Sabresmagazine2013 web

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WELCOME MESSAGE

NGE HOOP The time seems to fly by!

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players, parents and friends, assistants and supporters who give up so much of their ‘just glad to be here’ mentality. The Sabres time to allow our players to take the floor. community took it to the opposition with an enthusiasm and vigour that owned the I would encourage all parents to be as game. The young women on the court involved as possible with the playing were responsive to that passion. The court careers of their children... they are AMone and the women responded. roseSL as memories that will last forever and We marched on mass with an N expectation that will be cherished.

ET SEASOexperiences N of victory and their hard work and philosophy paid dividends.

Cheers The junior skill development is apparent as I watch games. The drills are working and Go Sabres! the rewards are forthcoming. The level of focus and commitment is outstanding.

Murray Payne From the little things like running to huddles Editor and picking their mates off the floor, to good defensive stances and proper shooting technique. The Orange and Blue army is visible everywhere not just by their colours but also by the way they play the game. Skilful, tough, unforgiving and persistent.

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I can’t believe how quickly the magazine comes around every year. It seems like only a few weeks ago I was watching the grading sessions and opening rounds only to last week travel to Dandenong to watch the first of the final matches.

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I am lucky enough to wiggle my way into the most intimate moments of huddles and games alike and love to get up close with my lens to try and capture CHAthose LLENGE special moments when players don’t realise they are being photographed.

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our seniors the development of our juniors.

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The orange and blue army at the Big V final was amazing. In my 20 year association with the club It was the most confronting attack I have ever seen on an opponents court. Gone are the days

The leagues need to get used to the new Sabres agenda. It’s here to stay.

Congratulations to all the coaches and

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The spirit of the SABRES is certainly peaking at the moment with the success of

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sabres MENS TEAM It has been a challenging year but very rewarding. This year our theme was the year of opportunity with new coaching staff and a turn over of six players from last years playing group creating opportunity for our young squad.

Our year started with a road trip to South Australia playing two ABA teams in Adelaide and then on to Mt Gambier. The schedule was testing as we then drove, arriving late at night in Bendigo and playing them the next day. It was a great bonding trip and gave us a chance to assess our progress in pre-season.

With the season starting we were without our second import Patrick Richard due to visa delays and Nathan Crosswell, our team leader, was completing his distinguished NBL career in Adelaide. Both these guys joined the team 6 games into the season and have provided us with experience and stability.

Our other import, John Pichon, has had an outstanding year and has combined well with our big guys the experienced Kye Patrick and up and coming young guys Lachlan Winter and Matt Turner.

RT

At our mid year review I presented the average number of SEABL games played for the top teams in the league which was over 100 more than our average which was 47.

We have been more than competitive throughout the year but have suffered a number of heart breaking losses. We have remained in the hunt for a finals position all year in a competition that has been very tight.

This year featured Kye Patrick and Nathan Crosswell reaching their milestones of 100 SEABL games for the Sabres our first players in our clubs history to achieve that feat.

Both these guys love the orange and blue and give their all for the team.

One of the resounding successes this year has been the connection of the Junior Road program with players, coaches and parents from our U/12, U/14 and U/16 teams travelling to SEABL games in Tasmania, Canberra, Albury and Ballarat.

The interaction with the seniors, juniors and coaches of the teams has been great and the support at the SEABL games by our young players and parents was awesome.

our Assistant Coach, Steve Hoare. His experience has been invaluable with his scouting and passing of knowledge to our big guys in particular. Steve is certainly an asset to our club and is heavily involved in his other role as Commercial Director.

Tony Barca and Petah Gibbs have assisted as managers of the team and Petah has been the focal point for the administration with Lindy in the office. Much appreciated guys, your support is great.

Shannon O’Connor has given so much of his time, taking pre-season and providing a wonderful recovery and well being program throughout the year.

Rob DeNardis and the Sandringham Sports Medicine have again provided us with expert physio services.

With such a turn over of players and with the changing of our D League team to the Youth league Mark Chivers, Head Coach along with Assistant, Parveen Batish have been committed as ever and their knowledge has been invaluable in the transition of our players from our U/18 and U/20 teams into our youth league side.

To all of our sponsors thank you for your support. Also to all the staff at home games and volunteers working the canteen upstairs in our fantastic new club room, a huge thank you.

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The injection of youth is exciting with Josh Wilcher returning from Achilles, Alister MacDonald, Stefan Uzelac, Ben Kelly and our blue collar workers Neal Mueller and

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Michael Nowlan providing us with lots of high lights.

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There our a lot of people that have made significant contributions to the team this year. I would like to acknowledge

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IN In closing I appreciate the work done BOUNCE CHALLENGE DRIBBLE DRILL FITNESS BREAK DRILL behind the scenes by the following peopleBOUNCE ZONE CENTRE IN WATER Lindy, Debbie Ross, Nola Mckinnon, Marg DUNK SUCCESS LOVE PRACTICE Gorman, Lou and Mel atACTIVIY the front counter NET SHOT PIVOT our CEO, Vince Crivelli RUN and the board of BODY CHALLENGE WINNERS OFFENCE management.

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The last part of this year, following the reopening of our facility after the new floors HOOP were put in, we have been able to gain SPORT ATHLETIC a growing supporter base and we would JUMP PLAYING SANDRINGHAM love to see you out in force for season PLAYERS GIRLS DREAM EQUIPTMENT 2014.

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sabres WOMENS TEAM The 2013 Sandringham SEABL women’s team campaign would see the return of Captain Kate Malpass, New Zealand international Micaela Cocks, rebounding machine Georgia Stott, Mel Stewart, local youngsters Shannon Perrett, Monique Lyth, Elyse Kiplocks, Jess Khera and coach Alex Palazzolo.

I would like toi thank me Assistant Coaches Nichelle O’Connor ans Leanne Jeffs for their

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Add to this the recruitment of multiple WNBL championship winning players in veteran Sam Woosnam, former Sandringham junior Alison Downie, Jenah Piwanski and Hope Terdich and the Sabres have a team consisting of size, speed and athleticism combined with a good blend of youth and experience. More importantly the

recruits would compliment and fit the team values which are based on “good people with good work ethics”.

The challenge for the team however would be to gel together as a group and combined with a gruelling road schedule that would see the team play seven of the first eight games of the season on the road!

A season ending knee injury to back up centre Mel Stewart in the opening game of the season would take the gloss off a 79-42 win against Frankston and the teams ability to deal with adversity would be soon put to the test.

to win 13 of the remaining 15 games in the season including an overtime win against reigning champions Dandenong, an away win against East Conference leaders Bendigo and a Sam Woosnam buzzer beater in Ballarat with .2 of a second remaining!

The team would finish the season with a 18/8 win/loss record and 2nd position in the East Conference which sets up a semi final showdown in Bendigo and a home court Grand Final on the line.

Alex

After some mixed results in the first half of the season that saw the team in 5th position in the East Conference with a 5/6 win/loss record, the team went on

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Mens BIG V This year saw the Sabres D League merge to the Victorian Youth Championship Men League.

Once again it has been great to be involved with the Sabres program as VYCM Coach.

This season saw a changing of the guard for the squad. From last year’s Championship runner up team we lost Marty Vahala, Rob Kugler, Tim Clark, Nick Hirons (Injury), Jovan Bojanic, Stefan Uzelac (SEABL) and Matt Hancock (US).

Jackson Hollands returned from injury and with Sam & Ben Ayre, Cal Charge and Paul Tor returning from last season’s group we began the process of developing the next group of young Sabres. Into the squad came AY Tee and 9 Under 20 players.

Our results indicated a below par year finishing with a 7 – 15 season. However, I believe we made good progress and were able to expose the group to the requirements to compete at this level.

The return from College of Jamie Batish and James McKinnon towards the end of the season was a great bonus for the group and we became a much more competitive team in the latter part of the season.

Many thanks to Parveen Batish for his support as my Assistant Coach, Elliott Kerdell who was number one statistician and Brendan Ayre who did an excellent job as Team Manager.

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

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Womens

BIG V After a encouraging 2012 D-league season, which saw us win 6 games and finish 2nd bottom, we set ourselves some goals to maintaining our work ethic, get more wins and finish in the finals. It was an exciting time for the team, as we were entering the first season of the new Victorian Youth Championship Womens League run by the Big V(a combination of the old Youth league and SEABL’s D-league). This meant we had to make some changes to our team and were not allowed anyone over 23. We welcomed Alana Gadsby who had played some SEABL games in 2011, before heading over to London.

We also included 5 junior players, 4 from our under 18’s and one from our under 16s. We started our preseason training in November 2012 with some on court training that lead us into our off court fitness training over the summer holidays.

We played a couple of practice games and then headed into round 1 against Waverly with anticipation. In what turned out to be an incredible game, we were scrappy and not quite ready, but were able to win the game with 0.3 seconds left on the clock, giving young Ella Batish the game winner in her first VYCW game.

It was an exciting start to the season, which saw many more highlights.

We started the season well with 2 wins, before losing to Nunawading, Kilsyth and Eltham. We travelled to Ballarat and showed great character to win under emotional circumstances. We then had our first big win as a team, beating last year’s grand finalists, Nunawading. That

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was the first time that everything seemed to click. The following weekend we dropped both games by under 3 points.

We were not happy with our efforts over the weekend as we knew that we should have won.

With a continuing focus on defense, we then won 5 games straight, including a massive win against Knox at Knox. We then lost two out of the next three against, Ringwood and Dandenong. We knew we didn’t play to our potential in those big games and those loses taught us a lot.

We then won another 5 games in a row, building momentum heading into the finals, beating Knox once again and taking top spot in our conference.

We hosted our first final against Eltham who had sneaked into the finals on the back of some very good wins. We continued our great form winning by 29 points. We then played Ringwood in the prelim, who we knew were going to be a much tougher opponent. It was a tight first half that saw us leading by 3 points at half time.

The team then clicked into gear and ran over the top of the Hawks winning by 33 points to book ourselves into the grandfinal against the all conquering Dandenong Rangers, who had only lost one game for the year!

The grandfinal will be a game that we will never forget!! There were a couple hundred sabre fans dressed in orange supporting the team, who rode every call, every shot, every defensive stop… they were amazing!! It was a timid first half by the girls and we let ourselves down defensively, giving the rangers 10 points

from turnovers and 10 second chance points, to give them a 9 point lead at half time. We knew that if we fixed up our defense, we would give ourselves a chance of coming back. With great defense and after hitting some long range shots, we clawed our way back into the game to be 4 points down at 3q time. With the crowd behind us and determination by the players, this was never a game we were going to lose. We outscored the Rangers 19-10 in the last q to take home the 2013 Championship!

I am extremely proud of the work that the girls put in during the last 18 months; they proved to the rest of the basketball community that with commitment, sacrifice and discipline you can have success.

We would not have won the Championship without our captain, Jessie Khera, team manager, Kate Shea, assistant coach Ryan Heggart and all the loud passionate supporters that attended every week. I thank you all for your support and dedication to helping these girls reach their potential. Rising from second bottom to winning the championship against the reigning premiers on their home court will forever be one of the greatest basketball moments I’ve been involved in! GO SABRES! Head Coach Paul Graham

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sabres PROGRAM Another year has flown past with lots of highlights and many challenges. The single biggest challenge that the club faced this year was the forced closure of our courts for required up grading with the new playing surface and the wonderful refurbishment of our clubroom.

These changes certainly have added to the vibrancy of our stadium and with a few more modifications over the summer period we truly have a great venue.

Whilst the timing of the upgrade was out of our control it did present us with a huge challenge to accommodate our teams practice sessions. The suspension of all domestic competition, along with our community programs, Bee Ball and Super camps to mention just a few. With 6,500 people in our stadium each week this was a logistical headache.

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I am very pleased to say the administration staff with the support of our domestic clubs, our board, players and parents managed this period extremely professionally with minimal disruption. Well

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done to all concerned.

It now seems a distant memory that we were not able to use our facility for 5 weeks during the major part of our year as so much has happened this year.

Each year that I have been at Sandringham we have modified/ expanded or introduced new concepts and personnel to improve the delivery of our program to our Sabres players and coaches. This year we were delighted to introduce Bill Runchey into the club.

Bill has many years of experience and his impact has taken shape already with him doing numerous coaching activities with our Domestic Clubs. Bill’s presence in our Sabres program has benefited our young players and coaches as he is here regularly Friday nights and Sunday at practice sessions.

Senior players have been connected to these camps working with the young players.

community based program and this year the expansion of the Sabres on the Road program has been a huge success story. The concept of the program was to establish a connection between our SEABL players and our junior players, coaches and parents. We had 55, U/16 girls and boys plus coaches and parents travel to Tasmania in April.

In the July school holidays another 43, U/14 Girls and boys plus coaches and parents travelled to Canberra and Albury.

This was followed by our U/12 boys and girls spending a day with the SEABL teams in Ballarat.

The trips consisted of games against local teams with Bill, Sinisa and myself conducting coaching clinics and camps for our Sabres players integrated with local kids from each region visited. Our SEABL men and women’s teams assisted in some sessions and watched games. These trips coincided with the SEABL games creating a wonderful atmosphere with the support of our travelling groups.

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Connections are extremely important especially when you are apart of a

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I would like to acknowledge the achievements of a few teams in particular for their outstanding successes this year.

Congratulations to our U/14 girls and both our U/16 boys and girls for making the classics. Well done to the U/16 girls who finished fourth at the Classic, a tremendous effort.

We are especially proud of our U/14 girls team who have earned the right to compete at the Australian U/14 National Championship later this year. Our first ever girls team to achieve this honour. We wish Jo and the girls all the best as they will no doubt represent the club with pride.

Bill’s involvement with Sinisa Markovic has again seen our club as leaders of expertise in coaching coaches and impacting positively with new initiatives. Such as the Sabres and Domestic shooting school and the expansion of our Elite morning program.

Our Super Camps and Girls Day only camps have been well supported with record numbers of athletes attending all having an awesome experience. Our

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Our SEABL teams have been more than competitive this year. The men have given the opportunity for a number of younger players to gain valuable experience and have managed to reach the SEABL finals with one of the most exciting finishes to a game at Sandringham ever. Winning against Brisbane by exactly the required (11) points needed to achieve this in their last regualr season game. Our women will feature in the finals race for the second successive year. Congratulations to Alex and the team.

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It has been a massive undertaking to run this program with almost 200 people from the club travelling on these trips.

All those who participated in the road program would all agree that it has been an outstanding success . Well done to Bill in particular our office staff our loyal volunteers and fund raising committee led

by Tammy Hicks and Sophie Smirniotis .

To Paul Graham and his Youth League team what an outstanding year, congratulations well done.

Our club is expanding all the time with competitions and invitations. It is an enormous task to run a club so I would like to thank the Sabres admin team lead by CEO, Vince Crivelli and to Lindy, Debbie, Steve, Marg, Lou, Mel, Nola and Bill you do an amazing job with so much passion and enthusiasm.

I would like to thank the Committee of Management for their support of my role and the support and direction of the SBA in particular our President, Steve Lunardon and Chairperson Sabres rep, Ian Leckie.

To all of our volunteers, team managers, coaches, parents and players your commitment to the Sabres program is greatly appreciated.

Dean Kinsman

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What an amazing year these girls have had, we all have been saying recently, if only we had recorded the first few training sessions, and could replay for the girls now, it would show them how far they have all come. Youth and no limitations are a great mixture.

fighting all game, down by 1, up by 1 and so on for the whole game against Frankston, then another amazing finish, a win to us and a Grand Final to be played.

Our starting point, the try-outs, were an eye opener, heaps of excited girls with lots of potential, but very little basketball experience between them.

Second phase of grading season started and, unbelievably, we nearly won every game to reach Metro one. It was an amazing effort by girls, Ian and Jacqui, not sure anyone would have thought that the girls would have made it at the start of the season. They had already achieved so much in such a short time.

Out of the ten girls chosen, only two had played a season of rep ball before, a few had hardly played any basketball at all, and a few real young ones as well. So to put it bluntly Ian and Jackie were left with a huge and challenging task.

Grading season started, and can be broken up clearly into two separate phases. First phase pre- Christmas break, Ian and Jacqui would have been going home after each game thinking, wow we have got our work cut out here, some big losses against some good teams, left us all wondering what actual comp we would end up in, if we kept losing like this.

Then all of Ian and Jacquie’s hard work hit a new starting point, Australia Day long weekend tournament at Dandy, our team entered without a win to our name. First game came and we won in a nail-bitter, some very excited girls had found some new fight and confidence. Second game, another win another nail-bitter, 3rd, 4th, 5th game all wins, and before we knew it, we were in the Semi’s, and a new team was born.

The Semi was amazing, girls just kept

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The Grand Final didn’t go our way, but a new team was born, and the girls confidence was sky high.

The actual season has been a huge success no matter our end result now, at time of writing this we sit 3rd on the ladder with 10 wins, after dropping a couple of close ones early in season to bottom placed teams, we have surged ahead and currently have beaten every team in comp, except for the undefeated top team Waverly.

Other great highlights included an overnight trip to Bendigo for training and a game against the Bendigo U12 Girls team, even though the girls had a loss to a strong Bendigo Team, the weekend was a great success and only enhanced the amazing friendships that have formed throughout the season. The “Sabre’s on the Road” trip to Ballarat with the Senior SEABL Teams was fun for all, with the girls having another great fight back and win.

cup cakes, you name it, they’ve inhaled it, no wonder the girls love Sabre time.

Whether it be Flick’s shooting, Daisy’s driving, Madi’s pace & skill, Hailey’s attack on the ball carrier, Lauren’s rebounding, Alia’s fearless defense, Mary’s post work at the top, Keelin’s sneaky low post moves, Kiana’s mad game face/defense, or Lil’s huge baskets from the top of the key, the season has been memorable in many ways, we are so very proud of them all.

The girls have all become such great friends and this has to do with the amazing efforts that both Ian and Jacqui have put into the girls. Their guidance and support to the children and parents, has really made this Rep year such a memorable season for us all.

Finally, I know that both Ian & Jacqui would like to thank both Sean & Anna for their support and help over the year as our wonderful Team Managers both on game day and helping out at all training sessions, your enthusiasm has passed onto all of the girls and it shows both at training and on game days. Also to ALL of the parents, you have all been wonderful and very supportive to both the girls and us every inch of the way through our very successful year with this wonderful group of young ladies.

Sean Lynch

Another highlight of the season is the amount of sugar that has been consumed by the girls, be it lollies, chocolates, cakes,

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15

Girls

U12G2

Under Head Coach Elyse Kiploks and Assistant Coach Shelley Keating, this teams final position on the ladder will not reflect the performances of the girls over the season. With 3 draws, several heartbreaking narrow losses to all of the teams in the top four and a resounding win over Nunawading 4, the girls showed on numerous occasions that they had the potential to play finals.

On their day, the Sabres 12.2 girls had the ability to assert fantastic defensive pressure and play an aggressive offensive game, with some great passages of team play. Even though they were often out-

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sized, the girls managed to work together and play their respective roles within the team to achieve a couple of really good wins.

enthusiastic and enjoyed their basketball and in the process formed many new friendships and took their game to another level.

While this team will not have the opportunity to play finals, the girls showed enormous improvement in their defensive skills, shooting technique, decision-making and ball handling skills over the season and benefited from working with the Under 12.1 Sabres team at training as well as a team of additional specialist Sabres coaches.

Jezlyn, Eleni, Sian, Meg, Ella, Chloe, Summer, Tara, Abbey and Tara would like to thank Elyse for coaching them.

Thank you also to Shelley Keating for taking the time to coach and train the girls when Elyse had playing and training commitments. The girls benefitted enormously from Elyse and Shelley’s experience.

The season had it’s up and downs, but at all times the 12.2 girls remained happy,

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16

s l r i G

3

U12G

The U12.3 Girls started with 9: Niamh, Claire, Annaliese, Sacha, Kalani, Maya, Cammy, Sienna and Zoe; but Kalani broke her arm, then Annaliese and Claire left before Xmas. Undaunted by losing 2 players and all their games, they entered the Dandenong Tournament and won their first game, and had their first Team Dinner.

Thankfully, Kalani had shed her plaster.

The brave, funny, determined Magnificent 7 went to battle in Phase 2. Recruiting Katelyn, a little pocket rocket from Under 10, followed by top age Amia who left due to illness.

And so there were the Awesome 8!

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The Awesome 8 because every week they fill me with awe at how determined they are. They get knocked down (literally) and they get up again. They have even been picked up and thrown – determined not to let go of that jump ball.

Kalani breaking another bone to miss the end of the season. Argh!

A huge thank you to our Coach, Andrew Shepherd, for his infinite patience with these very young girls who daydream a lot.

So many memories. Kalani and Cammy doing handstands before games; Zoe’s superhero pass under the basket against Warrandyte; Sacha nailing three point shots, Niamh and Kalani tackling a 6-foot giant from Melbourne Tigers, Sienna always running late, Katelyn’s steal and full court layup for her first points, Maya coming to training from hospital emergency … and

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17

sabres COACHES

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18

Boys

1

U12B

After an exhaustive selection process in early November 2012, coach Michael Nowlan assembled a combination of existing young Sabres and boys new to the program and they clicked immediately.

In a first for many years the team qualified for VC prior to Christmas. A hectic start to 2013 saw coach Nowlan announcing his engagement to Sinead, start a full time job, commence University part time, and focus on breaking into the starting 5 of the Sabres SEABL team. Talk about a full plate!

The introduction of a new offensive structure and a focus on up-tempo defensive pressure saw the Sabres boys become a competitive unit. Hard training sessions each Sunday and Thursday, combined with the specialised early morning sessions led by Sinisa Markovic and Bill Runchey ensured the boys continued to develop the skills necessary to compete at the elite level. We are so lucky to have these two coaches in our club.

Without the stress of qualifying for VC in the new year, the team started 2013 by giving league leaders Melbourne Tigers, their biggest fright of the season so far, leading them well into the second half before going down to them by 10 points in the first game of the Dandenong Tournament. This tournament, and the practice rounds prior to the commencement of the VC season, were a great barometer as to how the boys could perform. On many occasions they had led games only to drop them in the dying minute of the game.

Despite missing out on qualification for the U/12 National Classic on percentage, the boys entered the local Nunawading tournament and used the 6 games across the weekend to fine tune different playing combinations and introduce some new offence and defensive sets, ultimately winning the tournament. This was a good preparation for the second half of the VC season, and a win over rivals McKinnon kicked it off in good style.

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Improvement in the boys skills and basketball IQ throughout the season has

been clearly evident, and at the time of writing this, the team was assured of a finals berth. In the final few games of the season they have a chance to shape the final eight positions, following a convincing win over 4th placed Bulleen boosting their stocks and confidence.

The team of 10 boys have shown dedication, determination and through a willingness to learn, have shown they can compete with the top teams in the competition, but more importantly earn their respect.

Special thanks to the group of supportive parents who have gone above and beyond the cause to ensure their boys can compete at the highest level, assistant coaches Steve Fagan & Dan Shae, and of course Michael Nowlan who despite a massive workload has been able get the absolute best out of the boys.

Peter & Joanne Windhager Team Managers

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19

Boys

2 B 2 1 U

Even during the early grading games, it was clearly evident that this Sabres U12.2 team was going to be a tough, uncompromising team that would fight every game out to the final second.

Having narrowly lost a few games during grading, we found ourselves in a very strong Metro 2 division. Our Pool included Kilsyth, Pakenham, Dandenong, Mornington, Ringwood, Western Port and Sherbrooke. With the Sabres courts being renovated, our home games were “away” and it felt like we were on the road most Friday nights - which culminated in a few visits to the golden arches – the culprits know who they are…

It wasn’t long before the boys learnt to respond to Coach Matt Nunn’s directions.

“Line, line!”, “get in it”, “who you got?”, “go back door”, “help, help!”, “swing, swing”, “get to your spot”, “get on him” and the favourite: “pass and cut!”.

A number of social functions were held which helped the team to bond on and off the court. A breakfast in the park

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was held after Sunday training before the December break-up. The bacon and egg rolls went down very well and the boys and parents got to know each other. The team also had the opportunity to be “team of the week” at the SEABL Mens game versus Knox. The boys loved being introduced to the crowd while accompanying a player as well as being part of the entertainment during breaks.

After the game, we had our second social function, a team dinner. The boys have certainly enjoyed spending time with each other on and off the court and some really firm friendships have developed.

Dandenong. Over the season, they have built on that tough, uncompromising attitude, to also become a team that knows how to win!

Thank you to: Tibah, Jack B, Max, Jack H, Brody, Hugo, Walter, Beau, Christoph and Gary for being part of the 2013 Sabres U12.2 team and making it a season and a team to remember.

Roxy Kruger Team Manager

Bar four, all parents were new to the Sabres program and soon got to grips with the travelling and convoluted scoring sheet.

Like the boys, the parents too became good friends while car pooling and sharing the scoring duties.

The boys results reflect that they have done fantastically well on the court. At the time of writing, they are firmly sitting second on their pool ladder, behind

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20

Boys

U12B3

The start of something BIG! It’s been a huge year for the 12/3 Boys.

9 out of 10 of the boys were new to the Sabres program and the team was made up predominantly of bottom agers. The parents were in for a surprise, getting to run their kids against the Friday traffic around half of Melbourne.

The boys came sprinting out of the blocks early in grading, posting them into a finals appearance at the Dandenong - Eltham tournament, and following it up with making East 1 grade which was a fine performance for a new young team.

The season was always going to be tough, being mainly graded against much taller top age teams and not helped with a hiatus from training during April & May due to court resurfacing. Despite the

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challenges the boys have always kept their resolve throughout the season and shown eagerness to play, learn and develop.

The second half of the season showed massive improvement, justified by the results compared to the first half of the season, while managing to extract some revenge on previously successful opposition.

Now that the boys are at the end of the season it can clearly be seen how far they have come as a Team since they started their Sabres journey back in October.

They have all learnt a multitude of new skills, techniques and gained greater confidence. More importantly they are thinking and executing their learning’s on the court that will hopefully provide a

great foundation for their future.

A special thanks for the help and support from Coach Wal whose help, special comments, advice and friendship are always appreciated. Also a big thanks for Jacinta our “Communications Manager” who kept us organised and well informed. Sinisa & Bill have also been invaluable throughout the season helping development of not just the players but the coaches as well.

We all wish the boys well in the future, hoping they continue to develop their skills & knowledge, and keeping their enthusiasm for Sabres Basketball.

Steve Brown

21/08/13 11:11 AM

21

Boys

4 B 2 1 U

Reflecting back on the season it’s incredible to see how far the boys have progressed with their basketball skills.

It all began as individuals at tryouts – an air of excitement but uncertainty – boys brimming with enthusiasm. As they progressed through the grading phase and the teams were finalised the boys rapidly became a team of great kids all keen to wear their Sabre singlets with pride.

The team was comprised in equal number of top and bottom age boys – all new to the representative level game. Each of the boys were excited to get their Sabres kit and it was great to see the boys’ bags lined up on the court sidelines with their names proudly emblazoned in Sabres orange.

Hitting the road each Friday the level of commitment required by not only the boys but also their families quickly became apparent. I know that the parents have enjoyed this time with their children and it has made for some entertaining times listening to the kids get to know each other in the car en route.

A particular highlight was the boys participation in “The Team of the Week” with the SEABL men as they took on and

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defeated Hobart. In the weeks leading up to the night the boys were so excited and it culminated in a night of fun – running out with the players, playing a half time game in front of the crowd and competing in a goal shooting competition. The highlight for me was seeing the kids messing around as boys do, enjoying each others company. Our thanks to Nola for making this an evening to remember.

On behalf of the parents and the boys, I extend all our appreciation and thanks to Peter for his coaching and mentoring. It was great to see the boys with their coach in the post match huddle each week reviewing the game and discussing areas for improvement. I think the boys and parents collectively found these useful and I know that Peter has set a firm foundation for all the boys to continue to grow and develop their basketball in the future.

boys confidence to explore their love of basketball .

Thank you to Peter and all the players and parents for their support in my role as team manager.

It has been a fantastic parent group who has made it easy to collect match payments, support requests for fundraisers and who were all more than willing to take their turn at the scoring roster. I’m sure that the boys and parents alike will continue to build on the friendships that this season has provided.

Good luck Cailin, Cookie, Youngie, Mitch, Aussie, Ben, Luke, Tom and Kareem. I wish you all the very best with your future basketball endeavours. You have made your coach and families very proud!

Lisa Brindle

Peter has worked hard with the boys to develop a “hunger for the ball” mentality and to emphasise the need to play with intensity for all four quarters. The season has been a mixed bag of results– a few great wins and some missed opportunities, but has seen a huge gain in the boys defensive pressure skills. Overall, a great introduction to Sabres and building of the

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22

BODY CHALLENGE IN

INDIVIDUA

DRILL

LETIC

CHALLEN

OUT

DRIBBLE LOVE

L S P LA P F L I T A N ESS YING CENTRE B REAK GIRLS DRE SPORT AM ATH

S A SPORT BR

theGE REFS!

TEAM

YOUTH

SUCCES

ACTIVIY

and others!

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23

STEP NET REBOUND

JUMP

PLAYERS

EAK EQUI

STEP

PTMENT

SLAM

BREAK

SLAM

DRIBBL SANDRING

HAM

NET SEASON

HOOP

SPORT ATHLETIC JUMP PLAYERS

PLAYING

OUT

OUT

BALL SUCCESS INDIVPIVOT IDUALS BASKET IN DRIBBLE ZONE

RUN

ZONE

REFSOFFENCE DEFENCE

WINNERS REBOUND SCORE

TEAM COACH BOYS

STEP

SEASON

NET

COACH BOYS

OUT

IN DRIBBLE ZONE

BOUNCE WATER LOVE

BOYS

PRACTICE

PIVOT

ZONE

BODY

CHALLENGE EQUIPTMENT INDIVIDUALS SLAM SEASON

NET

T

CENTRE

STEP

LOVE

OUT

DRILL

WINNERS

NET

YOUTH

RUN

SANDRINGHAM

OUT

TEAM

PRACTICE

NET

DREAM

BOUNCE

NETDRILL TIME HOOP PLAYING

ATHLETIC

OUT

FITNESS

DRIBBLE DUNKBOUNCE

CENTRE PASSION

SPORT

BOUNCE

BOYS

STEP

BOYS COACH

ATHLETIC

LOVE

CENTRE

STEP

SLAM

TEAM

SUCCESS

DRILL

BOYS

WINNERS REBOUND SCORE

GAME

PASSION

BREAK

RUN

DREAM

DRIBBLE

ATHLETIC

SUCCESS

RUN

YOUTH

RUN

SANDRINGHAM

WINNERS

NET

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NET

OFFENCE DEFENCE

TEAM NET

INDIVIDUALS

DRIBBLE

ATHLETIC

OUT

DUNKBOUNCE

PRACTICE

BASKET

REFS

CHALLENGE EQUIPTMENT

FITNESS

NETDRILL TIME HOOP PLAYING

CENTRE PASSION

SPORT

BOUNCE

BOYS

SLAM

TEAM

STEP

BOYS COACH

RUN

BALL SUCCESS

RUN

GAME DRIBBLE

NET

SLAM

BODY

SLAM

YOUTH SEASON

DUNK ACTIVIYNET SHOT

PASSION

BREAK

SPORT

OUT

STEP

SABRES

PRACTICE

GIRLS

SLAM

CENTRE IN

BOUNCE WATER LOVE

DUNK ACTIVIYNET SHOT

BOYS

DRILL FITNESS BREAKDRILL

TEAM

SPORT

BODY CHALLENGE

BOUNCE

PASSION

OUT

NET

DRILL FITNESS BREAKDRILL CENTRE IN

YOUTH

SABRESSEASONRUN BOUNCE

BOYS

EQUIPTMENT STEP

PASSION

BODY CHALLENGE

SANDRINGHAM

GIRLS DREAM

SANDRINGHAM

EQUIPTMENT STEP

CHALLENGE

SPORT ATHLETIC JUMP PLAYERS

INDIVIDUALS

BOUNCE

INDIVIDUALS

PLAYING

ZONE

HOOP

CHALLENGE

GIRLS DREAM

RUN

EQU I P T M E N

TH DRILL B A S K E CESS D T DEFENCE U SHOT N K SEASON VIY RUN

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DR E A M

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BOUNCE

TEAM

BALL CENTRE

BRESBOYS CHALLEN

PRACTICE

E

OUT

NGE HOOP

GIRLS

more COACHES

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24

Girls

U14G1

The 14.1 girls started the season well and looked forward to re uniting with there under 12.1 coach Jo Wood. After the qualifying rounds the girls played well enough to make VC and the season ahead looked promising. The first nine rounds saw the girls play some amazing basketball and they finished second in their pool. The great start to the season meant that we would receive an invite to participate in the National Club Championships’ which are held in Ballarat this year in the first week of October. This is the first time a Sabres female team has qualified for Nationals and we are extremely proud of the girls and the coaches Jo and Alex.

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The team also went to the National Classic which is held at MSAC on the long weekend in June. We had an amazing tournament and played some great basketball even with injuries to a couple of our players. A close loss to Sturt Sabres who went on to win the classic seemed to take the wind out of our sails for the remaining couple of games and we finished up 8th overall.

The team had a mid season slump and lost several easy games however over the last two weeks we have beaten the top team Knox in our best team performance of the year and then easily defeated Hawthorn.

We still have a chance to finish top four for

the finals but several games will have to go our way over the next two weeks.

If the team plays to the best of their potential they should be in amongst it for the finals and with a lot of luck and hard work hopefully they will come away with the premiership in VC to replicate their under 12 victory.

Coach Jo Wood has done a great job once again with the girls and amongst raging teenage hormones manages somehow to get the best out of the team.

Anita Frawley

21/08/13 11:11 AM

25

Girls

U14G2

This team started the season with a missmash of top age, bottom age and a couple of players new to the club. Five players had names beginning with ‘E’ which included 3 Ellas, an Emily and an Eleanor. It took a long time for all the girls to settle in and team cohesion remained fragile throughout the season At the commencement of the season many of the games were won, when the girls rallied late in the game to come back strongly and win by the narrowest of margins. The season certainly had its ups

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and downs and inconsistencies. Despite this, with thanks to Grant Waddell’s coaching and strategising, the team have had a very successful season. At the time of writing this they are 2nd on the ladder in VJL 3 and are set to play finals.

in ‘Team of the week’ made it more enjoyable for everyone. The highlight for the 6 girls who participated, was the Sabres on the Road trip which allowed them to experience being part of the wider Sabres community.

Playing basketball isn’t just about the games, it is also about the social interaction and friendships. During the season the players challenged the parents in a game enjoyed by all and luckily without any casualties, although it came close! Pizza nights and participation

Thank you to all the players and parents for their support in my role as team manager and I wish the girls all the very best in their future sporting endeavours.

Maree Nolan.

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26

s l r i G

3

U14G

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end”...anon I think this can sum up our season. Coming in I knew it would be a year of teaching.

Developing not only skill but every players knowledge of the game. It wasn’t always easy. Early on we had some great moments but also some very tough ones.

Things didn’t always go according to plan. It would have been very easy for all the girls involved to get discouraged and drop their heads. But not one player did. Instead they seemed to work harder, as individuals and as a team. And every single player got better. In their skills, their knowledge and their desire for the ball.

They stuck with it week in and week out, working hard at every training session.

Always listening and taking on board all the information given. At no stage during the year did the team rely on one player to carry them, everyone found a

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way to contribute. Improvement and development are not things that can always be easily measured, they are not always things that show up in the wins and losses columns.

Towards the end of the season, everything just started to click. We played some amazing basketball, pushing teams that had beaten us easily in the first half of the season. Showing everyone and especially themselves that they not only had the skill, but the ability. And as a coach, that is an amazing thing to see develop in a player.

As a journey, this season has been very tough. Never easy. We had to work extremely hard. But in the end, every single person involved has come away a better basketballer.

the right time. Makes a coach’s job very easy when all he has to worry about is the basketball side of things.

A massive thank you to all the parents.

All in all, it was a very tough season with not a lot of success early on. It would have been very easy for everyone to get frustrated. And even though it took a lot longer than everyone would have liked, but the way the girls pulled it all together to finish the season as strong as they did will hold them in good stead for next season and every season to come. And hopefully, in 5-6 years I get to see these girls coming through into Youth League and challenging for a spot.

Ryan Heggart

To Melinda, thank you very much for your assistance over the course of the year.

You always made sure everyone was exactly where they needed to be and at

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27

Girls

U14G4

In reflecting on the season that was , the girls can be proud of the tenacity they have shown. The girls were fearless in their attack on the ball and this unfortunately contributed to a high level of long term injuries.

In reviewing the seasons results the team has shown great improvement as the

SABRES-Magazine2013.indd 27

season unfolded. After a number of close losses the girls fought hard to finally have success against Frankston.

Shannon Perrett stepped up to coach the team and it was obvious the great relationship she has developed with the girls over the season. This team has had great support by all the parents and it has

been a pleasure to manage it.

I hope the girls have great success in the next stage of their basketball journey.

Angus Cotton

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FUN @

SABRES

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BODY CHALLENGE IN

ON THE ROAD IN INDITASMANIA VIDU

DRILL

ALS PLA

PLAYING FITNESS B REAK GIRLS DRE SPORT AM ATH make the experience special for the players and coaches.

CENTRE

DRIBBLE LOVE

The Inaugural Sabres Under 16 Road Trip to Ulverstone, Tasmania, was heralded as a huge success. Thirty one boys and twenty four girls travelled by plane down to Launceston where they were met and transported to Ulverstone for a three day basketball camp followed by a two day tournament.

On Saturday the players competed in games amongst themselves and also teams from the Launceston and the Northwest Tasmania areas, providing a platform from which to practice their newly learned offensive concepts. This was accomplished with varying degrees of success, but importantly, all of our teams got better as the weekend went on. Two Sabres teams dropped their Grand Finals to the Northwest Tasmania teams on the Sunday afternoon.

LETIC

CHALLEN

The camp, based on a few simple offensive concepts, pitted players from all 5 Sabres boys teams and all 4 Sabres girls teams against each other whilst learning and developing their basketball skills. The camp also involved five Junior Sabres coaches and four senior Sabres coaches. The Senior coaches working the camp included Sabres Head Coaches Dean Kinsman (men), Alex Palozollo (women), world renowned skills Coach Sinisa Markovic, and former SEABL Head Coaches Vince Crivelli and Bill Runchey.

GE

the women to a 37 point victory and helping the Sabres men come from 12 points behind at half time to secure a thrilling four point victory over the Thunder in the dying minutes. Many of the Junior Sabres mentioned the SEABL games as their highlight of the week, affirming the aspirational connection and pathway for our Junior players into the Senior ranks at Sandringham.

OUT

Sabres on the Road In Tasmania

S A SPORT BR Kate Oman (16.2 girls) and Benji Audige (16.2 boys) were named Best Campers, whilst Sophie Shea, Georgia Collinson (both 16.1 girls) Brad Shea (16.2 boys) and Tim McCormick (16.4 boys) were named Most Respectful Campers for the week.

Natarsha Ymer (16.2 girls) and Lachlan Warrell (16.4 boys) were named Best Supporters at the SEABL match.

TEAM

A hard-working and fun-loving group of parents accompanied the boys and girls and took responsibility for the supervision and feeding of the athletes outside of camp hours. The organisation and delivery of a Trivia / Celebrity Heads game on the Friday night was just one of many extra tasks the parents took on that helped

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A highlight of the trip was our Sabres boys playing the Tasmania Under 16 State team on Saturday morning in a high standard game where the Tasmanians got up by just two points in a real thriller.

Another highlight was the attendance and participation in the Sabres v. Launceston (women) and NW Tasmania Thunder SEABL games by all of our coaches, players and parents. The Junior Coaches were able to watch the preparation of the team strategy in the change rooms and also sat behind the players’ bench during the games.

All of our Junior players and parents participated enthusiastically, cheering

YOUTH

SUCCES

Thank you to all of the players, coaches and parents for representing our Club in such a well-mannered, friendly and respectful way throughout the entire experience.

ACTIVIY

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NGE HOOP PLAYERS

EAK EQUI

STEP NET REBOUND

JUMP

STEP

PTMENT

SLAM

BREAK

DRIBBL SANDRING

NET SEASON

HAM

CENTRE

Blowing them away or trying to stem the flow, the Time Out can help whether you’re up or down.

Our players and coaches use these precious seconds to bandage, rub down, fire up, focus, cool down, heat up and of course adjust your hair!

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I am privy to lots of close up images of our basketball community and it is in these very intimate moments that you see the quality and integrity of our club.

The desire in their eyes, the sweat on their skin and the furrows on their brows.

It’s quite amazing to watch the juniors of our club focus and listen to the directions of their coaches and then put their instructions into practice moments later on the court.

NET

T

time OUTS

Not just a few seconds to grab a drink but sometimes that critical moment whereby games are won and lost.

RUN ZONE

DR E A M

INDIVIDUALS

TIME OUT TIME OUT TIME OUT!!!!!

STEP

EQU I P T M E N

TH DRILL B A S K E CESS D T DEFENCE U SHOT N K SEASON VIY RUN

TEAM

E

GE

BOUNCE

PRACTICE

BALL

BRESBOYS CHALLEN

SLAM

committing with passion to the same directives.

The best part however is watching the hands creep to the centre of the huddle early with the expectation of the passionate cheer of SABRES! as they charge onto the court to do battle again.

Murray Payne

These charges then absorb this detail and then put it into practice again and again for the rest of their careers.

I have been able to watch coaches outlining their plays and expectations in bottom age under 12s and then have seen the players 10 years later

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32

s y o B

1 B 4 1 U

The U14-1 boys had a tough start to their program being pooled with some of the top sides in the state. After being competitive in each of the Phase 1 Grading games, the team succumbed to injuries and missed their opportunity in a crucial cross-over before Christmas.

In the heat the team was too good and won the tournament setting up a new found strength to take on all contenders.

We entered the new year with a point to prove as the team went to the Dandenong tournament and started to show their tough new attitude.

The 14-1 boys muscled their way into Met-1 and quickly became the team to beat. A great bonding afternoon on the beach at Mordialloc saw the team unite and come away with 6 wins from the first 6 rounds of the regular season. A target was placed fairly and squarely on our backs and the next 3 teams wanted a shot at it.

In a thrilling never say die semi-final the boys fought back and won their way through to the Grand Final with a buzzer beating 3 point shot.

The mid season break gave the team an opportunity to travel to Canberra & Albury and freshen up on some skills on the Sabres on the Road trip.

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After the break the team returned to the courts and have come away with 5 wins in a row securing a spot in the finals. The team are ready to step up the tempo of our game and finish what we started back in January this year.

It has been a pleasure getting to know the boys and working with all the families throughout the year.

Good Luck to each of the boys on their basketball journeys.

Matt Ross

21/08/13 11:12 AM

33

Boys

U14B2

The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once said: “I think someone should explain to the child that it’s okay to make mistakes.

That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.” This is the essence of the Under 14-2 Boys team for the 2012/13 season.

never in question. We have even come back in two different games from 20 points down, only to lose in the finals seconds.

The boys took to the challenge of learning and developing their games as much as possible throughout the season. Answering the challenge and competing week after week, the boys learnt from many of their mistakes and have come together much closer as a team as a result.

- defeating the second team Craigieburn on the ladder with our team at that stage in last place.

Our team has been the ‘kings of the close loss’ with eight of our games being losing margins of under 10 points. Many of these games were very winable and could have gone either way. Certainly the boys’ endeavour, courage and passion were

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Highlights of the season include: - a buzzer-beater win against Kilsyth with a hostile crowd and unfavourable referees against us.

- the Sabres on the Road tour to Canberra and Albury for some of our players.

- the love, friendship, good laughs, towelwaving and comradery of the entire team.

I would like to thank the parents from the team for their support, transport, scoring and organisation of us all and to Dean Kinsman, Bill Runchey, Sinisia Markovic and Glenn Tranter for their advice, guidance

and training of the boys in many different sessions.

A huge thank you to Tracy for her amazing Team Manager skills. In her first season in the position, she has been extremely organised, on top of everything and extremely supportive of the team and everything we do.

And lastly to the players, a great group of young men who have an amazing passion for the sport of basketball, for your enthusiasm, effort, listening skills and great humour which still made this an extremely enjoyable season regardless of results. I look forward to tracking your careers with great interest and know that with hard work these boys will be great players for the Sandringham Sabres for many years to come.

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Boys U14B3

The 14.3 Boys are a team of ten boys that have all come together and played as a team so well. There is a mix of 4 top age and 6 bottom age players. They are lucky enough to be coached by Jackson Hollands one of the stars from the men’s Youth League team and early in the season after helping out the 14.4 boys we had Andrew Stavropolus come on board as assistant coach.

The boys played in the Dandenong Tournament and played a great tournament and made it all the way to the grand final going down by a narrow margin.

After some very hard fought grading games the team secured a spot in Regional 1. With not a lot of height in the team we did fight an uphill battle against some really tall teams, we had some great wins along the way and some very close losses.

A very big thank you to all of the parents for travelling to the games and supporting the boys and for always being willing to help out.

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Seven of the boys went on the Canberra/ Albury road trip and from all account the boys found it very rewarding and had a fantastic time and can’t wait for next year’s trip.

appreciate everything you have done for them!

Lastly to Adam, Adam, Ben, Cameron, Dan, James, Kirk, Liam, Mitchell and Tomo, you boys have shown everyone what it is like to play as a team, your have made your coaches and your families very proud. Good luck for next season.

Vicki Barlow Team Manager

Thank you to our coaches Jackson and Andrew, the boys and the parents

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Boys U14B4

As we move closer to the end of another Sabres season, I am sure the parents and boys will agree it has been an interesting and challenging year with never a dull moment!

Our team, Alex, Edmund, Wll, Lachlan, Max T, Ben, Troy, Jai, Kade and Max S (6 bottom age and 4 top age) have come a long way and there are many to thank for their progression and development.

Michael Nowlan, Andrew Stavropolous, Bill Runchey, Sinisa Markovic, Steve Hoare, David Leeds, Shae McNamarra and finally Patrick Richard have all coached the boys games this season. Many thanks to you all, I hope I didn’t miss anyone!

2013 began for the team at the Dandenong Australia Day weekend tournament when Shae first coached for us, uniting the team and taking the boys to the semi finals against some tough

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competition, finishing just a few points short of the Grand Final. Celebrations at Pancake Parlour were loud and cheery!

Sadly, we were to say farewell to Shae a few weeks later at the end of March, ending on a win with 4 of the boys scoring 8 three pointers between them! The team saw Shae off in style with a fun packed night bowling, a great time had by all!

Patrick joined us at the end of April when he arrived from USA as an import to play for Sabres Mens SEABL team. The boys bonded straight away with this young man who has led the team for the past 10 or 11 rounds with almost equal wins and losses, most of which were only the difference of 2 or 3 points, nailbiting stuff! Thanks Patrick!

Some of the team went along on the U4 road trip to Canberra and Albury in July, which was a fantastic opportunity for all the kids with the most amazing

coaching development and attention to individual skill. An awesome experience for everyone, with cheering on both the men and womens SEABL teams to all but one victory, a highlight of the tour!

Watching their coach Patrick in action was of course inspirational for our boys! So to wrap up, many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this season, in particular to all the parents who race around after the kids and who sit and support week in and week out, games which often send blood pressures soaring for one reason or another!

Touch and go with finals at this stage so more nailbiting to come. Wishing all the boys a fabulous season next year with their new teams!

Go Sabres!

Jo Sorensen - Team Manager

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Boys U14B5

This years U14.5 Boys team was made up of a real mix of dedicated and talented young boys. We had a few top age boys who have been with the club for a few years and a few bottom age boys who experienced their first year of rep basketball. I was quite impressed how the boys gelled together instantaneously.

Each and every one of them brought their

RT

M

own talent to training and to the game week in week out! They have grown and matured throughout the year and have dealt with the ups and downs, injuries, wins and losses in a very mature manner.

They worked very hard with Nigel Carpay and Bill Runchy every training session to develop the skills needed to play the best basketball that they could every Friday

night. It paid off as the boys got into the finals!! This experience of another year of rep basketball has bonded our boys and some great friendships have been made not only with the boys but also with our dedicated parents that give up their time to drive the boys from venue to venue every week.

YOUTH BDROIULNLCE B A S SUCCESS K E DEFENCE D

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RUN

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SABRES ON THE ROAD

U14G&BS The journey began on Tuesday, July 9th with a 7:00 a.m. departure to Canberra.

After discovering massive amounts of trivial information on the trip up, under the direction of Quizmasters/Coaches Grant and Phil, we arrived at our Pinnacle Apartments destination at 4:00 p.m. Everyone settled in and feasted on lasagne and salad prepared by Vicki Barlow, our food coordinator for the week.

To cap off the first day, we set off to a two hour practice session with the Canberra boys’ teams and coaches. The Sabres players and coaches were great, showing enthusiasm and endeavour that belied their understandably tired state.

The next morning the players, coaches and parents all enjoyed a full two hours working out their brains and bodies at Questacon, Canberra’s massive science works building. The highlight was undoubtedly Isobel Anstey’s triple flip on the Questacon “360” machine. This excursion was followed up by another practice session in the afternoon and then games v. the Canberra Under 14 teams that night. The highly talented Under 14 Canberra girls joined us for these sessions.

Shop, and watched as Lauren Jackson worked out with Australian Opals Head Coach Brendan Joyce. Some of our group even took advantage of a photo opportunity with Lauren!

and then we watched a heart stopper as our men’s team ran out of time whilst trailing by just 1 point in a super exciting finish to a great game.

In the afternoon another practice and one more game before the pizza appeared and disappeared very quickly.

We then watched our Sabres SEABL teams defeat their Canberra counterparts. Our vocal support was critical to the Sabres women, who lifted to squeeze out victory in a very close contest, and our men’s team cruised to an eleven point victory over the Gunners.

The enthusiasm at both games displayed by everyone was fantastic, but Holly Davies and Mitch Barlow stood out and took home the awards for Best Supporters at SEABL Games. Most Respectful Campers went to Isabelle Cook and Costa Tsouasis for their impeccable manners and good cheer, and Nicola Caine and Bailey Ross were named Best Campers by the coaching staff.

Off to Albury the next day where we had games against the Under 14 teams from Wodonga at Scots School in Albury, after which we all crawled into our beds. Saturday morning the Sabres SEABL players and coaches, as well as the Wodonga coaches, helped to put on a clinic for all the players from both Associations. We also enjoyed a barbecue lunch provided by the Wodonga Wolves Club. More games in the afternoon, but with a twist as we mixed up the teams from both Clubs and HOOP a great time was had by all.

A huge thank you to both the Canberra and Albury – Wodonga basketball Clubs for their cooperation during the whole campaign. Also, thanks to the volunteer coaches and parents who took time off work or gave up their holidays to accompany and assist greatly in the organisation and delivery of what was a truly enjoyable and memorable trip for our Sabres under 14 players.

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On Thursday we were all treated to a tour SPORT ATHLETIC The weekend was capped off with two of the Australian Institute of Sport, where JUMP PLAYING PLAYERS greatEQUIPTMENT games of basketball. We saw our we viewed the facilities, added millions to GIRLS DREAM YOUTH Sabres womenSEASON demolish the Lady Bandits the Canberra economy via the A.I.S. Gift SABRES BOYS RUNIN CHALLENGEBOUNCE DRIBBLE DRILL DRILL BREAK

GIRLS

The second leg of the Sandringham Sabres “On the Road” program was successfully concluded with the safe return of 43 tired players and 15 absolutely exhausted coaches and parents at the King Club on July 14th.

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Girls

U16G1

At Christmas time, it was possible that this team would not make the VC competition.

We had just lost a challenge game against Bendigo. From that inauspicious start, the team has performed admirably, and have recently ensured their participation in the VC finals, looking to make a strong tilt for the premiership. I have selected out just a few of our highlights: Win in the Horror Challenge at Traralgon for VC In a place and time far, far away (Traralgon), the Under 16 Sabres had to take on Latrobe City. Odds were stacked against them with referees using an alien language- a mix of netball at the Latrobe end and rugby at the Sabres end. Even with all this, the girls succeeded and won through by eight points to progress to VC. Congrats to Ella, Lucy, Sally, Mia, Georgia, Caitlin, Courtney, Dani and Sophie.

Win over Dandenong in first half of VC to make the Classic Two years ago, in Under 14VC, our team lost by forty to Dandenong. So we went into the game with faint hope, rather than expectation. Some sweet outside shooting combined with excellent team defence meant that we found ourselves ahead at ž time. A bit more hopeful, we withstood lots of pressure from Dandenong in the last quarter to emerge with a victory in the last round of the first half of the VC season 45-41.

Classic Tournament- Fourth Place The team was one of eight Victorian sides invited to the National Junior Classic in June. The girls, along with Chloe Hicks from the Under 16-2s, performed fantastically

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well in their first three games with wins against Hills (45-29) and Norwood (49-33) and a close loss to eventual runner-up, Eltham (26-33). We then won our quarter final against Northern Suburbs (38-31), the best team in NSW. This win put us in a Sunday evening semi-final against the dominant Eastern Mavericks team, made up of five SA state representatives. The girls battled fantastically well to be eight down with a few minutes to go, before a final victory of 39-55 went to Eastern. Our final game early on Monday morning was a bronze medal playoff against the best team from SA, Sturt Sabres. We again faced five State or State Country representatives.

But the entire Sabres team, on game six of a hard weekend, and with a large group of vocal supporters, did a superb job running Sturt to a 47-57 loss. The team finished fourth overall in the tournament, with their three losses coming against the teams that finished first, second and third.

Win over Eltham in second half of VC The Eltham team was undefeated coming into the round 11 match against the Sabres. Not for long after this game at the Sabredome. Their squad included three Victorian Representatives, one Country Victoria representative, and one emergency to the Victorian team. Our girls, after a slow start, committed to playing a team defense, and were able to run out winners 36-27, outscoring Eltham 16-3 in the final quarter. Now we know we can compete with and beat the very best teams in the State, the others had better look out.

Possible Top four Finish in VC At the time of writing, the team is on a three game winning streak in VC, and sitting third on the ladder behind the two powerhouses, Bulleen and Eltham. With continued commitment and improvement, we can continue to challenge the big four (including Dandenong and Melbourne) and hopefully cause a few upsets in the finals.

None of this would have been possible without the work and support of assistant coach, Natalie, the specialist help of Dean, Bill and Sinisa, the team management of Kelly, the video work of Kim, and the support of all parents. After 30 years of coaching, I’ve finally worked out the trick for success. Surround yourself with committed and athletic kids, rely on experts, have supportive parents, and sit back and enjoy the armchair ride.

Coach: Michael Burke Just a brief footnote: I know I speak on behalf of all the parents and players when I say that Mike certainly did not enjoy an armchair ride. It is largely due to his dedication and research beyond the call of duty that inspires the players and their support group to want to do better.

There was a time just before we made VC that our team was looking and feeling very defeated but the sheer persistence of the coach, the players’ belief in themselves and the ever present possibility of an appearance of the Yoda slippers has allowed them to achieve their potential and more.

Team Manager: Kelly Cigognini

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Girls

U16G2

The season kicked off with coach, Leigh O’Reilly, selecting 11 girls for the first round of grading due to departures and promotions within the ranks of the U16-1 and U16-2 teams.

The team members, Ellen Adams, Molly Cochrane, Katherine Ellison, Caitlin Farmer, Chloe Hicks, Kate Kelly-Oman, Isabel Sandman, Zoe Strimling, Sarah Thompson, Kelsey Tranter, and Natarsha Ymer, willingly took their turns on and off the court and finished the first grading round in the same VC grading pool as the U16-1’s. Unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to Caitlin who moved into the 16-1 team – definitely their gain and our loss!

After the Christmas break, and some preseason beach bonding, the team came together for the Eltham/Dandenong tournament, playing competitively amongst teams already graded in VC. The next five weeks saw the second round of grading with the team finding their place in VJL-1, along with Ballarat and Maffra, much to the parents’ dismay.

The season began and the girls worked

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hard, learning each others styles and personalities, both on and off the court.

An overnighter to Maffra with some of the team and coach Leigh and her daughter, Kiara, resulted in 3 very spooked players after a midnight prank…and a good laugh from the parents.

In the April school holidays, most of the team packed up and headed off to Tasmania for the inaugural Sabres On The Road U16’s trip. They were accompanied by very able parents (thanks Tammy,Sam and Mads!) and assorted coaches, and the whole group of 55 boys and girls spent five days training, playing and supporting our SEABL teams. Rumoured feedback said too much training, not enough socialising but not sure that was a bad thing!

Back to the season proper and the team to date has had a win loss ratio of 8-9, with all losses being by less than 10 points, indicating an incredibly competitive pool.

The girls often played with the last few standing – due to injuries, illnesses and absences – and they often came up on top, beating the top two teams with 6

and 7 players, respectively.

A huge thank you to Leigh who has given so much of her time and energy coaching our girls. Encouraging them, consoling them and motivating them week in, week out throughout the season.

Also a huge thank you to Tammy – our amazing team manager who remains unflustered and organised in everything she does for the team and for the whole Sabres community.

Of course, no team is complete nor can it do its job without parental input, so thank you everyone for driving, scoring, cheering, feeding, washing…etc, etc.

It has been a year of growth for all the players - physically, mentally and socially.

They have had to adapt to endless change, learn new tricks (ok, plays), and come together as a team while retaining their individualism.

Mistakes have been made but as Yoda said “ If no mistake you have made, losing you are. A different game you should play” and we wouldn’t want that! Good luck for next season, girls.

Victoria Pidhirny

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Girls

U16G3

2012/13 has been a challenging season all round for a group of girls who love to chat.

The team played the January Eltham/ Dandenong tournament winning one of five games. Being a mixture of top and bottom age girls, the weekend gave the girls an opportunity to get to know their teammates a little better both on and off the court.

The grading phase was a mixture of successes and disappointments.

A 2 point loss to McKinnon in the last grading game resulted in the 16.3 girls being placed in Metro 3.

Round 5 saw our first win of the season winning a tight game against Mornington

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by 2 points. Sophie proved to be quick to the basket beating the defence and scoring 10 points for the game and Maddie contributing with hard fought rebounds and steals.

Strong rebounding throughout the season came from Ella who was often able to convert down the offensive end and Ellen who fought extremely hard with every contest.

Further wins included round 8 against Sunbury with Carly, a great guard, providing some great assists and round 9 against one of the top placed teams Collingwood, by 19 points with Pia, super quick, topping the shooting stats for the season with 16 points shot from a variety of positions on the court.

Emily and Olivia contributed throughout the season putting great defensive pressure on the opposition trying to get the ball down the court and Anna’s speed resulted in some great turnovers.

Despite only one more win, the girls continue to refine their skills. Ashley, a sharp shooter regularly adds to the score by sinking 3 pointers.

As the season comes to an end, the team will finish towards the bottom of the ladder.

Many thanks to Arran for his commitment to coach the girls this season.

Chris Shand

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Girls U16G4

The girls have had a tremendous 2013 season. At the time of writing this report the team is looking forward to the finals campaign after finishing 4th on the ladder at the end of the regular season.

The season commenced last October with a long, arduous and, at times, emotional grading phase. We finally settled in with 9 girls who we believed to be a strong combination of guards and forwards with a huge amount of potential. Nicole Lawrence agreed to be our manager and we thank her for ensuring that we were all in the right place at the right time each week. We trained hard, got to know one another better and looked forward to the commencement of the regular season.

The early competition proved to be very close and we lost a number of matches by the smallest of margins.

As with many teams we contended with the numerous other demands on the player’s time - school camps, concerts and functions, as well as the usual injuries and illnesses. Having only 9 players we felt this even more keenly than most. At the end of the first round we had only had two games with a full roster and we were sitting sadly down at number 7 on the ladder.

Despite this, we held firmly to our belief that the girls definitely had the potential to

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be in the finals at the end of the season.

Over the course of the season each player developed their skills in the key areas of defence, rebounding, offensive intensity and shooting. As a team they developed a strong understanding of ‘help defence’ and the importance of communication on the court. Many thanks to Michael Burke, Bill Runchey and Sinisa Markovic for their willingness to help the girls develop both individual skills and team strategies. Niamh, Lani and Kylah developed confidence in running the team plays as well as driving and shooting when the opportunity arose.

Kayla, Sara and Belle worked on effective blocking out, rebounding and shooting, important additions to their skill repertoire.

Bianca and Amber’s time at shooting school started to pay dividends and their improved shooting skills gave them incredible versatility as mobile players capable of scoring from inside the key as well as from the perimeter. Sophie’s confidence as a post player developed rapidly in the second half of the season and she established herself as a legitimate offensive threat to all teams we came up against.

The start of the second round coincided with a full rotation of players and the resulting four-game winning streak saw

the team rise up the ladder from 7th to 3rd position. Confidence was starting to build and self-belief was evident in the way the girls approached training and game night.

Sadly, Kylah’s season came to an early end with an unfortunate skiing accident that resulted in major injury to her knee.

We thank Kylah for her continued support of the team through her attendance at games and her willingness to take on the task of stats recording. School demands, illness and injury saw a very trying 4 weeks of games for the girls who played with only 6 or 7 players each week. A 51- point draw with the top team was incredibly satisfying and this subsequently proved to be a turning point for the team. We ended the season in a very credible 4th place and are looking forward to the finals with much anticipation.

It was extremely satisfying to see how much the players grew as individuals and as a team over the season, and how much they enjoyed playing for each other.

We thank them all for their dedication, enthusiasm, laughter and spirit, and for making our first season as Sabres coaches such an enjoyable one.

Stuart and Mary Anstee

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John PICHON

BODY CHALLENGE

John Pichon - Graduated from McNeese St University in Louisiana in 2009 and landed with the Sabres after winning the Conference MVP award with the Geelong Supercats in 2011. JP is an extremely athletic but undersized power forward who led the team in scoring (22 points per game) and rebounding (12.5 per game) which was also 2nd best in the league.

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His most dominant all around game was away against North West Tasmania when he poured in 31 points and had 20 rebounds and his highest scoring game of the season was also North West Tasmania (this time at home) where he went 14-18 from the field for 34 points.

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JP’s game is built around hard work and a strong inside game. He is a relentless competitor who loves a challenge almost as much as we loved seeing him throw a spectacular dunk.

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Patrick RICHARD Patrick Richard – also graduated from McNeese St (in 2012) and came to the Sabres highly recommended. Patrick missed the first 5 games of the season but has since averaged over 18 points and 6 rebounds per game while shooting the ball at just under 40% from 3 point line which placed him in the top 5 of the league.

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His season high came against both Dandenong (away) and Hobart (home) in which he scored 27 points but his most dominant overall game came SLAM at home against Ballarat when he scored 21 points, had 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

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Both guys are not only great players but were very popular with both their teammates and the junior Sabres. We wish them all the best in their future careers and we love to see them back in Sabres colours next year.

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Patrick plays the small forward position and is one of the best perimeter shooters in L the game. He is CHA LENGE also a very good rebounder and is very unselfish which is a bonus quality in an import player.

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Boys U16B1

We started off well at the beginning of the season making it into VC. All the boys played brilliant basketball early on winning most of their games.

to the 2nd and 3rd tryouts. In the end, Tim Taranto made the State Team and Campbell Evans was a reserve, so it was a great effort by all our boys.

We played well in the Dandenong/Eltham Tournament in January this year where we could see that all the boys clicked and we knew it was going to be a great season.

We were also invited to play in the Classic Tournament at Dandenong in June and started off well. We didn’t have our full team and Bojan from the 2 team stepped in to help out. Our game against Knox was a thriller where our boys won by 1 point. Unfortunately we had a few injuries during the tournament, but they did well

Unfortunately we had a few injuries along the way and it cost us a few games.

8 of our boys tried out for the State Team and some did very well to make it through

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considering.

The boys also had a great experience in the ‘On the Road’ to Tassie trip in April. This saw all the U/16 teams and many parents having a great time down in Tasmania.

We are in the top 8 at the moment so should make finals in a couple of weeks time!

Karen Stewart Team Manager

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Boys U16B2

Coached by Ben Fraser, the U16/2 boys played extremely well in the grading and crossover games to secure a spot in Junior League Three. Great job boys! A blistering first half season saw us on top, or 2nd on the ladder. Then, besieged by injuries (and not all basketball related!), illness and even overseas holidays, it seemed to be a rare occasion to have 10 players for a game. A few wayward passes, missed rebound opportunities and some hoops with invisible lids on them saw us drop a few games in the second half of the season. But we’re still currently 2nd with one game remaining and looking a force for the finals. Good luck in the next few weeks guys!

Unanimously, the boys have appreciated both the opportunity to participate in the early morning Elite Training sessions and the Sabres coaching staff’s dedication, enthusiasm and commitment to that program. The Tassie trip a major winner

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too! And especially coach Ben Fraser’s dedication and commitment. Thanks Ben! From the parents perspective…”How did we corner the market for 9:40pm games?

Especially when it comes to travelling to Geelong, Keilor, Melton or Sunbury!

(We’re thinking “Be kind to your kids – they choose your nursing home!”). A thoroughly enjoyable season - except for travelling home in silence after a loss! The boys have all tried so hard, done extremely well and provided us some great, at times nailbiting, entertainment”.

Coach, Ben Fraser – “It has been my privilege coaching a group of guys who are as receptive and hard working as this mob. It makes me very optimistic about the Club’s future”.

Chris H – “Tassie was my season highlight – except for the dorm light coming on every time somebody moved, and with about 50 of us sleeping there, that was often!”

Chris G – “The Tassie trip was my highlight

for the season – except for the cold!”

Jake B – “It was fun playing with other Sabres kids in the Sabres On The Road Trip to Tassie.”

Matt F – “Great season and coaching. My game and fitness have improved thanks to (coach) Ben’s dedication” Jed M – “Coming to this team from the ones has been really great for me” Bojan S – “I’ve really enjoyed playing in this team, and taking part in the Elite Training program” Jack G – “The bromance of this team is really a beautiful thing” Vinnie V – “Tassie was awesome – except for my ankle injury - and my game against Knox was my major highlight” Benji A – “Everyone had fun this season, especially the Tassie trip. My broken arm was a bummer though” Brad S – “Everyone in the team is really good mates. A great season”

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Boys U16B3

As we head into the finals our team is 4th on the ladder with one game to go. The best way to describe the season is like a roller coaster, the boys losing crucial games in grading which placed us into Regional. We had some good wins against top teams also losing against easier opposition.

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The boys have developed plays and skills under the guidance of Dwayne as their coach and benefitted from Cameron as Assistant coach on the bench.

Luck’ for the finals , believe in yourself because we all believe in you.

A big thank you to all the parents for their support, scoring and travelling around on Friday nights for games and during the week for training. To all the boys ‘Good

21/08/13 11:12 AM

47

Boys

U16B4

What a season it has been for the Under 16 – 4 boys, with 2 new top age boys to Rep, along with other 3 top age and 5 bottom age players, it was a real mixed team of talent to start with. With persistence in working with all of the boys skill sets each training, especially shooting techniques, pushing them to set high targets for themselves both Ian & Brian have seen them grow into a wonderful team of young Men with great skill sets which will help them as they continue their way with their Rep basketball careers.

percentage but most importantly with the lowest points against for all teams.

It is now sad that their season ends at the end of round 18, but with the first half of the season being full of injuries & illness amongst the team and lucky to get 5 to 6 healthy players each week, losing only 7 games at an average of 3 points for the season, beating every team in the comp, and finishing with the second best

Lachlan: The fours had a good season with a lot of ups and downs. We started the year with high hopes, losing a close game in the semi- finals of the Dandenong tournament. We were placed in regional two, but had a tough and rough start.

We lost our first few games, all by small margins, but from there we were one of

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Coach Ian: Apart from the occasional heart attack during some of the very close games, I really enjoyed working with both Brian and all of the guys, they really have been a wonderful team to coach and always willing to learn & listen to both Brian & myself at all times, in the quest to improve, which they have all done, and you can see how they have become great friends. It is sad that it has ended; I will miss coaching all of them.

the best teams in the comp. We slowly but surely started to come together as a team. We finished the season with a more wins than losses, missing out on finals despite winning our last three games of the season. It was tough knowing we were better than our record showed, but I can speak for everyone on the team in saying we finished the best way you can.

Finally we would like to thank Melinda & Brian for their support and help over the last year as our wonderful Team Manager & Assistant Coach, your enthusiasm has passed onto all of the guys and it shows both at training and on game days. Also to all of the parents, you have all been wonderful and very supportive to both the guys and us Coaches & Team Manager every inch of the way through our very successful year with this wonderful group of young Men.

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Boys

BODY CHALLENGE U16B5

IN

INDIVIDUA

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LETIC

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L S P LA P F L I T A N E YING CENTRE SS B REAK GIRLS DRE SPORT AM ATH

S A SPORT BR

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The Under 16/5 team came together after vigorous tryouts late last year. It was the first time the 16s went into a season with 5 teams. Peter Legetti was given the job to mould these boys into a competitive team. Our first serious hitouts were at the Dandenong Tournament. We won all our qualifying games, but found the older teams in the finals too strong.

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Half way through the year, 8 out of the 10 boys in our team went off to Tasmania with the rest of the 16s boys, and all senior coaches. It was really hard work , but a lot was learnt by all.

With the fantastic facilities the boys have to train in, and also the level of coaching available to them , it was obvious that they were going to improve, and improve

they did. We finished on top of the ladder and are going into finals .

We would like to thank everyone at Sabres for their help this season. Under 16s/5.

Annette Coote (very proud team manager)

21/08/13 11:13 AM

NGE HOOP

PLAYERS

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free THROWS NET

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MENT

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HAM

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sabres BIGV Women Sabres Orange Squeeze Victory over the Rangers in Grand Final!

The Sandringham Sabres defeated the Dandenong Rangers 64 -59 in Sunday’s Big V Victorian Youth Championship Women Grand Final on Sunday afternoon to take out the 2013 League Championship.

In front of a 1400 strong crowd, at least half of them orange-clad and vocal Sabres supporters, Coach Paul Graham’s team crawled their way to an early quarter time lead of 16-15. Neither team gained ascendancy in the first, with numerous nervous and somewhat hurried shots going up from both sides.

RT

Dandenong started the second quarter strongly through some deliberate inside play which took advantage of their height, out-scoring the Sabres 22-12 to take a 37-28 lead into the half-time break.

The final period began as a dour defensive struggle, with neither team bothering the scorers until the 7:45 mark when Jess Khera assisted on a long three pointer by Monique Lyth. Khera then scored the Sabres next points to make give her team their first lead since the first quarter, 50-49. Khera again scored after Dandenong responded to make it 52-51, Sabres.

A Sabres turnover and a Rangers offensive rebound then saw the Rangers take a 5552 lead with 4:45 left on the game clock.

That’s when Perret found Elyse Kiploks under the basket for a two pointer to bring the Sabres back within one point.

Another two pointer on a nifty inside move by Khera gave the Sabres a 56-55 lead, but it was short-lived as the Rangers regained their lead with two free throws.

After Coach Graham called time out, a three pointer by Alana Gadsby with 3:24 on the clock gave the Sabres the lead, one that they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

Dandenong were given chances to tie or win the game at the foul line, but tight defence and solid rebounding limited their opportunities. When Jess Khera rebounded a missed free throw by Lyth and was fouled with 16 seconds left, she calmly sank both free throws to give the Sabres their unassailable 5 point lead and the Sabres celebrations began.

Shannon Perret led the Sabres in both scoring and rebounding with 18 and 10, whilst Khera’s domination of the 4th quarter proved to be the difference in the game, with Jess finishing with 13 points (eight in the 4th qtr.), 8 rebounds and 3

YOUTH BDROIULNLCE B A S SUCCESS K E DEFENCE D

In the third quarter, a turn-around was sparked by three desperate defensive plays by Grand Final MVP Shannon Perret.

M

Spurred on by Perret’s relentless efforts at the defensive end, her teammates responded in kind by stepping up their own defensive efforts, restricting the Rangers to just 12 points in the third period.

However, the Sabres found themselves still down by 4 points, 45 to 49 to end the quarter.

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RUN

21/08/13 11:13 AM

51 assists. Monique Lyth added 10 points to be the only other player in double figures. Elyse Kiploks was outstanding in defence, having had 4 blocks and 7 rebounds in the game.

CHALLENGE

HOOP

CHALLENGE

DRILL FITNESS BREAKDRILL

IN CENTRE #5 Ella Batish

SPORT

SLAM

#10 Monique Lyth #14 Shannon Perret

BASKET

RUN

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REFSOFFENCE DEFENCE

BODY CHALLENGE CENTRE IN

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REFSOFFENCE DEFENCE

#24 Jess Khera #25 Cassie Hill

SEASON

NET

COACH BOYS

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SUCCESS

Ass’t Coach: Ryan Heggart

EQUIP

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KET

D R E A

LOVE

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OUT

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GAME

FITNESS

DRIBBLE DUNKBOUNCE OUT

BOYS

SANDRINGHAM

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CENTRE

STEP

NET

Its all about the little things

YOUTH

RUN

LOVE

CENTRE TeamNETManager: Kate Shea

SEASON

NET

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SANDRINGHAM

OUT

ATHLETIC

RUN

Head Coach: DRILL Paul Graham

ATHLETIC

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#51 Emily Kay BOUNCE RUN ATHLETIC

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NETDRILL TIME HOOP PLAYING

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COACH #43 Rachael Fairhurst NET HOOP

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#42 Natasha NETWarden DRILL

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PASSION

#33 Alana GadsbyFITNESS DRIBBLE #35 Isabelle Shea SLAM DUNKBOUNCE

BOUNCE WATER LOVE

TEAM

INDIVIDUALS

#21 Laney Callahan

COACH BOYS

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IN DRIBBLE ZONE

DUNK ACTIVIYNET SHOT

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ZONE

NET

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DRILL FITNESS BREAKDRILL

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WINNERS REBOUND SCORE

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BOYS

YOUTH SEASON OUT

BALL SUCCESS

IN DRIBBLE

DUNK ACTIVIYNET SHOT

#9 Kate Hore

#20 Elyse Kiploks

RUN

OUT

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BOUNCE

GIRLS

OUT

BOYS

PASSION

BODY CHALLENGE

NET

SANDRINGHAM

EQUIPTMENT STEP

PASSION

YOUTH Congratulations to all the team members and Staff.

SEASON EQUIPTMENT STEP

PLAYING

GIRLS DREAM

GIRLS

INDIVIDUALS

SPORT ATHLETIC JUMP PLAYERS

INDIVIDUALS

OUT

The win caps off an incredible season for Coach Graham HOOP and his young team, with the average age of the girls in the SPORT ATHLETIC team being just 17 and a half years of age in a 23 and under JUMP PLAYING PLAYERS SANDRINGHAM competition!

GIRLS DREAM

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52

Girls

U18G1

This team was not expected to make VC. Two seasons ago, they played in VJL2. To their credit, the girls played very well in grading and made it through to VC in the last game. There was much excitement but also trepidation as the girls knew their work was going to be cut out for them playing against mainly top age teams with much bigger and taller bodies.

The first game of the season, the team lead against Knox for 3 ½ quarters. We hadn’t gotten that close to Knox for years.

Unfortunately, Knox’s experience helped them in the end but it was a terrific result for the girls. Then the following week, we lost by three points to Broadmeadows.

Two weeks later, the girls had their first win over Nunawading 2. Shortly after that, they had two narrow losses (by seven points) to Kilsyth and Geelong. After the end of round nine, even though the girls

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had only managed one win, our win/loss record could easily have been 5-4 instead of 1-8.

three games and have other results go our way in order to make the finals. A task that is possible!

The first game after the split to VC Reserve saw the team playing Southern Peninsula.

This team was unlucky to miss out on VC. They were much bigger and stronger than our girls. Then we struck some luck – two wins in a row against Bulleen 2 and Nunawading 2. Both games were hard fought close games but the girls were able to gain the lead and hold it. The following two games against Broadmeadows and Diamond Valley 2 were again winnable games but this time, we couldn’t get ahead and lost both by seven points.

Once again, we have had our fair share of injuries this season with some games played with only six. It’s been tough but the girls have learned an enormous amount and will be better for it next season having played at this high level.

The team should be proud of what they have achieved!

Thanks to coach Paul Graham for his hard work, dedication and perseverance.

Julie Fairhurst Team Manager

With a finals spot on the line, we needed to beat Craigieburn. Unfortunately, the team lost by 11 points in a high scoring game: 60-71. The girls have dropped out of the eight now and need to win the next

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Girls U18G2

The U18G-2 got off to a somewhat shaky start but with the addition of experienced recruits Brooke and Carla, plus Ebony deciding to play on and Caitlin being lured out of ‘retirement’, we managed to form a strong squad of 8. Nelly assisted in the Dandenong /Eltham tournament and through the grading phase, in which we only lost 2 games, enabling us to qualify for VJL2.

Trevor Kimber our ‘leader’ was new to Sabres having recently moved to Melbourne from Sydney, where he was a respected and knowledgeable U18’s coach. Once we interpreted some of his diverse expressions and different names for drills and plays the team really started to gel together.

This was a season which could have been anything!

We continually rose to the challenge provided by the better performed line-ups

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defeating the 3rd team twice, winning against the 2nd and 5th placed teams and suffering a narrow 4pt loss to the top team. Those in the race for the finals feared us, yet we couldn’t always perform as we would have liked against the bottom sides. Seven games were lost by 6pts or less. (Disappointingly 3 more wins could have ensured finals action) Injuries, illness and holiday absences also took their toll and at times the team only fielded 6 players, yet universally we were recognised as the best team outside the top 5.

Through out the season Cass provided great height and strength on the boards at both ends of the court ably supported by the aggressive and athletic Carla and Brooke. Ali proved to be the perfect No. 3 with her mix of offensive and defensive skills and we had a good blend of point and shooting guards in Ebony, Tayla,

Caitlin and Stef. (Unfortunately Tayla suffered a season ending injury and was not able to play again after round 11) Trevor was the perfect teaching coach for this group helping to further develop their talent whilst educating on how to adapt and react to opposition tactics. New offensive, defensive and transitional plays were taught and implemented to great effect. Trevor’s mantra was “poise and control” a concept the team tried hard to master.

Thank you to Trevor for his dedication and perseverance through a long season, to the parents for their continued support and to the girls for their commitment to the team.

Hayley Peters Team Manager

21/08/13 11:13 AM

54

Boys U18B1

The Year that injury challenged the team’s fabric and they won!

The boys had to make VC the hard way, after losing games they should have won in the first two phases of Grading. The team ended up with only 9 players and was made up of 5 bottom age and only 4 top age players. With so many new players coming together for the first time the team lacked co-hesion early in the season, especially when drawn in the tougher pool which consisted of the top 4 power teams in the State.

We played in the Australia Day Tournament winning some but lacking focus and getting blown away in some games. It did however work well for team bonding and working together as a team and playing so many games in such a short period of time proved beneficial. So as the season progressed the boys started to jell and play some very good basketball and just missed out by the smallest of margins on making VC Premier Division.

Along the way the worst injury plague of all time hit the team. Dave and Izzy had never seen a run of injuries suffered by any team ever before. There was torn ankle ligaments 8 games and then broken nose another 4 games, bone chip in the ankle 6 games, recurring ankle injury 4 games, wrist ligaments 4 games, another wrist 2 games, fractured eye socket 4

SABRES-Magazine2013.indd 54

games, all at the same time. So we got down to only 4 fit players plus bringing up 2 players for a game each from 18.2’s thanks Harry and Lachie which enabled us to have 5 players. With 3 games to go the only 2 players to have played all games to this point are Jordan and Matt.

Congratulations to Matt who made the Vic Schoolboys team and will unfortunately miss a game travelling to Perth before the end of the season.

Highlights were some of the great wins with only 5 players or gutsy efforts with only 5 or 6 players against the top teams. The second half of season started fantastic with 3 from 3 wins and a full team fit and firing again, then the school holidays and no team training sessions lessened the teams teamwork and we lost the next 3 games. The injury curse continued with 3 players missing the one game with gastro and 1 injured, so back to 5 players again, but the boys are always up to the challenge!

Dave and Izzy laid down the law about winning the Division as long as we played as a team and they would be disappointed if they don’t with the talent within the team. So bring on the final 3 games and the finals. Many thanks to Dave and Izzy for all their time and efforts throughout the season. Thanks to Sandy for being the best Team Manager and her

much sought after stats each week.

The team was made up of a combination of personalities and characteristics such as Jordan the fastest feet in town, Nick the high priced import, Matt the BP Quiet Achiever, Tyba with another lock down role, Harley the smooth mover, Finn pounding the boards with all heart, Will the big improver, Danesh who takes no prisoners and Jimmy the unfazable.

The season highlight was Branson High School San Francisco staying with some of the families and playing against them amid the DJ Dylan playing tunes during the game for atmosphere. Word had spread around the town that it was going to be the hottest ticket in town and there were kids everywhere even on a school night.

The huge crowd was not disappointed with a fast, hard and highly skilled game with the Sabres eventually winning 56 to 43 but the score does not reflect how tight a game it really was. Branson won the fans with their pre-game hype and rev up. All families who hosted billets enjoyed the wonderful experience and have built up bonding friendships that will last a life time.

Hopefully by the Presentation Day the boys will have covered themselves with Glory and the coaches can finally relax that there are no more injuries.

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Boys U18B3

What a great bunch of boys we had this season who were excited to play together from the word go. They are a combination of top & bottom age boys who have performed really well in a tight competitive season in Metro one. All the boys were excited at the prospect of having Josh Wilcher as a coach & he and assistant coach Ed Reddin have been pivotal in the improvement of every player as basketballers and transitioning young men.

Josh has taught the boys to keep a cool head in the game when facing such tight competition week in week out and this has seen them finish with some great wins. Josh and Ed are a great positive influence on this team and any parent would be happy to have their son coached by them.

Currently there are two games left of the season and we are still a chance to make it in the top 5 to achieve a finals run.

Watto – is a quiet achiever not saying a lot but saying it on the court instead, never afraid to drive through anyone to the basket.

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Harry – our super tall who continues to get better and better every game. He has a soft touch that is reliable under the basket, can cope under pressure and is a great team player.

Josh – Strong & a big young man who is forbidding to any opponent. Reliable under the basket and is the one you want to do your free throws under pressure and to back you up on the court

Lachie – forever pounding the boards, always willing to take on the big boys and making the pull up jump shot look easy.

George – Strong rebounder and always aggressive at the basket, offense and defense. Very physical player and always up for the challenge

Jamie – you will always know when he is on the court, ducking and weaving through zones and pepping the team up with his talk Antonio – quick with his feet and can dribble like no other, who loves to do a floater over the talls to the basket Dylan - Little Dylan, who is not so little when it comes to taking a charge, rebound or looking to block a shot.

Versatile on the court and loves to sink a 3. Also known for his multiple collection of basketball shoes Dylan A – Big Dylan, big he is and also handy in any position he is put in, he is able to do any job on the court and always carry’s a smile with it

Oliver – promising team member and enjoyed playing with team until unfortunately injury took him out. We wish him a quick recovery and look forward to next season.

The team manager, Nicole, who like other parents shipped boys around to games and endured the ear bashings from the boys choice of music whilst travelling across the countryside would like to thank all the other parents for their help and support throughout the season and have enjoyed the new friendships made.

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Boys

U18B3

Early signs were good for the 18/3 boys. A blend of top and bottom age boys, the team were short of a coach when Sabres import John Pichon came on board. It was a baptism of fire for John when he met the team for the first time at the Dandenong Eltham tournament. The boys had an amazing tournament and came away winners of the C grade Division against Frankston 3.

Grading was fairly gruelling for the

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team with some moments of brilliance interspersed with some narrow losses. The boys were happy to finish with a place in Met 4. It was a season for road trips with long drives to Traralgon, Coburg, Sunbury, Keilor and Ringwood . The boys had some good wins, a draw and some very close losses.

Coach John Pichon and the 18/3 boys - Joe Callaghan, Michael Turner, Ryan Evans, Tom Chadwick, Pat Anderson, Dave Faulkner Anthony McKimm, Oscar Richards and Jodeci Eti-Acosta.

Martin and Tracy Richards Team Managers

Thanks to the parents for their efforts in transporting the boys and fulfilling their scoring responsibilities. Thanks also to

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Boys U18B4

“Well Bob, it is another exciting Friday night basketball and the Sabres Under 18-4s are almost finished their pre-game warm-up as they prepare for the final home and away game of the season - and what a season it was Bob.” “It certainly was Bill. Despite struggling during the initial grading games as they molded into a team, they had a morale boosting achievement, winning the Eltham / Dandenong Australia Day Tournament.”

“That’s right Bob, not many people realize that this team comprised 6 first time representative players, 2 seasoned players and 1 veteran – all of whom are bottom age.”

“Extraordinary Bill, and don’t forget a Rookie coach Matt Turner.”

“I hadn’t Bob, but there was also the versatility of the team manager David Sheridan who has proved an additional asset.”

“That’s true Bob. This team was coached

by John Pichon and comprised of 5 players from this team and 5 from the Under 18-3s, a fantastic achievement.”

“Indubitably Bill, he even stepped up to coach and fire up the boys for a great win against a team that inflicted a first round loss.

“You said it Bill. It is amazing how far this team has come since the beginning of the year.”

“A great turnaround Bob. And what a season it was.”

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“I know Bob, it was full of highlights and suspense, like that half court 3 point buzzer beater to win the game by a point.”

“Absolutely Bill and the come from behind wins. The boys did themselves proud throughout the season, despite losing most of their third quarters.

“Yes Bob interesting stat there, nevertheless with only one game to go they are 12 wins, 1 draw and only four losses for the season.”

“True courage under fire, Bob, and with a top 2 finish and a final berth assured, the team has a great chance to take out the Championship for 2013.”

“Can’t wait to see THAT, Bill.”

Gary Moller

“You already said that Bill.”

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Girls

U20G1

The Sabres Under 20 women’s team have so far had an enormously successful season under the direction of Coach Micaela Cocks and Assistant Coach Arran Batish.

After breezing through the grading phase, the girls are sitting in second spot on the Victorian Championship ladder with a record of 13 wins and 3 losses at the time of publication. A highlight of the VC Season so far was the annihilation of

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Coburg, a game where the girls scored 103 points to the Giants 30.

the girls are determined to overcome in the upcoming finals race.

With many of the girls involved in the Youth League as well, another highlight for the team was the girls come from behind victory over Dandenong in the Grand Final to win the Big V Youth Championship Women’s title for the Sabres Club.

Finally, congratulations and the best of luck to Elyse Kiploks who is off to play college ball in the USA. We will miss her during the finals campaign.

Losing Chloe due to a trip to Europe halfway through the season and injury to Emily South before the finals are setbacks

The Team: Monique Lyth, Elyse Kiploks, Cassie Hill, Emily Kay, Isabella Shea, Kate Hore, Chloe Mirams, Shannon McInnes and Emily South.

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Boys

U20B1

Coaching U20’s is great as we only really get going after Christmas, so a long time off! Interesting thing though is seeing how many that try out, turn up fit! Well it was good to see that at least 90% came ready to play. We used the Dandenong/Eltham tournament to cement the team and put in some structure.

With eight out of the eleven in the squad being bottom age, it was always going to be an eye opener as to how everyone would react to the more physical nature of senior basketball. Also, of the 11, ten have played at least one game in the Big V Youth Team. In fact the U20’s and the

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Youth Team trained as one squad. This allowed us to move players up and down without any difficulty, as we ran the same plays and focused on the same structure.

We had some challenges along the way, especially when we had to manage three games over the weekend, Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

To their credit all the boys performed extremely well and rose to the challenge.

There were times when the Youth League was running with five bottom age U20’s on court at the same time - credit to all of them! We also had some U18’s training with this squad - a great way to develop

everyone and give them a taste of senior basketball.

As I write this we are one game away from being in the playoffs and I know if things go well, we could be in with a shout, as long as we do the simple things that have at times been a challenge - playing “D”, boxing out, and playing smart! I’m pleased to have been involved with a great bunch of guys who have managed their time really well, between Year12, University and work!

Patch

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Boys

U20B2 The team made it through the grading phase looking quite strong with one of their own stepping up to coach the team.

CHALLENGE

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SPORT ATHLETIC JUMP PLAYERS

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IN DRIBBLE ZONE

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Reaching Metro 3 was a good result for the team to achieve and set up a season with potential .

The need to rotate players due to availability and a couple of players pulling out early in the season due to injuries saw the two wins early in the season difficult to achieve again. On occasions the defence was effective but consistency quarter to quarter made coming away with a win elusive for the remainder of the year.

Richard Hollands

LOVE

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DRILL FITNESS BREAKDRILL CENTRE IN

YOUTH

SABRESSEASONRUN BOUNCE

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Thanks so much to Uros Veljovic for taking on this role as player / coach to enable the team to get on the court and to Dejan Veljovic who willingly ran the team on Friday nights.

Losing yet another regular player to an overseas study commitment and a change in coach to finish off the season made for an interesting year.

There was 16 different players fielded throughout the season and the team appreciated the support from those that contributed to providing them the opportunity to be involved in another season of representative basketball. Thanks to Andre Solomons who did great coaching work as he motivated the boys through the last part of the competition. Andre kept the team competitive as the ranks dwindled and the strengths of each player needed to come to the fore to make this happen. It was also great to see the boys enjoying being on court and enjoying their basketball.

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