PAOCBC Annual Report 2003
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PAOCBC Annual Report 2003 |
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AS APPEARING IN THE OLD BOYS SECTION IN THE 2002 CHRONICLE: Club Report for
Season 2003 The A team, having won the Eastern 1 division at MARS the year before, asked to be put into A Grade, the highest grade in the Church Basketball competition. The team knew that it would be a tough year given the quality of the teams in A Grade, and hoped to hold their own and maybe finish somewhere around the middle of the field. The team put in some solid performances, losing some particularly close games early in season; and even in a couple of losses to the top sides, went with the opposition for most of the game. The team finished fifth out of the ten teams in the Grade, qualifying for the second round of finals. Unfortunately the A's had disappointing games in both of their finals, and missed out on the Grand Final. The players have learned from their first year back in A Grade after several years in the Eastern Division and look forward to the challenges of cementing their position in the finals in the premier division in 2004. At the annual luncheon, Grant Nalder was named the Most Valuable Player for the A's, recognising his workmanlike performance week in week out, always dependable at both ends of the floor, and in particular he finished the season in excellent form. Simon Miller was awarded Best Team Man for his solid efforts as a role player, whether starting or off the bench. Sean Heylen was named Most Outstanding in his return to the A's, highlighting his commitment on the court, whether in hard defence or in taking it to the opposition in offence. The team was once again led admirably by Andrew Williams, who worked tirelessly throughout the year on and off the court in guiding the A's. With another solid year in E2 last year, the Saturday "B's" were moved up into Eastern 1 Grade, a division which would include some teams that they knew, together with some of the teams that the A's played in 2002. The B's added some quality players to their lineup and battled valiantly against some tough opposition, but unfortunately missed some key players at points during the year, making their run to the finals difficult. The B's finished in exactly the same position as the A's, and likewise suffered the same fate, missing out on the Grand Final. Nathan Graham was named the Most Valuable Player for his outstanding debut season for the B's, with Phil Motteram awarded Best Team Man in his return to the Club and Adam Wheatley recognized as Most Outstanding for another solid season. The Saturday C's had a disappointing season in comparison to the glory of their premiership the previous year. As with other teams in the Club, they were moved up a grade and battled tirelessly, playing very well against some quality opposition. The C's were unlucky to miss out on the finals by just one game, their experience in last year's campaign may have given them the edge to go further if they could have made it through. The players will be keen to make amends next year and push for another flag. At the annual Club luncheon, an award was presented to Mark Powell for Most Valuable Player, Andrew Todd was judged Best Team Man and Ben Foran was named Most Outstanding. After the successful return of the D's the year before, the team looked to continue building on the foundations of 2002. With a mix of youth and experience, and a blend of inside and outside scoring abilities, the crew was well rounded in every sense. The team started the season very well; however with a limited roster the team looked to Rookie of the Year Matt Williams to bolster their lineup. The league was very even, with most games coming down to the wire, and generally only a few points separated victory and loss. Of particular note was the D's great win over Saint Peters by 6 points and an amazing win over Aldgate - down by 12 at half time, Matt Trim's 23 points and Ben Palk's second half of 12 points saw the D's claw their way to win by 5 in a titanic battle. Unfortunately the playoffs were not to be. The team finished with a better than 50% record with 10 wins and 9 losses but it showed the evenness of the league and finished 5th by percentage only. Matt Trim was sublime this year, averaging over 14 points per game with a season high of 31 points. Guy Collins had a stellar year and was named Most Valuable Player, regularly playing all 5 positions on the court. James McGuffog, the only guy to play every game, was named Best Team Man. The Monday team at Wayville had another decent year, finishing in third position. The Club was blessed with a talented line-up and proved they could beat any of the other teams on their day, however the depth of their team meant that there was a varied roster from week to week. The team was served admirably by Mark Henderson, named Most Valuable Player, together with one of the Club's big improvers in recent seasons, Andrew Sullivan, who took out the Best Team Man award. Jon Read proved his value in any lineup and was named the Most Outstanding player for the year. The 2002 Chronicle report noted that "With their usual brand of team basketball and flair, the Wednesday team will put the disappointment of 2002 behind them and look to the 2003 season as one filled with expectation - only a championship will do". The "Crazy Wednesday" team did as promised and embarked upon a 2003 season intent on a championship; the team largely unchanged from 2002. Despite the potent on-paper line up, 2003 would prove to be arguably the most difficult year ever, both on and off the court - having to deal with a key player falling to injury not once but twice, and another leaving the team half way through the year. This was coupled with external influences and illness dictating availability from week to week and the team playing poorly at some points in the season, the poor play almost leading to losses in games that should have been big victories. However, overcoming these distractions, Wednesdays finished 2nd with a 14 win and 4 loss record. Having failed to beat the top team during the regular season, the Wednesday team looked forward to squaring off in the Grand Final. After a big win in the Semi Final, the boys found that they would not in fact be playing the top team but the team that knocked them out of the Semi Finals in 2002. Hitting their best form at the right end of the year, Wednesdays were well placed as the other teams in the league appeared to fall away in form. With 40 minutes of great basketball The Crazies won the championship for which they had fought so hard, 51 - 30. It was the team's third premiership, and showed the team could triumph over significant adversity. Andrew Williams took the player voted award The Lowbrown 113 votes to Matt Trim's 43 votes, with Ben Palk's 38 votes giving him 3rd. At the Club luncheon, trophies were awarded to Ben Palk for MVP, Hamish Saunders was named Best Team Man and David Cahill was given the "Matt Trim Award". The Thursday night team was up and down throughout the year, a season which held some great victories was also punctuated by some disappointing losses. The team worked hard to reach the finals but was undermanned on the night, going down to a much better team in the final. Patrick Khoo and Tim Wong were named as the Most Valuable Players for the team for the year, with stalwart Mark Waters named the Best Team Man for the year. Matt Trim was named the Club Champion for PAOCBC for 2003 and received the perpetual trophy for his efforts. The award recognises Matt's outstanding year for the Club, in which he broke the Club record with a staggering 89 3pointers!! It was the first time that a player outside the A's had won the award, Matt having played in the A's in previous years before moving to the D's to provide scoring and leadership to their lineup. The award also acknowledges Matt's contribution to the social side of the Club. At this year's luncheon Sean Heylen presented awards to both Andrew Williams and Simon Miller for their service to the Club over 10 years and giving each of them Life Membership. Andrew is the Captain of the A's, most recently winning a premiership last year and Intercol this year, and is a 3 time Club Champion. In addition, he is also the Club Secretary and is part of the running of the Club on a day-to-day basis. Simon has been Club President for the last 5 years, having also been Secretary; was Captain of the B's for a number of years and is currently a member of the A's squad and part of the 2002 Premiership team and 2003 Intercol team. Both deserve the status of Life Member in being an integral part of the development and success of the Club. I would to take the opportunity to thank the team captains, scorers and other contributors to the Club, without whose efforts my own job would be near impossible. The Club's website www.paocbc.com continues to provide information such as contact details for Club members, game times, results and statistics as well as links to various sites of interest to Club members (including our sponsors). This year the site has added a number of photos and reports from Intercols, grand finals and the annual luncheon. The Club is pleased to announce that in conjunction with the School and the Old Collegians' Association, glass blackboards have been erected in the school gym in the off season. The addition is largely the work of Sean Heylen and they will be enjoyed by the Club in the 2004 season and beyond. We thank Sean for his efforts. The Club trains on Tuesday evenings between March and September from approximately 6.30pm to 8.00pm at the School gym. There are teams playing on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday in the winter season and currently on Monday and Thursday (at MARS) over the summer season. Any Old Scholars interested in playing for the Club can attend training or contact any one of the following for more details: Club President Simon
Miller on 0412 853 633, 8211 7800 (work) or smiller@ppbsa.com.au CLUB REPORT FOR OLD SCHOLARS INTERCOL 2003 Every year the Old Scholars Basketball Intercol provides three tight games full of intensity and drama and this year's event was no exception. It was without a doubt the closest event in the history of the 3 game contest, with just 8 points the combined margin over the 3 games. This year the games were held on our home court, all teams keen to bring home the trophies for the Reds after the disappointment of 2002. The C team played first, looking to win back the Trim Trophy. Saints got away to a small lead, but the Reds turned things around in the second half with some quality basketball, edging their way to eventually take back the lead. The margin see-sawed over the dying minutes, and when the Reds tied the game inside the last 20 seconds, it was hoped they could carry it through to overtime. Unfortunately Saints ruined the chance of overtime by stealing the game with a buzzer beater and winning 39-37. With the atmosphere electric after such a tense C's game, the B's hit the court eager to make amends for their fellow Reds. The first half was very close, with Princes down by a handful at the break. An unfortunate incident saw our key centre not take any further part in the game, but the boys fought hard to make up the deficit. In what seemed too close to the finish of the C's game to be believed, the B's leveled the score only to see another prayer from Saints snatch the game and the cup from the team in a 37-34 final margin. Having beaten Saints convincingly in their encounters in A Grade on Saturday, the A team went into the game feeling good about its chances of winning back the jewel in the Intercol basketball crown. The game started off to be a tight contest, but Princes pushed on and built a very handy lead at the half. With Saints attempting to draw everything they could from the two previous victories, the margin was whittled away in the second stanza to take the game right down to the wire. In another tense finish, the Reds held on to their lead and ran out winners 47-44. While a little closer than we would have preferred, the players and Club savoured the victory, the first A's Intercol victory for a number of years. As is the tradition, both Clubs headed to the PAOCBC watering hole, The General Havelock, for a few post-match drinks and some friendly banter with the old foe. The A's were of course enjoying drinking from the coveted trophy, the disappointment obvious to those on the other side of the bar.
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