.

The Loopers Volleyball Team placed second at the Men's Juvenile A Provincials, which secured their spot at this year's Juvenile Nationals. The team also placed third at the Central Senior Men's Invitational. The Loopers have several members who played at the Provincial Midget Elite level. The coaching staff includes both Deon Goulding and Paul Oldford and the members of the team are Paul Barr, Greg Downer, Chris Dyke, Chris Fancy, Travis Halliday, Andrew Humphries, Wallace Parsons, Bradley Pelley, Tatam Snow, Gregory Stokes and David Winsor.

David Winsor, a 6'3" power hitter, was an all-star at the Provincial Juvenile Championships this year and was a member of the A High School Provincial Champs. Chris Dyke, a 6'0" power hitter, and Bradley Pelley, a 6'7" middle blocker, were both members of the 1997 NLVA Midget Plus One Elite Team, which won a silver medal at the Eastern Midget Championships.

The Hitmen Volleyball Club have had their most successful season this year winning a bronze medal at the Juvenile A Men's Championships and a gold medal at the Midget B Provincials. There are 10 players on the juvenile team, eight from Bishop's College, one from Holy Heart and one from Queen Elizabeth. They have four players who have played at the provincial elite level. The team is coached by Ron Noseworthy and members of the team include Aaron Dale, Richard Harvey, Jason Kung, Matthew Noseworthy, Chad Paul, Stuart Ralph, Brad Rodway, Adrian Snow, Andrew Squires and Mike Stokes.

While several of the players have won awards with their high school teams this season, the most recent winners in the NLVA competition are Level 1 player Adrian Snow, who was selected to the tournament all-stars at the Midget B Provincials and Matthew Noseworthy who received a tournament all-star at the Juvenile A Provincials, and was team captain of the Provincial Elite Midget Team last summer. Matthew was also the winner of tournament MVP and all-star awards with Bishop's this year.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Volleyball Association and the Organizing Committee would like to acknowledge all of the sponsors contributing to this year's Canadian Juvenile Volleyball Championships. The national sponsors issued from Volleyball Canada include, Investors Group, Speith Anderson, Balance Bar, Active Ankle and Tacikara Rucanor. Other major sponsors include, Pepsi, the City of St. John's, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Royal Bank, Academy Canada, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Alcatel. Minor sponsors of the nationals are the Sports Shop, Parsons and Sons, Fast Signs, Newfoundland Hydro, Terra Nova Lodge, Ultramar, Newtel, Jungle Jim's, Cooperators Insurance, Legrows Travel, and Cable Atlantic.

Contact: Craig Neil, (709) 576-0817.

1999 04 27 12:35 p.m.