VOLLEYBALL Horsham will not host its annual tournament for the first time in almost a quarter of a century after it was cancelled late on Sunday evening.
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The 24th annual tournament was due to be hosted at the Horsham Basketball Stadium and St Brigid’s College stadium on October 14 and 15.
Volleyball Horsham president David Berry said it was extremely disappointing to cancel the tournament.
“While we’re disappointed as a committee we are more disappointed for the players who miss out on a rare opportunity to perform in front of family and friends,” he said.
“They have to do a lot of travelling for different tournaments, for leagues, and for training.
“The Horsham tournament gave them that chance to showcase their skills in front of more familiar faces.”
It also means school teams that are set to travel to the national schools cup will miss out on a valuable fundraising opportunity.
“In the past the school teams have run the canteens throughout the weekend which has always provided them with a good amount of funding,” Berry said.
“That’s the second thing that is most disappointing from our perspective.”
Traditionally the Horsham tournament had taken place in November but enough courts were not going to be available this year.
The 2017 tournament was originally scheduled to take place on October 7 and 8 but a clash with the Australian Junior Motocross Championships made the dates not viable.
After discussions with Volleyball Victoria the tournament was shifted to a week later but a clash with the Mornington Vic Open impacted numbers.
“Mornington had traditionally been a junior tournament so there was no issue with us playing the same weekend,” Berry said.
“But Mornington received enquiries about open divisions and that meant we ended up clashing with that tournament as well.”
The Volleyball Horsham committee will meet on Thursday.
“We were already scheduled to come together on Thursday but we will obviously talk about the tournament and potential options moving forward,” Berry said.
“There is some talk about moving it back to our original dates but we aren’t sure if that is possible.”