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President’s Message Sabres SEABL Men Sabres SEABL Women Sabres SEABL D League Sabres Representative Program NSW Road Trip U12 Girls Reports U12 Boys Reports U14 Girls Reports U14 Boys Reports U12 Girls Team Photos U12 Boys Team Photos U14 Girls Team Photos U14 Boys Team Photos Sabres Walls of Fame Free Throws U16 Girls Team Photos U16 Boys Team Photos U18 Girls Team Photos U18 Boys Team Photos Time Outs U16 Boys Reports U16 Girls Reports Coaches U18 Boys Reports U18 Girls Reports The Huddle U20 Boys Reports The Boys Suit Up! Free Throws More coaches

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President’s MESSAGE

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It has been yet another jam packed year of action for the Sabres. Results aside, it has been pleasing to see the development of individuals which has lead to greater success as a club. These results don’t just happen by accident, it is the dedication of coaches, athletes and the many other people who all contribute each and every day to push the Sabres towards success.

Thank you yet again to everyone who dedicates their time to improvement of individuals, teams and our Association. As the year moves towards its close, enjoy what may be a short break and look forward to even more success in the future.

Yours in basketball, Steven Lunardon President SBA

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SEABL Men Firstly congratulations and well done to all our senior teams and coaches. I had the chance to watch all teams play at one time or another and was pleased to see the commitment and spirit with which the games were played. Results across the board may vary, but our developing culture and effort night in night out, can’t and shouldn’t.

The composition of the men’s team was very different from last season. Firstly we introduced 2 new imports from the USA. Both Stanley Asumnu and Beau Muhlbach were welcomed into our program and provided some much needed energy and experience to what was a rebuilding year. Both our imports have contributed to the SBA in every way possible coaching junior championship and domestic teams. They were primarily also responsible for promoting the game and the association to over 1000 primary school kids. On the court both players have provided plenty of highlights and as I write assisted us in our championship campaign starting with Frankston at Frankston this

Saturday.

Outside of our imports, we welcomed back club Captain and veteran of many Sabres campaigns David Moore supported by a squad of 16 including Kye Patrick, Chris Taylor, Neal Mueller, Zarryon Ferretti, Matthew Turner, Sam Burum, Ryan Tindall, Marty Vahala, Tim Clarke, Jackson Hollands, Jamie Batish, Nathan Crosswell and Josh Wilcher.

I am most pleased with the efforts and commitment that all our players have shown. Almost all are working within the junior program in some way, as well as dedicating themselves to representing our great club in such a tough competition. We finished the home and away season with a record of 14 wins and 12 losses, and a final’s birth for the third consecutive year.

I would like to congratulate former Sabres junior Josh Wilcher who will begin his professional career with the Melbourne Tigers, Nathan Crosswell who continues his career with the Adelaide 36ers, and wish good luck to Matthew Turner who returns to college to finish his senior year with the University of Mobile Alabama.

retires as our club Captain who has enjoyed much success in his time. He has been a valuable contributor to our club and his leadership on and off the court will be missed. Thanks for all the support and all the battles Moorsey.

Lastly, thank you to all my loyal and extremely talented support staff including, Parveen, Dean, Petah, Rob DeNardis and the crew at SSM, and the worlds greatest team manager, Tony, hopefully we’re all together again next year to continue developing the pathway for our athletes.

Vince Crivelli

I would also like to make special mention of David Moore who has decided to retire from competition after 20 years of representation. David started his career as an U/12 junior and

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SEABL Women

It was always going to be a rebuilding year for this Lady Sabres team.

If there was one word that could best describe our 2011 season, it would be challenging. Through each of the challenges we faced this season we had many different outcomes and although results weren’t always in our favour, the overall outcome was generally successful.

Rebuilding is a very overused term in the basketball world, but when you take into account that both of last years imported players and 60% of last years SEABL locals move on to different clubs, it would leave some pretty significant gaps in any program.

This year saw the inclusion of 2010s Sabres SEABL, D-League and Sabre junior players with a mixture of talent from outside of the club. Dayna Schinz and Nardine Yousef were the only players that returned from the regular 2010 roster. The team was bolstered by imports Kerryn Harrington of the A.I.S., 2008 Beijing Olympian Micaela Cocks of New Zealand, and Atlanta Dream 2010 WNBA 21st draft pick Brigitte Ardossi. The team also welcomed newcomers Sarah Ilic, Leah McCann, Alana Gadsby and Chloe Little from outside of the club.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to the 2011 SEABL roster came in the form of Sabres Junior Monique Lyth. At the young age of 15 Monique played some significant minutes in our SEABL women’s program. Perhaps the most memorable game being against the Brisbane Lady Spartans. Monique started for the Lady Sabres were she accumulated 38:27 minutes and had 5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

As well as the players mentioned above a large portion of our 2010 D-League group were promoted

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to the SEABL senior women’s program this season. Elidih Simpson, Jessica Kaufman, Leah Swain, Melanie Stuart and Sinead Shingles all took a huge step up into a competition that hosts some of Australia’s best basketball talent. In what started as a baptism of fire for our young local basketball players, ended up being the perfect grounds for opportunity to build on experience for bigger and better things outside of the Sabres basketball club.

On court final results certainly weren’t on our side, as we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard more times than anybody would want to be. However with a vision of re-building a senior women’s program, creating opportunities for our local talent and establishing a clear pathway for our junior players. We persevered through and were able to compete against some very experienced SEABL sides and in round 15 managed to topple 3rd placed Bendigo Lady Braves which hosts 9 Bendigo Spirit WNBL players.

Away from Sandringham, the club was represented very well outside of the Southern Basketball Stadium. Elidih Simpsons hard work and dedication to basketball over the course of this season and others, gained her selection in the U19 Great Britain Basketball team. On top of this Both Elidih and Jessica Kaufman have both secured roster spots in the St Francis College Basketball program and both head over to the USA late August.

Elidih wasn’t the only player who represented the Sabres Club on the international basketball stage. Kerryn Harrington was selected to represent the

Australian U19 Gems at the FIBA 2011 U19 world championships in Chile. Australia managed to get it’s best ever result at the event with a commendable 4th place. While Micaela Cocks Sabres Import from New Zealand was also selected to represent the New Zealand National Women’s team (Tall Ferns). The Tall Ferns travelled to China to compete in a four nations series against Australia, Brazil and China. Micaela will also be a part of the team that contests the qualifying spot for Oceania in the 2012 London Olympics against Australia in September in Australia.

Micaela Cocks has also been signed by the WNBL Townsville Fire and will head up to Queensland shortly after her National commitments. Kerryn Harrington has also been picked up by a WNBL team and will be playing for the Bulleen Boomers in the 2011/2012 WNBL season.

Sabres forward Brigitte Ardossi has been signed by the WNBL Canberra Capitals and will be heading to Canberra for their pre season shortly after the end of SEABL. The Lady Sabres will be looking to build on this seasons experience and certainly will be making a push for some better results in 2012. Pre-season begins in October and the team will be looking to put a solid preparation together in their bid for a playoff berth in 2012.

On behalf of the team we would like to thank all of our sponsors and followers for their support this season. I would also like to wish the players all the best in their future basketball endeavours; we look forward to seeing you all again next season.

Yours truly, Coach Kennedy Kereama

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D League Men I would like to begin by thanking Vince Crivelli for the opportunity to become involved with the Sabres program and take on the role of D League Men’s Coach. The support and available resources within the Basketball Operations wing of the program was sensational and a credit to all those involved.

If I had to summarize our season in a word it would be inconsistent.

We finished the season with a 10 11 record, the season culminating in a double loss on the last weekend, sending us from 3rd to 5th spot and costing us a playoff opportunity.

The standard of competition was very good and throughout the year we defeated every team except the eventual Champions, Knox.

I have and never will be one to publicly make excuses for a team’s performance on the Court. But I do think it is worth noting, if only to show the depth and ability of the whole group, that of the 21 in-season games, 17 players suited up at various stages through the year, with only two players suiting up for every game. The group were great ambassadors for the Club and displayed maturity and professionalism beyond their years representing the SBA.

is to prepare players for the next step in their Basketball pathway and the opportunity to play at Championship level.

Three players, Marty Vahala, Chris Taylor and Tim Clarke all had opportunities to play in the Championship team throughout the season.

Congratulations to Marty Vahala on being selected to the D League Men’s All Star 5. Marty joined the Club this season and became a key player in our team. I am confident he will continue to develop his game and become a valuable contributor to the Championship team in the coming years.

Many thanks also to Adam Steere for his support as my Assistant Coach.

In conclusion, I believe the future is bright for the Sabres. The tools are in place to continue the development pathway of the Champions of the future and I am excited by the young talent that is appearing through the Junior Programs.

Mark Chivers

Success plays a great part in all Coaches thoughts, but in this League we must not lose sight of the big picture - that

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Women After a late start to our pre-season it was soon evident that 2011 would be a rebuild year for the D League Women’s program. As a coaching group we decided to introduce as many of the Under 18 and even Under 16 girls to the program so that they could gain some experience of playing at a higher level. We also hoped it would show the girls that there is a pathway to elite level senior basketball within the club.

Ultimately we used 19 players in D League games during the season and 12 of these girls where 17 or under in age. In several games we had two 15 year olds in our starting five. It’s a credit to each and every one of these girls and the more senior players that we were competitive in all but a handful of games during the season. Indeed we lost twice to the eventual Champions Dandenong by less than 10 points.

A special mention should go to Jess Keara who featured in the final voting for the League All Star 5. A big thank you should go to my Team Manager Vicki Baird for all of her efforts and to the team Captain, Kate Fitzgerald for helping keep me sane.

Stewart Baird

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Sabres Basketball Operations Well another representative year of Sabres basketball is reaching its conclusion. As a child we use to think that the weekend was an eternity away now we all reflect and say where did that year go.

This year has been extremely busy and a very important one for our club as we have built on the programs delivered in 2010 and introduced a number of new concepts and faces to our support staff .

The Administration team have done a terrific job to Lindy, Debbie, Bree, Louise, Nola, Mel and Marg well done for your commitment to the Sabres program. I would also like to acknowledge the leadership provided to the organisation by our CEO, Vince Crivelli who has the passion and vision to drive us forward.

To Ian Leckie thank you for the many tasks that you undertake for the club. I would like to thank the Board for their ongoing support and most importantly I thank all of our dedicated coaches, managers and helpers to all of our Sabres rep teams. You have all put in many hours and have made lots of personal sacrifices to assist the development of our athletes.

We had a number of teams at the Norwood Eater tournament and again Ian Leckie took a group to Tasmania.

Our U/18 Boy’s Championship coach David Mitchell was appointed an Assistant Coach to the Victorian Metro team competing at the U/18 National championships in Ulverstone, Tasmania. Congratulations to David it is great to see one of our coaches recognised at this level.

Alister MacDonald was selected in the U/20 Victorian Metro team that won the Gold medal earlier this year. Well done Alister.

Jamie Batish and Eilidh Simpson were selected to represent Great Britain in the European Championships.

What a fantastic achievement to two of our most promising junior players. Eilidh and Jess Kaufman have both earned themselves scholarships to the United States. We already have Matt Turner and James McKinnon in the USA highlighting the quality of junior players in our club.

There have been a number of highlights this year, Jo Wood and Bianca White took our U/12 VC team to a third placing at this years classic and at the time of writing this report are right in the mix to win the U/12 Championship. Congratulations to the coaching staff and the team.

The Sabres skill program has continued throughout the year. Our agility program was delivered by Sinisa Markovic over an 8 week block. It was important to have the agility program run within the club on the court so that teams can now benefit from Sinisa’s expertise by incorporating these activities in their training program. Sinisa has also been working with our U/18 boys program on Monday nights and a smaller elite group on Tuesday mornings.

Our U/14 road trip was again very successful and was well organised and those players and parents that went on the trip had a wonderful experience.

Kennedy Kereama has been a significant addition to our program this year as well as coaching our SEABL Women’s team Kennedy has been doing

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a terrific job working with our elite U/14 girls program Wednesday mornings. I know that the players and coaches have really enjoyed these sessions.

I would like to make special mention of our import players that have represented the club this year at SEABL level. They have all embraced the Sabres program coaching rep teams, working in the schools, Bee Ball and at all of our camps.

To Micaela, Zee, Stan and Beau thanks so much for your dedicated efforts. Your presence around the club has been well received.

Our program continues to evolve and grow and whilst there are many challenges there are also many exciting things planned for the future. Our coaches summit, in October, the first of its kind in this state will be a huge launching pad for the Sabres representative 2012 program. This summit will provide all of our coaches with the necessary tools to educate our athletes to enhance their skills and understanding of the game.

I am as committed as ever to continue the work and growth of our club it is important that we all understand the dedication and requirements to compete in the VJBL. Once again thank you all for your efforts in representing the Sabres in 2011.

Dean Kinsman GM Basketball Operations

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NSW Road Trip 2011 This year, 27 U/14 boys and girls representing the Sandringham Sabres, took off on the annual NSW Road Trip. This year’s trip was as smooth as could be thanks to the great organising and planning of the organising committee. The touring party consisted of 27 players and 8 adults, plus our reliable bus driver.

Liz Heath getting swarmed by security at Parliament House.

We travelled to Albury, Canberra, Wollongong and Avoca to play 5 games over 7 days. The 2 girls teams had things under control in most games, winning 4 from 5 each.

Their one upset came to ACT’s Nationals squad at Belconnen.

The girls teams played a half each against the ACT squad, and in a thrilling ending, the home team got over the line by 2 points.

Visiting the famous “Snakepit” in Wollongong.

The boys team (made up from Sabres 2,3 &5 teams) faced strong opposition on the first three nights playing against 2 teams heading to the Nationals in September. Our boys fought hard and performed admirably, but were outclassed in the first three games. They finished the tour with wins over Gosford and Central Coast to end on a high note.

Highlights of the trip: Our unplanned tour of the Nation’s Capital, going around the same roundabout 4 times.

The visit to the War Memorial and Museum in Canberra.

The AIS tour, led by two very tall volleyball players, then testing our skills in the Come and Try Museum. Our players almost bought out the entire gift shop too.

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The Great One (Glenn Tranter) and J Smooth (Jamie Treasure) smashing a dozen Sabres players in an unscheduled half court match in Gosford.

The Mum’s trying to match the players in another adults v players game in Central Coast.

The footy going in the river at Euroa.

The warm welcome we got at our accommodation in Gundagai.

Visiting the Dog on the Tuckerbox when arriving in Gundagai.

The great meals prepared by Kelly and her team each day and night.

Chilling out at the Palms at Avoca for 2 days.

Quiz night after our meal at the Gundagai League’s Club.

Thank you again to the bus driver, team managers, coaches, treasurer, chef, statisticians, medicine woman and support crew for working long hours for 7 days straight to allow the players to experience such a wonderful trip. Also thanks to everyone who helped with the fundraising to allow this trip to go ahead, I know every player appreciates it and will be talking about this trip for the rest of their lives.

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Under 12 Girls GIRLS 12.1 Can they be Champions???

The Victorian Championships (VC) in basketball are the biggest and best junior elite representative competition of any sport in Australia. It is no small feat that this fantastic group of girls sits on top of VC and are a genuine chance of being remembered as one of the strongest junior teams ever to have represented Sabres at this level.

Looking back twelve months, it seems incredible that they have made it to this point. However, after some initial wobbles, and under the amazing and encouraging coaching duo of Jo Wood and Bianca White (aka Binks), they picked up the pace straight away, and have been at or near the top of the ladder for most of the season.

Right from the start of year, the team took no time to bond, revelling in the competition and opportunity to just hang out together that the Australia Day Tournament provided. Following this up at the major tournament of the year, The National Classic, they managed an amazing bronze medal result.

The girls have worked very hard all year to improve their skills and rewarded their support crew with a winning streak of eleven games on end and are looking forward to the finals with great anticipation. And all of this has been achieved by focussing on skills and quality basketball without resorting to continuous zones/zone presses that so many opponents play.

Across the board the girls have all improved immensely and have really put in a lot

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of hard work. The team have enjoyed a particularly social year as well, having many adventures, sleepovers and weekends away on road trips.

The commitment of the coaches has been amazing; taking them to a WNBL game, weekends at tournaments, even joining in a sleepover!!! The upcoming birth of Jo’s baby Sabre to produce a mascot for the team has all of the girls super excited.

Well done to the coaches and the team, congratulations on an amazing year.

GIRLS 12.2 The U12.2 had a fantastic year, qualifying for Metro 2 and finishing second on the ladder.

However, the most impressive aspect of the season was how well the girls worked as a team throughout year especially when the team was made up of three different age groups.

Zoe and Tori were fantastic as double bottom agers, competing each Friday night against older players.

Throughout the year they grew in confidence, improved out of sight and became very Ella W, Grace, Ella C and Florina made up the bottom age part of the team and anyone who watched our games would find it hard to believe that all 4 were in their first year of Sabres. While they were very talented players at the beginning of the year, they worked extremely hard throughout the year to develop their skills and become better players.

Laura and Lily were the two topage players and they did a great of job of leading the team when needed. I’m sure they will both

be great players at the under 14 level and beyond.

Thanks guys for the great year!!!!

Also a big Thank You to Cameron and Erina for keeping the team organised and to the great group of parents who I really enjoyed getting to know throughout the year.

GIRLS 12.3 The past year was full of surprises that will ensure that the girls will not forget their first season playing Rep Basketball.

The team started out with Ally, Immy, Flick, Gizzy, Madi, Emma, Holly and Georgie. Before the summer break, Georgie had moved to England and Holly was nursing a broken arm.

The Australia Day tournament was expected to get the girls back into basketball after holidays. Unexpected was a trip to Europe for coach Eilidh midway through the tournament due to a death in the family.

Even going to an Italian restaurant for lunch ended up a challenge when the restaurant ran out of pasta!

Grace and Meg joined the team just before the season proper and once Jess joined the coaching group, the team was complete.

It was a tough start to the 2011 season with a string of losses.

The second half of the season saw great improvement in the team, more than doubling their average score for each game while cutting back their opposition’s average scores.

This improvement in both offence and defence enabled the girls to chalk up a couple of

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wins and they finished with their season-high score in their final match.

The girls that begun the season as a group of talented individual players but they grew and developed together to form a team.

GIRLS 12-4 The first phase of the year saw our girls (Rubes, Hails, Brookie, Mack, Izzy, Lani, Jazzy and Nikki) getting to know each other and getting used to representative basketball. We struggled before Christmas, but Santa must have produced the goods, as we broke out at the Australia Day tournament, not only getting our first win on the board, but making the grand final. We had a little help from our team mascot.

We discovered a hunger for defence which translated to the next grading phase and into the regular season.

with a smile and we enjoyed many laughs. They are a great group of girls and I’ve loved every second of my time with them (even when they did crazy things on the court that made my pull my hair out). Thanks to Melinda our team manager for her organisation and for keeping me in control. Thanks to the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends who supported us each week, it’s been an awesome ride.

Jamie Treasure Coach

Week by week, our skills improved, due to the hard work of the girls and Chris Giosis’ skills sessions.

The improvement from the beginning to the present has been outstanding, with the girls learning to use their opposite hands for lay ups and dribbling, and developing their shooting techniques.

During the season, the girls press defence became impenetrable, creating many opportunities to score. We also learnt the art of the bounce pass, which was handy against all the bigger, older teams we played.

There has never been a question of effort from the girls, as they put their bodies on the line, hit the floor and took bumps and bruises for the team.

On top of all this, they always turned up to training and games

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Under 12 Boys BOYS 12.1 With a slow start in pre grading, with nail bitting decisions the boys finished in Metro 1. A disappointment but still a great achievement for a team of seven non-Sabres players, and only two Sabres players returning from last season.

Since bonding, learning the plays and playing together we are now sitting on top, well clear of the pack. With finals looming the boys are well aware of the potential of losing at the final hurdle. It will be a great accomplishment if the boys can come away with the number 1 spot and win Metro 1.

Each player has had their confidence issues but with constant assurance from me, they can’t go wrong! Each player has really improved and become a great contributor to the team. Don’t judge a book by its cover, this is very relevant with this team. To be honest, when I first got this group I didn’t think we would be strong; being heavily undersized but there speed, aggression and determination has made up for this and has allowed us to play an up-tempo, in-your-face type of game, which has allowed us to be very successful. The boys have totally changed my view, and if they were given another opportunity to play in VC I believe they would have played and competed very well.

Players: Jake Tranter One of only two Sabres players from last year, Jake has really lead this team, on both offense and defence. Being in the program for one year now, he understood the plays which allowed him to create for everyone. I have been moulding Jake into being the coach on the court, to control the tempo and

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lead this team to the finals. He has come a long way since the start of the season and is now embracing his guard role and playing great! Keep your eyes on this player he has a strong future in basketball.

Tom Long This player is a bundle of energy, in your face defender and a future prospect in whatever sport he decides to play. Tom has really had a solid season consistently putting up amazing numbers! Tom has carried this team on his back leading on defence and offense. Tom has really started to create for others, embracing more of a point-guard role and seems to always make a big play when needed. People will underestimate Tom throughout his career but once they see him play all negatives will soon evaporate.

Josh Hicks Our versatile big man down-low.

Josh started slow in relation to his confidence but he has really overcome this in the second half of the season; once he realized how good he can be. Josh creates so many headaches for opponents by always being a miss-match. Sizing up against bigger players, Josh just dominates them with his speed, drive, shot and strength. Josh would easily average a double double every game and without him this season we may have gone a different direction. Josh is a great player to work with and always gives it his all.

Stuart Harris Our other returning Sabres player Stuart is one of the fastest and quickest players I’ve coached, with different speeds that no one can handle. Stu can change the game in a heartbeat with a big play that comes out of nowhere. Stuart also started

with some confidence issues but is now completely in his element when he plays, showing great confidence and spirit. Stu is vital to the success of this team, by contributing his defensive pressure and work ethic. Stu always gives it 100 percent, which becomes contagious to the rest of the group.

Beau Glennon After seeing Beau for years in the Sabres camps I knew he had great potential. Starting the season tentative, and low on confidence Beau has since burst out of his bubble and dominated games. Beau has become a crucial player and one of my leading scorers. Beau’s shooting is second to none and I don’t believe he has missed a foul shot this year. Beau and his brother Scout are sensational to watch always knowing where each other is and creating brilliant plays.

Scout Glennon Scout is one of my best allrounders and has had a solid season. Scout started strong dominating teams with his quick drives and creative finishes.

Scout’s mid season was tuff with his usual made shots not falling but with his perseverance and attitude has since turned this around and is back to his exciting best.

Dan Brown Dan was my only bottom-ageplayer to come into the team this year. I was left questioning whether he could handle the older age. Dan has not disappointed and handled the extra pressure contributing with solid shooting performances great energy and defensive pressure. Although small, Dan always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Dan loves to draw a foul and you’d be shocked not to see him on

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the ground. Dan has been a pleasure to coach and I look forward to having him next season.

Sam Garra Not knowing who Sam was at the start of the season due to his holiday I didn’t get to see him tryout. Our team was short and we were missing a big presence inside. With a failed attempt to recruit another big, Sam came just in time and was just what the team was after. Sam has brought rebounding, scoring around the rim and a presence inside which opens the rest of the court up for everyone else. Sam has had some solid games, blocking, rebounding and scoring.

Luke walker After seeing Luke at a Sabres camp, I knew he was up for a solid season. Luke is one of the most all round players on the team knocking down a three, finding the open man or driving hard to the rack. Luke plays a similar style to myself and is a pleasure to watch. When Luke is being a menace on defence aggressive on offense, our team is at its best.

With the calibre of players coming out of this team the 14s program should have a terrific two seasons developing these boys further. I’ve seen a lot of young players play and know potential when I see it. Each player on this team has the potential to play professionally in whatever sport they decide to choose and who knows how far they will take it.

I am extremely proud of what the boys have accomplished, there work ethic and dedication is second to none and this shows in how they play.

With one game remaining and sitting on top, we head into finals with terrific confidence, knowing that we have a great opportunity to finish champs.

Coach - Michael Nowlan

BOYS 12.2 The Come Back Boys Coach: Michael Mullan Tryouts completed, teams are sorted, straight off the bat, coach Michael gets started.

His boys are drilled to play impressive presses, hassle the ball and take on the opposition.

The boys try hard, they’re here for the season, they get off on the right foot, Michael has their attention.

The Dandenong Tournament was an impressive ride, with wins against teams who the boys took in their stride. They made the Grand Final, fought hard till the end, came runners up with a trophy in hand.

The boys graded VJBL 1 where they were meant to be and then everyone was ready for the season to begin. They started well, then hit some losses.

They were feeling defeated but it didn’t stop them. In the mix of it all there was a boy from Frankston who joined the team and added great passion.

The losses kept rolling the travel kept coming, the road to Tralagon is a memory we had quickly forgotten.

Then suddenly one night, Friday 24th June, a change started to happen. Spirits lifted, confidence soared, the game came to the boys like never before.

A win pleased us all , everyone was happy. The boys went back with a promise of more.

The boys kept their promise, they kept winning. They played with flare, they played as a team, they played with a level of confidence that came from within.

Then, one Friday night Stan arrives for a game, he is from the SEABL men and plays a similar game. Rosey gets

excited and Michael welcomes him in. He watches the boys and really joins in. He revs up the boys and watches with pride as spirits sore high and high fives fly by.

We are now at the end of the season. We are all feeling really proud of our boys but they feel a little cheated. Eight wins on the trot just wasn’t enough to get that finals slot. They just miss the finals by just one tiny score but all we want is another encore. They finish on a high with skills to go forward with memories of games and places they journeyed.

Parents are proud and coach is happy. We thank-you boys for a memorable season. It won’t be forgotten it will stay in our memory but for now we must look ahead to the next season.

We hope it will bring us all back to where we all started, ball in their hand and out on the court, tryouts completed and new teams all sorted.

This is a story of 10 boys on a basketball journey. We leave you a message from each one of them, a message which is important, it is about their season.

We pass onto Alex “we topped them in the end”, then dribble to Riley “had a great season with a great coach”, we pivot to Oliver “glad I joined the team”, and rebound to Harrison “proud to be a player and of our achievements”, we intercept to Liam “we had a big finish”, and reverse to Jack “we started well, we ended well”, we post up to Jordan “a bullet finish”, and then free throw to Ethan “I enjoyed playing with Sabres”, we transition to Josh “what a great season”, and then finish with a 3 pointer from Andrew who sums it all up with that smile.

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BOYS 12.3 A mixed bag of 3 last season players that were joined by 7 newcomers to the Sabres.

The blend of smaller fast Liam Jordan, Alex Grinter and Jai Florent is complemented by the taller Lachlan Lhuede, Tyrone Simos-Primerano and Will Leeds and has inbetweener runners Kye Jarvis, Mitchell De Nardis and Kirk Wilson with the younger Tyrese Cross in there helping out.

Of course we all had fun in those first few weeks of playing with so many names that have similar sounds – Kye, Jai, Tyrone, Tyrese!! We now of course all recognise their individuality!

Just before the proper season started off, the team achieved a Grand Final berth at the Eltham-Dandenong Tournament – a loss unfortunately but to obviously a top age team – Kye Jarvis received the player of the match.

Generally as teams go, the players in this team have been relatively tacit. Ian, ably assisted regularly by Rob De Nardis (we were lucky to have a physio as our assistant) and the team go about their business, winning some and losing a few. Perhaps a slow start to the season but recently a string of wins have seen us make the finals with hopefully the boys hitting their best basketball at the business end of the season.

Thanks to Ian, who has been very supportive and consistent with the players and has been an encouraging coach who asks only that the boys concentrate both at training and at games – a hard task for 10 and 11 year olds at the best of times – but Ian has managed to drill the boys to be quite an effective working team.

Many a time parents would

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watch training – particularly Rob Grinter and Mick Jordan in their shorts always irrespective of the weather – and see a lot of ‘pushups’ seem to be happening when there was ‘restlessness’ …… or maybe it was just coach Ian has been dazzled himself with Kirk and Will wearing the most ‘brightly’ coloured basketball shoes – of course colours are orange and blue or blue and orange!

We have had a few interesting times travelling around Melbourne – particularly the flood night in February where a lot of panic was had trying to get to Patterson Lakes through that Mordialloc roundabout – I am sure everyone knows that roundabout, but in the end we all got there!

Below is the latest email ‘comment’ by Ian that shows how proud he is of this team – hopefully his hard work will be rewarded …….

‘With the win on Friday the 5th we have secured our spot in the finals, we will end up 4th on the ladder with Hawthorn & Bulleen fighting it out for 5th spot as they play each other this week. The first week of finals we will play whoever wins on Friday night in an elimination final, venue and time will not be known till around Tuesday week. With the finals for us will be a simple elimination final each week, if we win we play the following week. The boys have done a great job and everyone should be proud of what they have accomplished this season, since losing the first 4 games they have won 11 and only lost the 2 games. Making the finals should be seen to be a bonus to the boys, however they go it will be a great learning curve for them. I hope to see as many people as possible turn up each week to cheer the boys on over the finals’.

BOYS 12.4 The boys from 12.4 season 2011 saw a bunch of boys come together as a team, from a group of individuals who for most of them had not met before. The team started with Ryan Cetinich coaching them. The kids and the parents soon realized just what a great coach Ryan was, and he earned a lot of respect from us all. He showed great dedication and motivated the boys really well. We consisted of 11 boys, 10 of which played each Friday, and another who participated in tournaments, training and filling in when required. Only two of the boys had played rep previously, so this was really a beginners team. The team entered the Australia Day tournament which gave the boys a great insight to the season ahead.

Once the seasons grading was over, Ryan unfortunately was moved interstate due to work commitments. We did try to convince him to fly back each week, or coach via skype, however, we were unsuccessful in our attempts. We were however lucky to have another coach fill in Ryan’s shoes. Dejan became our new coach. He is a Sabres D-League player, who the boys also looked up to, especially after watching one of his matches and seeing just what a great player he is.

The team entered the Queens Birthday tournament which gave them yet another great experience. The boys have enjoyed their time together, both whilst playing the game, and also socialising with each other at various functions we have had. Overall, we have had a good season, with the team ending up on the top of the ladder and the boys being lucky enough to have had 3 great role models this year.

Juliette Farrington – Team Manager

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Under 14 Girls GIRLS 14.1

The Sabres Under 14VC team started together last October, and, after our first couple of games, we considered finishing, and having Friday nights off. With only 4 of the 10 girls previously having VC experience (Lucy, Tea, Caitlin and ‘baby bottom age’ Morgs) and six without (Molly, Lulu, Ella, Issy, Court and Mia), we needed to learn to play at this intensity pretty quickly. Our first grading game against Keilor at Keilor was lost by three points and quickly taught the team that all games were going to be difficult.

Our second game against the #1 ranked team in the State, Bulleen, which we lost by over 30, gave us an indication of how physical we had to become.

Unfortunately, we also lost one of our guards, Tea, to a seasonending ACL injury in this game (although her smile when she returned to the team on the Roadtrip was something special that I and the other members of the team will never forget).

Some seasons just don’t start well.

But the girls never lost heart. We managed to qualify for VC on the very last night of grading.

We started VC with two very close losses against Maffra (who are going to the National Titles) and Hawthorn, and then pulled off a big upset against Frankston. For the rest of the season we continued to improve as a team, no longer playing the ‘bruise free’ basketball that Highlights of the season have been: • Beating Frankston and running close to Maffra, Melbourne, Nunawading and Bulleen 2 in the first half of the season, all of whom are

playing the top grade of VC. • Beating Canberra and Gosford on the Roadtrip tourboth of whom will be going to the National Titles. The whole Roadtrip was a highlightespecially the slices that parents provided as snacks.

• Wednesday morning training sessions (not!!!!)

• Individual development from all the players All of our girls had great moments during the season, but we lacked the consistency, hardness and composure of the stronger sides. We were also comparatively tiny- so if anyone knows of a 200 cm 13 year old girl, then contact me as I have the club credit card number.

I’d also be willing to adopt if necessary.

I’d like to congratulate all our players on their continued commitment, improvement, sportspersonship, good humour and friendship. Our players carry themselves magnificently both as athletes and as people. Thanks also to team managers Anne and Stew, Craig for videoing games, parents for transport, scoring, paying, roadtrip fundraising and supporting, and a great group of highly talented and very friendly players. Mike Burke

GIRLS 14.2

The 14.2 girls consisted of 5 bottom age and 5 top age players. And while we commenced Grading season short on match practice, we had a simple goal of making Metro 1.

We lost the first 2 Grading games and already our goal was looking out of reach. Fortunately we had entered into B Grade at the Southern Peninsula Tournament and we got some much-needed match practice.

As the tournament progressed the more we played the better we seemed to get, ultimately winning the tournament.

We then got on a role winning our next 5 Grading games to qualify for Metro 1. It was then time to reset our goals as we might as well see how far we can go. Well it seemed a bit like Groundhog Day repeating itself by digging a hole for ourselves as after the first 7 games of the season we had won only 2 games and lost 5.

Once again our fighting spirit shone through seeing us win 4 and draw 1 of the next 5 games.

Let’s get back to Groundhog Day because we then lost 3 in a row and won 2 in a row to see us in fifth place with 1 game remaining with the final game of the season to determine whether we make finals.

So while our results have been a little topsy-turvy, the girls have been a fantastic group to coach in that they always work diligently and never back away from a challenge.

Other highlights for the year has seen us get wins against the Number 1 teams from Kilsyth, Diamond Valley, Southern Peninsula, McKinnon, Warrandyte and Coburg.

At one stage as a team we were only shooting 34% from the freethrow line. As a novel approach to get more individual focus and accountability we decided to implement a team rule that if a player shot less than 50% in a game from the free-throw line then they would bake something for their teammates to eat.

Well we did improve our foul shooting, but let’s just say that we were also very well fed!!!!

All players had their moments

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throughout the season making important contributions which saw our guard’s (Carly, Chloe, Pia and Sophie) pushing the ball up the court / playing fullcourt defence, our wings (Ellen, Kelsey and Sally) doing a bit of everything and our forward / centres (Ella, Georgia and Zoe) controlling the paint offensively and defensively.

It would be remiss of me if I did not recognize the input and support of the 14.1’s coach (Michael Burke) and our SEABL women’s coach Kennedy Kereama who the girls were fortunate to participate in Wednesday morning skill sessions run by Kennedy’s infectious enthusiasm.

Finally I would like to thank the players and parents for their support throughout the season.

GIRLS 14.3 Grading season for U/14.3 girls commenced with Phil Thomas as coach and 5 top age and 4 bottom age girls. A run of close grading games where we consistently lost by only a few points resulted in the team grading East 1.

Playing the Southern Peninsula tournament in November gave the girls an opportunity to get to know each other off the court with a sleepover at Rye and a barbecue as it poured with rain.

Natarsha joined the team for the Australia Day tournament in January showing herself to be a consistent scorer and rebounder at both ends of the court.

Emily’s fitness and hard working attitude showed through at this tournament with some great rebounding and defensive anticipation. A successful tournament, the team made it through to the semi, however in the closing stages Mackie hit the deck resulting in a broken arm

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which put her out for six weeks.

On return, Mackie showed herself to be a consistent scorer and top defensive player. The very week of Mackie’s return, Olivia flew into the end wall at training breaking her arm, thus another player was sidelined for six weeks. A point guard, Olivia has the ability to find the open player on the full court due to great court vision.

consolidated. Most of the girls had already formed firm friendships the year before, & welcomed new members with open arms. As the season progressed with ups & downs, our players always demonstrated admirable sportsmanship & comradeship, with permanent smiles on faces, frequent dancing & joking, & even the occasional cartwheel!

In April, Micaela Cocks from the SEABL womens team took over as coach. Micaela has been a great role model for the girls as well as being able to develop their skills.

As expected, we toured the countryside. Thank goodness for Eastlink, especially for the Nunawading tournament.

That weekend presented a big learning curve to our players, witnessing many different styles of play & their consequences. It was a wonderful team building experience, and our pub dinner prior to the last game rounded it off beautifully. Our team has been very fortunate to have such a supportive & friendly group of parents & siblings, headed up by coach and dad, Grant Waddell. This was well demonstrated by car pooling the players, families sharing lengthy trips together, coming to grips with the new scoring system, and everyone stepping up to help fill the large shoes of our fabulous team manager when she was out of action.

June Queens Birthday tournament with Sean Lynch filling in as coach, resulted in another string of very close games. Hailey showed what a hardworking player she is, aggressive on defence and always diving on loose balls.

Athletic and versatile, Alana’s quick first step when driving to the basket provided good scoring as well as rebounding.

A big improver this season, Stephanie shows great timing in blocking shots and driving to the basket. A versatile player, Kylah attacks the basket, is an excellent scorer and draws lots of fouls. Another all rounder is Katherine, with great defensive hands, which result in lots of steals and the ability to get the ball up the court and score.

The season resulted in an even amount of wins and loses. The girls developed the ability to maintain concentration holding onto close leads to win games as well as forming wonderful friendships.

GIRLS 14.4

Despite a slightly unsettling start (we gained and lost players & shuffled through various grades), our team and competition were finally

All the girls and their coach should be very proud of a terrific season, culminating in finals – congratulations!

GIRLS 14.5 Our U14.5 Girls Team are all new to Sabres Representative basketball. They have all played in domestic competitions for various clubs. They decided they would try out for the Sabres and in their first season were put in a team together as the NEW KIDS on the block. The girls all varied in ability and height, they soon learnt that this is was serious business and hard work,

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the girls have bonded well as have their parent’s. Under the coaching of Mick McGuire, the girls have learnt to be strong and give it their all on game day.

We entered in the Dandenong tournament in January and played 4 games, we won two & lost two and finished third overall, this was a learning curve for us as a team.

Then on to our grading phase, we have only lost 1 game in the grading phase by 3 points, and since then we haven’t lost a game in our Friday night competition.

We try and get to Macca’s every week after our games, for a bit of fun and for the parents to have a coffee and chat. We then entered in the Queen’s birthday tournament at Nunawading we were put in pool 1 and won 5 out of 5 games and then had to play the winner of pool 2 for the Final. Warrigal Warriors defeated us 44 to 22, however there percentage was double ours, and we managed to hold our heads high, for us it was a win anyway. We had a terrific weekend with lunches and dinners all together, one of our team and a number of parents celebrating their birthdays over

the weekend. We are currently on top of the ladder in East four with a great percentage and are looking forward to our Grand Final Debut in September. We are all confident that our girls will be successful and hope that they are, it will be so nice for them to finish a fantastic season on a winning note. We have a very strong friendship bond and it will be sad to move on next season to different teams. We wish all our girls the very best of luck for this season and their future endeavours with their basketball. Go SABRES!!!!

(broken leg) and Ollie (jarred toe) which cut our bench right down and impacted the second half the season. The injury front went from bad to worse when another of our recruits (Jack) had a MRI which showed he had been hobbling around on a broken leg as well! A few more sprains, strains, bumps and bruises meant that after Adelaide we never had a full team again. The second half of the season we found ourselves in VC reserve. We hit our strides and had some exciting wins. Josh Davis continued to impress with his work under the basket while Josh Broadley had some blinding games where he seemed unstoppable.

Mitchell and Matt worked hard in their roles and both showed great skills and improvement in the second part of the year.

Matt’s block was a high light for the season. Ollie and Barclay impressed with their defence and ball skills, while Tim had his eye in on the three point line.

Callum and Jed showed their skills both under the basket and in defence and Jed’s speed down the court gave all

the parents much enjoyment!

Finally Jack continued to struggle with his knee and unfortunately had to retire mid way through the season on the advice of his surgeon, but we know with a good rest he will be back stronger than ever for try-outs and next season and we will be watching his magic on the court in no time! This final part of the season sees us in first place on the ladder and we are looking forward to tackling the final series and going as far as we can. Big thanks needs to go out to our coaches Shane & Matt who have developed the boys this year, as well as Ian & Dean who have worked with them on Sundays. Last but not least the parents this year have been amazing. We have had Ballarat, Bendigo, Maffra and Geelong in our pool and there has been a number of road trips and suppers at our home games, but with a great group of parents we have all shared the load and have had a lot of fun! I wish our kids well in the final series and hopefully we can bring home the top prize. Go Sabres!!!

Team Manager- Marg Gough

Under 14 Boys BOYS 14.1 The 2010/11 season brought the 14.1 boys three new players to the Sabres family. Josh Davis, Jed Melican & Jack Garrow all played their first seasons for the Sabres and within no time at all they fit right in to our team. There was high hopes for this team and we started the grading games very well and were very proud to make VC before Christmas! When the season proper started we were still finding our feet and we had some fantastic wins coupled with some disappointing losses, but overall the signs were positive. During the Easter break our team headed over to Adelaide to participate in the Adelaide Easter Classic.

This was definitely a highlight of our season with all the boys enjoying spending time together both on and off the basketball court. We just missed out on the finals in this tournament, but it was still a positive experience for the team.

With the highs came some lows and unfortunately it was in Adelaide that we lost Jed

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BOYS 14.2 To sum up the year for the boys 14-2 team- They saved the best for last.

They posted only one loss for their last 5 games which included the top 4 teams. One of those games had us playing the top team with only 5 players, and 4 left on the court for the last 8 minutes, while still holding off defeat. An awesome team effort!

2010/11 started off behind the 8 ball with a losing streak of games by the narrowest of margins. This left us with a battle to stay in the metro grading, just making it during the final grading weeks. The loss of a few players to injuries & factors beyond our control left us short on numbers during the season and struggling to hit the winners circle early on. Consolation was found in that the losses were mostly only from minor margins.

The year was filled to capacity with additional events beyond the VJBL championship year. Some of the guys took advantage of a summer beach training regime to keep up fitness & core strength. Followed hot on the heels, with the Eltham-Dandenong tournament which had us in the finals, outperforming teams graded well above us.

We competed in the Nunawading tournament on the Queens birthday weekend. Only just missing out on finals after a narrow loss to Bulleen in a high scoring run & gun shootout.

The July school holidays were taken up with an action packed & fun 7 day road trip through NSW, playing games with Albury, Canberra, Wollongong, Gosford and surrounds. Thanks to the fundraising crew who did a fantastic job, the helpers who travelled on the trip and Jamie

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Treasure who coached them for the trip. The boys came back to the competition with renewed vigour ready to release havoc on the top 4 teams remaining on our draw card.

The remaining season was completed with games bursting of their skills and talents, while exacting revenge on some early season losses that we suffered, demonstrating their strength of character and true grit. Thanks to all those who contributed during the season. Well done guys, good luck for your next phase at Sabres.

BOYS 14.3 Every good Rep Team knows the importance of learning “resilience” and this season our boys learnt it too. Our season had its twists and turns. At the time of writing this we are placed third in the Under 14 East Two Central Division of the VJBL and hope to play in finals with one game left in the season. A summary of our year is as follows.

Ghastly grading: Most of us underestimate the importance of the grading season for a team. It takes a while for a team to get into a rhythm and, like most teams, we were hoping for a division that would roll off the tongue and have the word “metro” in it. As a group we all had no idea where “East Two Central Division” was!

Nevertheless, we finally got into the swing of things and the boys started to play more like a team.

The Turnaround Tournament!

The annual Dandenong/ Eltham Tournament is always a good one to test your skills as basketballers. After our first three games we looked nothing like the “world beaters” we believed we could be. We were losing badly. Then, in the most remarkable form reversal we have ever seen, we

stormed through the remaining games and the finals to win the Championship in our division in 40C plus heat-truly outstanding!

Things were starting to turn for us.

One “Tall” Down: As the opening game for the season approached our “tallest” player Lewis had to leave us. The boys were disappointed to see him go and a little concerned.

Some nimble footwork in the scouting department found Vinnie who had played with most of the boys before but had missed out on tryouts due to other commitments. He was keen to get back into basketball and we were thrilled to have him.

No Sunday Sleep-ins! All the boys (and their parents) had been enjoying Sunday sleep-ins with the under 14 boys’ training sessions at the King Club at the respectable time of 9.30am.

Suddenly, we found ourselves at Mentone at 8.15am. It was not the news that the athletes or parents were hoping for-no more late Saturday nights-but it is a testament to the boys and their coaches that they have managed to still work hard. The parents aren’t looking so great though!

Two American Voices are better than one: Jerome Parot had been our Coach for most of the season and the boys appreciated his guidance.

Unfortunately, Jerome suddenly had to leave us and we were without a coach with about five weeks to go. There was a serious chance we might need to forfeit the rest of the season.

Then, with the help of Ian Leckie, the Club approached Dwayne Cross (Jaylen is in the team) and Beau Muhlbach (one of the Club’s US imports) to ask them to take over. The team was so grateful. One sibling remarked that hearing two US accents on a team bench should be enough to “psych” out any opposition team!! At the time of writing, this

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“coaching combination” has not lost a game.

Great work Boys!: The 14.3 boys have made us proud. They have great respect for each other and it has been terrific to see them working away as a group throughout the season.

They have trained diligently and laughed a lot together. Thanks also to the parents. We were so lucky this year to have enjoyed those Friday nights in faraway places with people such as yourselves.

Grant and Nicole Hyde

BOYS 14.4 The U14/4 boys had a great start to the season. The boys played some great basketball to get them into a respectable division, for the home and away season.

To start the season the boys played the Australia Day tournament. A perfect way to start the season and get to know each other. Still without a coach, we managed to rope in an ex Sabres junior, Jarrad Dullard, to help us out with the coaching role for the tournament.. With Jarrad coaching well and the boys playing well, we went on and won a nail biting Grand final to become Premiers of our section. And with the overnight success, Jarrad agreed to coach the boys for the season.

Early on in the home and away season, Jarrad had the boys playing some great team basketball, winning some close ones and losing some close ones. Unfortunately, with an injury to one of our “big” men, coinciding with work commitments for the coach and been unable to train, our season started to drop away from there.

But team soldiered on through the home and away season.

To the boys credit, they always fought hard, in all their games, right till the final siren. Most

of our losses were quite close and could’ve gone either way.

Unfortunately for us, it just wasn’t our way! And the last few games of the season saw us back on the winner’s board.

I would like to congratulate the boys on what was a tough season. Playing representative basketball is a tough gig, and to start the season with no coach and play as well as you did, to get you into a respectable grade and win a tournament, is a credit to you all and your basketball skills, knowledge and teamanship. I, as well as your parents, am very proud of you all, your resilience and your “never say die” attitudes.

The team, parents included, would like to thank our coach, Jarrad. Jarrad helped us, and the Sabres out, by taking our team on. All the boys respected Jarrad and enjoyed having him as their coach. We hope we continue to see Jarrad around Sabres.

Lastly I would like to thank all the parents for their support. I enjoyed your company, humour and friendship, throughout the season, and l hope to see you and all your gorgeous boys again next season.

Kerri Melnjak, Team Manager.

2 games by 2 points and 1 game by 3 points.

These results where achieved by a group of boys who have work tirelessly at training and have been committed to learn and keep improving from the day that they were selected and have in my opinion exceeded expectations.

They then took that work ethic into every game that they played and the most common comment that has been made as a description of these boys is that they are a “TEAM”.

They as a team support each other in training, in games and off the court and they do not care who scores the basket as long as the team does and at the other end of the court they support each other in defence, as all good teams do.

But alas there is such thing as perfect and the area in which they have let themselves down in is in the easiest area to control “TALK”.

They do not talk enough or loud enough during both training and in games (we hope this changes for the finals).

I wish them all well in their future development and it has been a privilege to coach them and who knows we just may have had the next NBL or NBA player in this squad.

Peter Ligeti Coach

BOYS 14.5 The boys under 14.5 team has had a fantastic season to date which culminated on Friday the 19th of August at home with a 36 – 13 win over Nunawading 6 who were then the top team.

(During the course of the season we have traded top place with Nunawading on few occasions).

With that win our team went to the top of the ladder and have now qualified in first place for the finals and earning a weeks rest before playing in the 1st semi final on the 2nd of September.

Over the course of the season the 3 games that they lost were

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Time Outs

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Under 16 Boys BOYS 16.1

Our boys were fortunate to have Andrew Anderson as Coach and Dave Marsh as Assistant Coach.

This year the Under 16-1 boys had a sensational start to the season winning their first three grading games placing them straight into VC. In the first half of the season they were hot and cold, just missing out on staying in VC dropping down to VC Reserve.

Currently they only have two games to go and are sitting in third place on the ladder and feeling very confident for finals.

Whatever the outcome the 16-1 boys are to be congratulated for their conduct, commitment, dedication and sportsmanship this season.

At the start of the year we participated in the Dandenong Eltham Tournament, despite not making finals, walking away with some more experience and closer friendships.

One of the highlights of our season was The Norwood Easter Classic..........We all flew over to Adelaide as a team (wearing our team hoodies and not to mention looking very smart!) and hired a mini bus, that is where all the fun began. We all became one big happy basketball family!!

With beautiful weather the boys swam, played tennis, toured Adelaide sites, ate ice-cream in Glenelg, chilled out and played pranks on each other in their very messy bedrooms.

Fun and lots of laughs was had by all including us adults, who cannot speak highly enough of the way the boys conducted themselves....such a charming bunch of well mannered teenage boys. We ended up finishing fifth over all, with most losing games being decided in

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the last couple of minutes.

The Adelaide trip took a lot of time and coordination and I could not have done it without the help of Claire, Katrina, Tim and Eddie who came away with us and all the parents’ support and contributions prior to the tournament. Most importantly a huge thank you to our coaches for giving up their very valuable family time.....The boys will never forget the great time they had.

To conclude I would like to wish the boys the best of luck for the finals and all the best for the future, thank the parents for all their co-operation and support and last but not least the wonderful coaches for their devotion, guidance, enthusiasm, experience and passion for basketball.

It has been an honour to be Team Manager for such an amazing group of boys, thank you.

Nancy Balic

BOYS 16.2 What a Team What a Year

With 2 games remaining in the season the boys are sitting on top of the ladder 2 games clear at the time of writing this summary. So hopefully a Premiership has been won by Presentation Night!

The Team was made up of a blending of bottom and top age players with the bottom age players showing the way in the first 3 grading games.

Chris (Coach 1) was concerned with playing all players through Grading to get them all up to a high standard, rather than grading too high and playing a season with only 5 top players and 5 bit players. The top age players then stepped up when it counted late in the grading

process and the vital cross over games. We ended up ranked 31 in the State and a well balanced team. We had a great Australia Day Tournament and ended up runners up in a close grand final. Unfortunately Chris had to step aside due to personal reasons after the first game.

Thanks for all your hard work in blending the team.

Two of the boys fathers Andrew and Ron (Coaches 2) were very kind stepping into the breach to take over the coaching. The combination was working well and the team flourishing sitting on top of the ladder. When along came James Mckinnon (Coach 3) back for a holiday from University in The States. He bought a new aggression and fun to the Team and the boys relished his stories from his time at College! He made changes to the starting 5 and set plays which I am sure will see it help us win during the finals.

Then with 4 games before finals James had to bode farewell to return to the States (see the “The Boys Suit Up” article).

So back to the Dynamic Duo of Andrew and Ron (Coach 4 but really only Coaches 2 in disguise). We have continued on with some very good wins and Finals approach which is a great effort by the boys with 4 change of coaches through the season.

Finn our youngest player yet is our biggest and played like a veteran pounding the boards all season and developed a nice soft touch around the ring.

George playing his first season of Rep improved all his skills through out the season and has a good future ahead.

Jodeci was the character of the team and never afraid to go for a 3 pointer.

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Jordy the fastest kid I have ever seen on the court, was never going to be caught on any fast break. He definitely improved all facets of his game and concentration levels.

Stef changed his game from 5 man to 3 man from last season and was fantastic in his new role playing great defence.

Nick was a very good point guard, controlling the tempo of the team and a great outside shot.

Andy really stepped up this year and was great driving to the basket and relishing the contact.

Lachie the second youngest and also the smallest but never afraid to take a backward step or drive to the basket against the big boys.

Tyba missed most of grading and some games due to injury but is still the heart and sole of the team with his aggression and voice.

Jimmy has great individual ability and a real clutch player.

Hopefully the boys had a successful Finals Campaign.

Well done to them through all the changes showing great determination, courage and character.

BOYS 16.3

First there were 10 and now we are 8 but 8 seems to be our lucky number! The team is a great blend of upper and lower age boys who came together to form a strong team that has showed a lot of improvement and began to shine at the right time - the finals! It was unfortunate to lose two players through injury in the season but the greater the challenge the better they played. This includes rolling the two top teams, one of which were undefeated up until round 16 and we won convincingly.

That leaves us to where we are now - round 18 and sitting in 3rd. With confidence growing

with every game and having a great coach who knows how to get the best from each player we have a strong chance to do well in the finals. Joe - hits the boards and always reliable under the basket, Jamie - the great communicator on court and always pumping them up, Nesh – big and strong, commanding under the basket, Josh - quick as on the court and accurate at the basket, Oscar – raining 3’s, Dylan - the ultimate stealer and can drop a few a 3’s when needed, Will – who stands tall to the ring, ‘da Nooch’ quiet achiever on the court getting stronger every game, Rory - courageous on court taking them all on & missed when outed with injury. Finally thanks to Ben for his effort and encouragement and parents for assisting with scoring and getting the boys to all the games and training sessions.

BOYS 16.4

Coach: Parveen (Patch) Batish, Josh Wilcher The 16.4 boys have had a season of highs and lows. We started off on a high with only one loss throughout the grading phase. We then had a great time at the Eltham/Dandenong Tournament just missing out on a grand final spot with a loss to Dandenong in the semi-final.

The high continued in the first half of the season with some good wins under our belt. Our team was then hit hard with injuries with two of our players out for the remainder of the season. With a combination of injuries and illness the boys have played the remainder of the matches with just 6 or 7 players. Despite this we have had some great matches and the boys are to be congratulated as each of them has had their moment of being best on court.

We have had some brilliant coaching this season with

Patch and a huge thank you to him for his time and expertise.

Thank you to all of the other coaches who have helped out when Patch has been away and especially a big thank you to Josh Wilcher who has coached the boys for the last 5 matches.

Wishing everyone the best of luck for the 2011/12 season.

Andrea Byrne

BOYS 16.5 The Under 16 5 boys had an amazing start to the season. We won all the first grading games bringing us up from the bottom grade to south 3. Right from the first game the boys bonded and obviously enjoyed their time both on and off the court.

Every boy had their own talent - Dave an amazing rebounder, Nathan strong, fast dribbling, Mack K freaky 3’s, Johnny fast accurate passes, Sam strong drives to the basket, Macca reading the play and awesome defense, Kyle always a great shot, Jack so fast and strong and Callum an amazing team player with a reliable shot.

We had a great start to the season with a bit of a lull in the middle. Some injuries and other commitments meant that our results were starting to drop.

We finally got back together to have a great finish to the season just missing out on making finals.

In the January Comp we played well missing out getting to the grand final with two players injured. The Nunawading Comp at the Queens birthday Weekend was a mix of both the team 4 and team 5 boys making the Grand final but just missing out again.

Thank you to a great bunch of Parents always willing to help out and score. Steve Walsh was a dedicated coach assisted by parent Luke Breeuwer.

Good luck in tryouts boys!

Thanks Fiona Homann

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Under 16 Girls GIRLS 16.1

GIRLS 16.2

GIRLS 16.3

The girls have had an excellent and exciting season. As this is written, they will end up second on the ladder in VJL2 with the prospect of at least two finals games to come.

The 2011 season has been pretty tough but to all our girls credit they have trained hard, tried hard and all got along really well.

The under 16(3) girls consisted of mostly talented bottom age girls . The team was coached

by Will Shubert. After a tough grading season were placed in East 2. Our task ahead was to gel together as a team, work individually on skills and enjoy a successful season. The first half of the season saw the team cement their place in the top two with an ongoing battle between Sabres and Frankston 5.

Over the season, they were entered in three tournaments – and made finals in each. They were beaten in the semis at Dandenong, won Adelaide (Easter) and lost by one point in the semis at Nunawading.

Adelaide was a particular highlight where they played some of their best basketball.

They all have very fond memories of Adelaide and are keen to go again next year. The girls were unlucky to miss out on VJL1 during grading as they have beaten a number of teams who ended up in that league during the tournaments.

It was a shame to lose Frankie due to injury only half way through season but we look forward to having her back next season.

Coach Stewie has done an admirable job in blending seven bottom age girls with three top age girls and there has been a marked improvement in all of them from the beginning of the season.

Congratulations girls, you have done yourselves proud!

Julie Fairhurst and Sheona Callahan Team Managers

Way back in the Grading stage we did well and found ourselves in Victorian Junior League 3.

The opposition each week were strong but we nearly always played well and there were many close games. A great victory was won on the road trip to Geelong with an injury depleted team. That raised everyone’s spirits.

For those who ventured to Adelaide we had a fun time and played some good basketball. It was a good bonding experience and we were all very happy to find a nice family friendly restaurant somewhere in Adelaide where we had a lovely meal together, parents and girls and brothers and sisters.

Thanks to Ryan for coaching the girls and for all his time and effort and to a great group of parents who all shared the load and made life as a team manager easy.

And a big well done and good luck to Laura, Maddie, Zoe, Nadia, Tayla, Ruby, Amy, Rebekah, Nelly and Caitlin.

Anna Williams Team Manager

We had great rebounders in Cassie, Lauren and Cassidy, speedy and tough guards in Stef, Fleur, Ebony, and Ali, and strong ball handlers in Mel and Alicia. Early in the season Ebony was sidelined for 4 weeks with a broken arm, followed closely by Mel with an illness, which kept her out for 10 weeks, and finally Ali who tore ankle ligaments and returned for one game before having to have surgery on her hand sidelining her for a further 6 weeks. Luckily the team was diverse enough to be able to step up and bridge the gaps left by the missing players.

The second half of our season saw the team come together and show some real skill and aggression, with 2 weeks remaining we are sitting in first position on the ladder, with finals definitely in our sights.

Thanks to all of the parents who make the trip to the games each week and also to Will, who always shows patience and tolerance with the girls.

Suzi Brown Team Manager.

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Some have a back up

Some are casual

Some have an accent

Some like to think

Some are emphatic

Some offer wisdom

Coaches

Some offer encouragement

Some offer support

Some offer experience

Some offer enthusiasm

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Under 18 Boys BOYS 18.1 With a mix of new and old faces and for some, first exposure to Victorian Championship [VC] basketball, a challenging season lay ahead for the team.

First up, following a rushed preparation, the team lined up against better prepared and more experienced players, the first phase of grading was a struggle and VC hopes were fading.

As players adapted to quarters of basketball instead of halves and fitness levels improved, the Eltham-Dandenong tournament in January provided not only great training time, but more importantly marked the start of a team working together. The boys’ efforts were rewarded as they made VC in the second phase of grading.

Aside from the basketball, playing VC for many has provided the diversion and opportunity to clock up the requisite hours for a Learner Driver, as venues are spread as far and wide as the season is long.

The first half of the regular season proved tough going for the boys as they played against stronger, more experienced teams. The redraw at the midpoint of the season allowed the boys the opportunity to line up against a more even mix of opponents and grow in confidence.

At the time of writing the boys are in fourth place and will play a finals game, a fitting end to their season.

Coach – Dave Mitchell, shared much time, energy and humour

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with the boys throughout the season, whilst Assistant Coach – Chris Giosis, provided tremendous training support and on a few occasions game night coaching. The personal time given over a long season of Friday nights and countless training sessions is huge and as a team we have been so fortunate to have Dave and Chris working with the boys.

Friday evening basketball is a culmination of efforts from players, parents and coaches over time. For some, these efforts will be retired at the end of the season and for others there will be a brief respite before starting over. For all it has been quite a season.

Coach: Dave Mitchell Ass Coach: Chris Giosis

BOYS 18.2 The under 18-2 boys have achieved remarkably well for a predominately bottom age group.

Commencing in pool 2 in grading phase 1 the team performed very well winning two of its first three games. When the referees disallowed a three pointer in the fourth game the team didn’t quite make it into VC contention.

After Christmas the team participated in the ElthamDandenong tournament. With injuries and three players leaving early in the season the remaining players worked very hard. They managed to secure a win against the highly placed Nunawading 2 and ended the tournament having had a good time and achieved heightened fitness levels.

The change in the team’s structure seemed to mar its performance in grading phase 2, eventually leading to a place in the Metro four competition. With Coach Izzy’s persistence the “flame” of his passion eventually light the path ahead. The team dug deep to redefine itself and the players rediscovered their self confidence.

It is clear that the team took its own time to find its rhythm and the second half of the season saw them all step up and move as one. They certainly provided quality, action packed entertainment for our entrance fee.

At the time of writing the team has won 14 of its 16 regular season games and is on an 11 game winning streak having just defeated top placed Geelong-2 to secure the top place in the ladder.

Whilst the team’s performance is pleasing the entire of the 18-2’s... players, coaches and parents.. have worked as a team ,unselfishly together, enjoying each other’s company along the way and always treating opposition teams and referees in good regard.

Special thanks to Coach Izzy for his unwavering enthusiasm.

Thanks also to assistant coach Bevan for his cool, calm guidance, parents for assistance scoring, keeping game stats and most of all for your friendship and encouragement.

We look forward to the finals with excitement. Go Sabres!

Tony Giuliano (Team Manager)

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BOYS 18.3

BOYS 18.4

The Sabres U18 - 3 Boys team had a slow start to the season and struggled in the grading games, ending up in Regional One. However, under the eye of coach Gavin Tonkin, the team has gelled and with some great teamwork, often against bigger opponents, have got themselves into the finals - qualifying fourth.

The team, made up of Jason Boland, Thomas Ellison, Matt Tolj, Luke Farrington, Levi Otto, Cameron & Fletcher Hollands and Sam Bourke - have had fun off and on the court and this camaraderie showed through in their ability to close out a number of close games. The ability to close out tight games was aided by the combined skill and fitness drills Gavin put them through at training and his calmness under pressure at game time. Thanks to Gavin for his commitment and all the parents for driving, scoring and support - particularly Pat who stepped in to be manager on a number of occasions.

The under 18.4 team has had a great season, which unfortunately hasn’t reflected in their final ladder position.

Despite a myriad of hurdles and a number of injuries, we have finished an incredible 6th on the ladder, largely due to the fantastic efforts of the boys.

Competing against some very experienced teams in the Vic Metro Division has made for some extremely physical games which challenged our younger, less experienced players, some of whom were new to the Sabres program.

Brett Ellison, Manager

boys, but also for his genuine friendship and concern for their welfare. Ian has supported our team in every aspect of their lives and we owe him our sincere gratitude. Also a special thanks to Damian Oswald who assisted Ian through out the year and to Sandi De Nardis who made not only Ian’s life easier but all of the boys & their families feel part of the one big family.

The talk of the season was that giant from Geelong and “ that Diamond Valley game”. Not that we were without our own arsenal – our very secretive and highly controversial Face Book page was much-used by the Under 18.4 boys.

Without question, the highlight of the season was our trip to Hobart in Winter, where the boys won 2 out of the 3 games played (the only loss being to a team with three U18 state players), but more importantly, bonded as a team. Their improved commitment and mateship was manifested in their teamwork, and this was really pleasing to see.

Similarly, the bond forged between the parents of the team members has been very strong and this support has spilled over into all aspects of life. It is with some sadness that the season is over and we realise that the boys will not necessarily play in the same team next year.

A huge thank you goes to Ian Leckie, not only for his commitment to improving the fitness and skills levels of our

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Under 18 Girls GIRLS 18.1 VC Our girls started the season aiming to qualify for VC, which they ‘eventually’ did on the very last game of grading and for the final spot. We knew we were better than our early results showed. As the season gathered momentum, the class of this team started to shine notching up some good wins over some very good opposition. At the halfway mark we finished up mid ladder out of 20 teams. The comp was split into 2 groups of 10, and therefore we were placed in the second section. Although we would have preferred being placed in the top half, it was probably a fair indication of where we stood in the competition.

The Adelaide tournament gave the girls the opportunity to get to know each other in a more ‘chilled’ environment. Winning wasn’t really on the agenda and neither was sleep! The trip away also presented the parents an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and to savour a few select vino’s – we were after all in the heartland of the Barossa (well, close enough to it). Even with limited sleep, the girls came away with the chocolates, winning the GF in ‘less than’ impressive style.

The trip home was a quiet one,

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needless to say, but the smiles on their faces as they slept said it all!

With year 11 & 12 studies to cope with along with the demands of a hectic D League schedule, you could have excused the team for falling away, but instead they began playing some real exciting basketball benefitting from playing against the bigger D league bodies.

Our playing group consists of 5 top age girls (Katie B, Jacqui D, Chloe M, Elyse K, Kate T) and 5 bottom age girls (Kate H, Monique L, Isabelle S, Emily K, Cassie H). The evenness of talent within this team is such that there haven’t been too many games where an individual has stood out – every player has a role to play and it is carried out to the coach’s instruction. For this group, it’s all about TEAM! As we are about to enter the playoffs, we wish the team well and on behalf of the girls, take this opportunity to thank Nat for taking on the role as coach, and to the parents who have continued to support their girls in this great game of basketball.

GIRLS 18.2 Hard work affords Much Respect This was a season of discovery for many of the girls, a new beginning and a fresh start.

The season was a journey filled with ups and downs ultimately ending in a successful all round season. This season was one that was driven by a willingness to improve and mature as people first and athletes second. The girls improved self belief and discipline resulted in a steady climb up the standing to finish in the top end of the standings.

The most rewarding aspect of this season was not the winning record but witnessing the improved application and growth of 10 individual girls that ultimately became one team.

As we continue to roll into finals focused and ready for what’s ahead, I have know doubt they we will be able to cap of an exceptional year.

Coach - Tyler Wilsmore

Team Manager - Frank Dalzotto

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The Huddle

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Under 20 Boys BOYS 20.2 Most boys have played basketball for 8 years before they get to the Under 20s.

This means they have shot thousands of baskets, rebounded until their legs ache, dribbled till their hands were red and run until they dropped.

Yet still they return to wear the orange and blue and put their hearts on their sleeves for their club.

Things started off well for the under 20s boys team, securing their position in VC enabled

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them to play at the top level against skilled opponents all year. But it also hasn’t been an easy season, with strong opposition, challenges and being thwart with injuries, winning a game had eluded the boys until recently.

To their credit, the boys have persevered and continued to train hard throughout the year. They have kept focused and continued to work hard on developing their skills both individually and as a team.

about how proud they make their parents, how they look to their friends and how they feel about themselves. Being part of the Pride is core to these boys and win, lose or draw they should hold their heads high.

This was all made possible thanks to Coach Adam Steeres guidance, unerring commitment and excellent coaching skills.

Basketball is more to these boys than the win loss columns, its

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BOYS 20.2 Our side this year consisted of the following young men, Anthony Ekberg-Weiss, Arran Batish, Tom Callaghan, Jay Dillon, Jordan Mayne, Ollie Vincent, Ryan Shellim, Theb Hothynang and Stefan Barca.

It was great to see this team consist mostly of players that have come up through the junior ranks, some as early as Under 12’s, a testament to the junior programme.

The side was coached by Zarryon Fereti one of our new recruits to the Senior Men’s SEABL side.

Zarryon was of great benefit to our men who gained some valuable tuition and experience at training and on the court in game time.

On occasions where Zarryon was not available due to SEABL commitments the side was coached by a club stalwart Chris Giosis, always there to help and support whenever required.

Unfortunately for Tom and the team he injured his knee very early in the season and was unable to play any games at all, but is on the road to recovery.

A special mention must go to Tom though while he was injured he attended most games and was always a smiling face supporting the boys at training, thanks Tom C.

out with scoring and team manager’s duties while I was away with the SEABL team and just came along to see there sons play basketball.

TD do not give away your day job, “World’s Second Greatest Team Manager” (only joking thank you mate!).

You were a magnificent support TD! As Always “Go Sabres” Tony Barca Team Manager

The guys had a pretty good season considering, especially with a number of them undertaking VCE studies and mixing that with part time work along with family commitments.

I would like to thank all the families that came along helped

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“ The Boys Suit Up”

Picture a normal Friday night at The King Club when all of a sudden 10 Under 16 Boys come strutting inside “all suited up” thinking they looked so sharp, that girls would be swooning at their feet.

Why you may ask? Well James Mc Kinnon was the reason, he had kindly stepped into coach the boys while back from the States where he plays College Basketball. He was heading back to California on the

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Tuesday, so it was there way off saying thanks to “Mr Casual”, himself. Fortunately the boys still won the game even with the frivolity of suiting up. They then suited up again afterwards to do a lap of honour all the way down to Court 3 and 4 where some girls teams were playing and then onto the going away party for James.

To embarrass him even further, they suited up again on the Saturday night for his D-League game forming his

own cheer squad.

Thanks James for having such a positive impact on the boys. They also miss your stories of life playing basketball in The States.

Best wishes from all The Team and Parents.

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Free Throws

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More coaches Some hope

Some like to show

Some wish they understood

Some like to make a point

Some take it easy

Some like to be sure you understand

Some like to write it down Some stand alone

Some like to listen

Some work in groups Some like to REALLY make sure you underdstand

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Some like to offer help

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