King Electorate

Ms LUETHEN (King) (15:22): Recently, I had the great pleasure of attending the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association's family fun day at Civic Park to commemorate the ongoing celebrations of the 40^th anniversary of the association. This is one of the friendliest clubs. Everyone involved is passionate not only about volleyball but also about supporting and connecting together our community members. This was such a special family fun day event. The club's committee and its members were even kind enough to invite me out on the grass court to play with them, although I think they saw quite quickly that they were much more skilful than I.

The Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association is based at the Golden Grove Recreation Centre in Golden Grove, just a stone's throw away from my office. I was blessed to be invited to say a few words and present a special 40^th birthday present on the day. I was excited that 2018 Commonwealth Games beach volleyball gold medallist Chris McHugh was in attendance and allowed people to have a good look at the gold medal he had won, which my son loved wearing for a little while.

I would like to thank the entire Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association committee for their wonderful work on the day. President Matt Lane, Chad Wherry, Matt Cook, Chris Sieben and the rest of the committee put in so much work to make the day a success, and I was just thrilled to be part of it. The Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association provides a mixed social volleyball competition every Tuesday and Wednesday night in King. The association was established on 13 February 1978 thanks largely to the work of David O'Brien and Karl Richter. The association was officially opened on 31 March 1978 with an exhibition volleyball game to invite new players.

The club has played in a number of venues over the years, including Turramurra and Burragah, before making a more permanent base at the larger Golden Grove Recreation Centre to accommodate the growth of the club. Over the past 10 years the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association has been sending teams to compete in annual regional tournaments and members have always enjoyed the opportunity to attend these trips, which give them a chance to mix with fellow volleyballers from around the state.

To celebrate the club's 40-year anniversary as an association, the committee also ran its own mixed social tournament last June long weekend and invited regional associations to participate to help celebrate the milestone. I attended this tournament and watched the fierce competition. There were 12 teams made up of players from Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Roxby Downs, Port Pirie and Whyalla, along with five teams made up of players from our association, and what was great to see on the day was how players were lent to each other to make up the competition.

Afterwards, the club held a dinner for the competing players at our local village tavern on the Saturday night, with over 100 people in attendance . This gave everyone a chance to relax, mingle and discuss the fierce action of the day. Thank you to the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association for creating such an awesome and inclusive community. It has certainly been a time for celebration in King because in the same week one of my very special local constituents celebrated his 100^th birthday.

I have spoken before in this place about the incredible life of One Tree Hill resident Fred Riley, but to be personally invited by Fred to celebrate his 100^th birthday was extremely special. Mr Riley is a former World War II Spitfire pilot and has achieved so many great things across his extremely illustrious career. Nowadays he is an energetic regular at the One Tree Hill Senior Citizens Club and famous locally for his scrumptious Anzac biscuits, which he bakes regularly to give away to his friends. In fact, his friends in the club created a framed congratulations letter to Fred for his birthday, which also proudly displays one of his Anzac biscuits.

Fred Riley is certainly an incredibly valued member of the One Tree Hill community. His family is extremely active in service to the community within the One Tree Hill Progress Association, with his son-in-law Ian as the president, and members meet regularly to discuss issues and opportunities impacting our local area. I attended the general meeting last week, where the committee was very focused on planning the next very special ANZAC Day dawn service event for One Tree Hill.

One of the best parts of my job as a local member is visiting community groups, attending celebrations in my electorate, meeting local volunteers and learning about our own local heroes and the amazing contributions of the people living in King.