Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:32): I rise today to talk about the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association and the wonderful work they do contributing to fun, fitness and community wellbeing in King. I would like to begin by thanking the committee of the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association for having me along on a Saturday morning recently to open their tournament to celebrate their 40^th year club anniversary. Thank you to the committee for showing me around, highlighting the high standard of competition and for spending time with me to explain their association and to introduce me to every member of the committee. I felt very welcome and I look forward to visiting again.

Thank you to Matt Cook, who is the social media and marketing coordinator on the committee, for providing me with detailed information of the competition. Each night there are around 38 teams competing across five grades of competition. The volleyball association runs each season for around 12 to 14 weeks and the only break they have is during the Christmas and new year period. The Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association was established in 1978, thanks largely to the work of David O'Brien and Karl Richter. Both David and Karl have been part of the team that formed the North-East Hills Sporting Association.

The association has played in many venues over the years before making a permanent base at the larger Golden Grove Recreation Centre to accommodate the association's growth. This is, of course, in King. More details of the history and the people involved in this association can be found on their website, which I must say, due to the work of the volunteers, is one of the best sporting club websites that I have come across. Over the past 10 years, the association has sent teams to compete in annual regional tournaments to Port Augusta and Port Lincoln. The members have always enjoyed the opportunity to attend these trips which gives them a chance to mix with fellow volleyballers from all around the state.

With 2018 marking the 40-year anniversary of this association, the committee decided that they would run their own mixed social tournament over the June long weekend and invite the regional associations to participate to help celebrate the milestone. On Saturday 9 June, at the tournament the regional areas had 12 teams in competition, made up of players from Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Roxby Downs, Port Pirie and Whyalla, along with five teams made up of players from the Tea Tree Gully association.

After the tournament, on Saturday night a dinner was held at the nearby The Grove for all competing players, with over 100 people attending that dinner. This gave everyone a chance to relax, mingle and discuss all the action from the day. The Eyre Peninsula Pirates, with players from Port Lincoln, Roxby Downs and Whyalla, beat one of the Tea Tree Gully teams in the division 1 final, while another Tea Tree Gully team defeated Port Lincoln to win the division 2 final.

Chris McHugh, the 2018 Commonwealth Games beach volleyball gold medallist, was on hand to help present the prizes to the winning teams. The tournament games were played in great spirit, with some very competitive volleyball on display. The tournament was a huge success and the association has had lots of positive feedback from its own members and members of the regional associations.

I remind all clubs and community groups that the City of Tea Tree Gully offer community grants, and a new round for these grants has just opened up for clubs to submit applications for new equipment. I did raise with the City of Tea Tree Gully that the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association would like some of their balls that get hit up in the rafters back the next time they are tidying up. Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association today.