SIT to Sponsor Unique Volleyball Tournament

SIT to Sponsor Unique Volleyball Tournament

Southland's state of the art SIT Zero Fees Cycling Velodrome will change tack at the end of November when it hosts the New Zealand Beach Volleyball Champions and other competitors in the 'Southland Grand Slam' Beach Volleyball Tournament.

Complete with heating turned up and enough sand for four courts, the Velodrome will be converted to a beach for several days for the visit of the NZ number one beach pairings of Tauranga-based men's champion pair Sam O'Dea and Mike Watson, while Hamilton's Julia Tilley and Shaunna Polley will be packing their uniform bikinis for the trip south.

Both pairs are on their way up in the world of beach volleyball, with the Watson/O'Dea combination scoring a podium finish in the Indonesian leg of the Asian Beach Volleyball circuit last year, and Polley and Tilley breaking through for their first international podium position in the Vietnam event last season.

As well as competing for the prize money on offer in Southland's first-ever Grand Slam event on the 28th and 29th November, the four will join other athletes and coaches in conducting a volleyball camp for aspiring locals players at the Velodrome on 30th November.

“Local businessman Lanzi Arnott from W A Arnott Drainage specialists has really made this all possible. Without Lanzi’s huge generosity in supplying all the trucks and workers, as well as organising to borrow the sand and piping; bringing it in, setting up and taking it all away again, we would never have been able to pull this off without a huge price tag attached,”

said Regional Volleyball Development Manager Donna Milne.

The beach volleyball event is part of a week-long SIT Volleyball Festival, starting on 24th November, and including the South Island Junior School Indoor volleyball championships, and the 'What's on Invers Big Dig', where the public is invited to dig in the sand courts for hidden prize tokens.

SIT Volleyball Festival 24-30th November

24-27th Nov- South Island indoor junior championship @ ILT Stadium Southland

28-29th November- All beach championships inside SIT Velodrome

29th Nov 5pm till late- $2 entry to watch and be apart of the Grand slam with ZM DJ, cocktail bar, top beach volleyball, then After party at Barluca

30th November – 9am $2 entry to What’s on Invers Big dig

30th November - 10am-3pm NZ athletes run a volleyball camp

ends

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