Tea Tree Gully Volleyball History

Started in 1978

The driving force behind the association was David O'Brien and Karl Richter, who at the time had been part of the team that formed the then North-East Hills Sporting Association, which had been formed to be a mixed association of sports, grouped together so as to have a more influential input and negotiating, strength when dealing with councils and government bodies.

They also played volleyball at St. Bernards, and were members of the St. Bernards Volleyball Association Committee. The formation of the Association became a reality when the Tea Tree Gully council announced they would be building two stadiums in 1978 for user groups in the North-Eastern Suburbs; One on the Lower North-East Road, Highbury was to be called “Turramurra”, the other to be built on Kelly Road, Modbury was to be called “Burragah”.

Together Dave and Karl approached Harry Knowles of the Tea Tree Gully Council to discuss using these new stadiums with the express object of expanding the game of volleyball in the North-East area. There was an alternative stadium called “Karadinga” but this was of limited use having only one court. During these discussions, it transpired that the council was going to organise and run “Turramurra” and that “Burragah” was to be primarily let out to self-organised clubs and associations.

Creation of TTGVA

Whilst perusing the floor plans, although there was three courts at “Turramurra”, there was only one central court at “Burragah”; so David suggested that the council include two extra courts running crosswise in conjunction with the central court, which was incorporated in the final construction fit-out.

An inaugural meeting was held on the 13th February 1978 to establish the association, those who attended were Karl and David, Mark and Gail Norman, Teresa Smith, John Ling and Patricia O'Brien, and as a special guest Harry Knowles, from which afounding committee was elected, comprising of :

President - Karl Richter
Secretary - Dave O'Brien
Treasurer - Mark Norman
Committee - Teresa Smith, John Ling, Gail Norman, Patricia O'Brien

At this first meeting of the committee, the name "Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association" was agreed to, although there was some pressure from the council and the North-East Hills Sporting Association, for it to be called the North-East Hills Volleyball Association.

First Games

The new association of TTGVA started advertising for interested volleyball players by way of posters and notices at various shopping centres and sporting stadiums.

The association was officially opened on 31st of March 1978 with an Exhibition Volleyball Game to invite new players.

Life Members

In March 1989, it was decided to honour those people who had given so much to the Association in time and effort, and so the a Life Membership was bestowed, in appreciation to those who did so much to get the organisation up and running, initially the first members were :

Karl Richter
David O'Brien
Mark Norman
Gail Norman
Duncan Ollier

and later others were added for their respective contributions in making the association one of the best in the South Australia!

Katarhyn O'Brien
Shirley Duke
Philip Hooper
Darren Cameron
Teresa Smith
Heather Steele

Graeme Doyle
Chris Sieben
John Wherry
Andrew Sinnott
Ray Austin
Steve Druce

Tony Binyon
Jacqui Norman
Adrian Gibbs
Chad Wherry
Shayne Hourigan
 

We continued to grow stronger over the years that followed and now run our social competitions at the Golden Grove Recreation and Arts Centre within Tea Tree Gully, South Australia.

Special thanks to Phil Hooper for researching the information on this page.

In Memorandum

In April 2011, with great sadness, TTGVA acknowledges the passing of one of its founding members and a past President of the Association, Karl Richter.  Karl was both the founding president and served in that role within the Association for nearly 20 years.

Karl Karl

Karl's contribution to the Association and its members has always been truly honest, forthcoming and giving in-nature and will be sadly missed. Our condolences go to Pat, Alan, Susan and their families for your loss of this very special man.  He will always be remembered as one of the founding fathers of Volleyball within the Northern East Suburbs. May his memory and passion live on in the joy of those who continue to participate in the Association that he helped to establish and develop.

RIP Karl.