28 November 2024
New South Wales and South Queensland teams dominated at the ADF Volleyball Combined Services Tournament, held in Darwin from November 1 to 10.
The tournament featured teams from states and territories, with triservice players first competing in pairs beach volleyball before moving indoors for a six-a-side tournament.
South Queensland men’s team defeated NSW 3-2 in their final, while the women’s NSW team defeated South Queensland 3-1 in theirs.
North Queensland coach Sub-Lieutenant Olivia Lindsay, who has been playing since childhood, said the NSW and South Queensland teams were formidable, boasting players with years of experience.
“We were the first team of the tournament to take a set off NSW, which was a huge moment for us,” she said.
Many of her players were new to the sport.
“Originally, I meant to play, but I got injured and had to pivot, so ADF Volleyball gave me the opportunity to come to my first Combined Services Tournament as a coach,” Sub-Lieutenant Lindsay said.
“It was a really great chance to build up some new players, introduce them to the game and introduce the players to each other.”
Her team secured fourth place, which she described as exciting, since four rookies were playing in their first combined services tournament.
Lance Corporal Lewis Cregan, who represented the NT who finished fifth, said the women’s side claiming bronze was a highlight.
“Watching our women’s team get a bronze was great, because they were down a bit in the pool’s start rounds, then they came back to make finals,” he said.
In his team, there was a mix of experienced players and those who were new to the sport.
“Trying to figure out where to put people can be tricky sometimes,” Lance Corporal Cregan said.
“We more or less just jumped in and tried out a few different things to see what would work, what combinations of players work best together.”
In future tournaments, he said they need to focus on building the base level of skill earlier.
Air Force Sergeant Mitchell Browne, who played middle for ACT, began playing volleyball in February and spent most of the year training for this tournament.
“Roughly half the team was new to volleyball, so we weren’t expecting too much, but I think we did pretty well, coming sixth overall,” Sergeant Browne said.
“Our team had great communication, great spirit. Any time we lost a point, we stayed competitively supportive.”
