2014 sees the A's start their campaign for a decade in the A Grade Grand Final - which must be one of the longest streaks in SA sports right now. The B's look to establish themselves again as one of the top A Grade sides and make their 1st A Grade Grand Final. The C's are looking to go back to back. The D's and E's are wanting to get to the top of the ladder after falling just short last year. The F's are rebuilding after an 18-0 season and the G's hope to follow up their reserve title win with a shot at the big dance. The girls are back with the same lineup as last year ... I think this is their year!
Strap yourselves in this is gonna a be a bumpy ride of highs and lows and a long and somewhat boring blog post about marriages, team selection, AGMs and Lawn Bowls.
Before I start I would like to, on behalf of the club, send
congratulations to Matt Williams and Corey Gaard who got married over the
weekend (not to each other) and to J-J-J-James Baker who will be getting
married soon. Congrats lads – may your marriages bring you a lifetime of
fulfilment with minimal nagging.
To basketball - it is looking likely that the Saturday
season is starting on Saturday May 3 this year
(games will be between 1-6pm). This is to be confirmed. Most teams will
again be at the Powerhouse or Cedar … again to be confirmed. We are looking to
nominate 7 teams again and asking for them to be in the same or similar grades
as last year.
I have managed to speak to most of you over the last few
weeks about Saturday teams for this year. As with every season, we have had
some major changes to player personnel. The B’s have lost 4 players and
this then has a flow on effect through the whole club – we have also lost some
key guys from the D’s, E’s and F’s. We also have a few guys going away for big
parts of the season so putting teams together has been very tough.
Again, as with every year, a lot of thought goes into
putting together each side – it is a task that isn’t taken on lightly and we
need to factor in many different things when deciding teams – namely –
chemistry, mix of youth and veterans, future planning and rewarding potential,
getting the balance of size, speed, ballhandlers, shooters, defenders,
rebounders, role-players in each side … and not least of all personal
preference. It is a difficult task – we are mindful to make sure to explain all
decisions in honest and frank with manner and if you want to discuss your
selection please feel free to contact me via email, text, Facebook, phone or in
person – I will sit down and have a chat with you about the reasons behind the
decision. Sometimes decisions are made on behalf of the club and teams over
individual preferences … sometimes those are tough decisions but hopefully they
are thought out informed decisions. These decisions are not final – but
they are pretty close to being the final squads … if you want to chat and talk
about changing your team please feel free (last year we made a few late changes
and we always factor this in). This is something that we put a lot of effort
into because we know getting it right leads to winning premierships and preparing
for the future (see; 4 premierships in 2013).
I will say “just because I want to play with my mates” is not
a deciding factor for picking teams … if you want to play with your mates …
start a social team.
Finally – unlike previous years – this year I believe there
will be opportunities to move teams during the season. There will be some
vacancies in some of the teams opening through players going away … so it is
important to play hard, be a good teammate, get to training if possible because
we take note of all of these things.
We welcome back a number of old faces (including a former
club champion) and we have recruited 3 new players (at this stage in the F’s)
who are friends of guys in the club. There have been a few guys who have moved
teams – made possible by a couple of guys moving to a lower grade. It is this
kind of unselfishness that creates the winning culture of our club.
So to the teams – even though you would have looked already.
| A | B | |||
| Jack | Harford | Ben | Palk | |
| Corey | Gaard | Ryan | Williams | |
| Josh | Orken | Lachlan | Campbell | |
| Liam | Golding | Phil | Farrer | |
| Tom | Hobbs | Tom | Oliphant | |
| Tauny | Schmidt | Jono | Self | |
| Phil | Harford | Angus | Crawford | |
| John | Foo | Kartik | Arye | |
| Mick | Hill | |||
| C | D | |||
| Nathan | Graham | Simon | Miller | |
| Mitch | Kirkham | Jay | Nguyen | |
| Brad | Hughes | Brendon | Francesca | |
| Matt | Williams | Jon | Read | |
| Mark | Henderson | Stu | MacDonald | |
| Andrew | Good | Josh | Moorfoot | |
| Nick | Krantz | Ned | Young | |
| Tim | Wong | Chris | Woodrow | |
| E | F | ||||
| Matt | Just | Mark | Waters | ||
| Mark | Powell | Jon | Hanzalik | ||
| Brad | Daniel | Matt | Trim | ||
| Cam | Smith | Ben | Orken | ||
| James | Pritchard | Andrew | Hough | ||
| Alex | Bubner | Tone | Trinh | ||
| Mike | Tye | Tom | Lulgjuraj | ||
| Daniel | Foo | Mike | Nitschke | ||
| Phil | Walker | ||||
| G | |
| James | Townsend |
| Nigel | Hickman |
| Sam | Karamoshos |
| Will | Harmer |
| Tom | Huxtable |
| Reid | Amos |
| Troy | Tirrell |
| Udit | Lakra |
_______________________________________________________________________________________
AGM
The Prince Alfred Old Collegians Basketball Club will have its
Annual General Meeting at Prince Alfred College @ RED Centre (after training) –
7.30pm on Tuesday 8th of April.
Members interested in being involved in the running of the club
are encouraged to attend. A draft agenda has been circulated to your email. If you
would like for a matter to be added to the agenda, or if you would like to
suggest a date change for the social calendar please let me know.
If you are unable to attend, but would like to be a committee
member for the coming year please let me know.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Social Event #1 - Old Red Lawn Bowls
The
first social function for the year is a new idea – it is the 1st
Annual Old Reds Lawn Bowls Tournament.
We
are going to run a $10 to enter knockout, winner takes all Lawn Bowls
tournament. All participants will be put into a hat – draw an opponent at
random – each match will consist of 2 ends, the winner advances and the loser
is knocked out and will have to comfort themselves with the joys of alcohol. If
you are thinking … “pfffft Lawn Bowls Palky … that sounds lame”. Trust me, it is
a stack of fun, we have the great venue all night, drinks are cheap, we can
play our own music and have the run of the place … it is like a pub but with a
sport we can compete in at the same time.
1st
Annual Old Reds Lawn Bowls Tournament Details:
When:
Friday 11th April (6.00pm for 6.30pm start)
Where:
Adelaide Lawn Bowls Club (opposite PAC on Dequetteville Tce).
Cost:
$20 - $10 to enter tournament and $10 for lawn bowls hire. Buy own drinks.
Please RSVP to me … I am not
sure why I write this because none of you ever RSVP and I end up texting you
all or Facebook’ing you.
All
friends, family and partners welcome.
Palky
