Another gold medal for the South County 16U team. The Bandits beat the Halton Hurricanes 2-0 in the gold medal game at Sunday's Premier OVA event at Conestoga. With 200 teams competing in the division, South County is at the top of the heap.
The club is having a successful season. Their 16-2 team won bronze this past weekend.
Last weekend the 13U teal team won back to back gold medals beating London's Forest City Hickory in a 14U division tournament after dispatching Hamilton's Mountain Volleyball Club the week before.
Their 18-2 team won gold at the Trillium tournament in Kitchener last weekend defeating Forest City Mehuselah from London 21-25, 27-25, 15-11.
"Those are honestly just a few things from what has gone on this year with the club." said Jeff Miller, South County Vice President.
The Bandits' 18-1s team is in the Grand Prix qualifier next month featuring the twelve best teams in the province where they hope to qualify for the eight team Grand Prix in March.
Their 17-1s have finished top 4 in the "Premier" division in both of their events this season. They are hosting the 17U Grand Prix at St. Clair College starting March 2nd.
The 16-1s won the "Premier" gold medal in the year opening event in Ottawa and are currently ranked #2 in the OVA.
The 15-1s have also won a few events and are also considered one of the top teams in the province with hopes of winning a provincial championship this season.
Their 14-1s finished with a Silver medal this past weekend in the Select tournament losing to the Halton Hurricanes.
The 13-2, 13-3, 14-2, 15-2, 16-2 teams have all had good seasons as well and are winning tournaments and or medalling rather consistently.
Other teams doing well are the 13-1, 14-1, 15-1, 16-1 and 17-1's who are all ranked in the top eight in the OVA. The 18-1 team is currently ranked in the top 12. Their 18-2, 16-2, 15-2, 14-2, 13-2, 13-3 have all increased their rankings from the previous seasons.
The clubs' development is showing halfway through the season. "We started our High Performance program last year," Miller points out.
"We are extremely happy where we are and things have even happened quicker that we expected but we know we have to continue to find ways to get better year after year."
Miller says training demands have increased this season and the coaching staffs and players throughout the organization deserve a lot of credit for the success being achieved.
"We will need to continue to recruit, train and retain our quality staff but also understand how proud we will be when they move on to bigger things as well such as Julie Ann Milling becoming the Head Coach of St. Clair College." Miller said.
The Bandits are almost halfway through their OVA schedule and are about to open the U.S. portion of their schedules. Teams will be playing on both sides of the border as they prepare to turn up the heat for April's OVA championships in Waterloo and Ottawa. All 14 travel teams are signed up to compete in the President's Day Cup at the Huntington Center in Detroit featuring 700 teams on 80 Courts.
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