Our Club, our Story

Henley Hawks as it is known today is the result of a merger between two clubs, Henley Hawks and Campbelltown Cheetahs Volleyball Club. Through this merger Henley Hawks hold the title of Adelaide’s second oldest continuously operating club. We also hold the title of Adelaide’s premier community volleyball club. Here is a story about our humble beginnings.

Previous years

Henley Hawks (1976 – 1998): The Glory Years

Henley Hawks started life in 1976 as Henley Old Scholars; a group of Henley High School graduates mad on playing the game but with no place to train. Times were pretty hard back then when you were a group of enthusiastic young men with a desire to play; men with surnames like Reynolds and ven Hoek. Training was initially held at the Seaton High School gymnasium until the Old Scholars pooled their resources and built a new gym at the Henley High School in 1978. Things progressed well for a number of years and before you knew it the club was 10 years old. In celebration of this milestone the club decided to change it’s name and become Henley Hawks Volleyball Club. Strangely enough there was also the Henley Hawks Football Club (now Henley Sharks) and the Henley Hawks Tennis Club. The details between 1986 and 1998 are still being compiled and some of the earlier details are in archive. In time they will appear here.

Campbelltown Cheetahs (1969 – 1998):

Campbelltown Cheetahs was established by Sue Dansie. However, Campbelltown Cheetahs struggled to form a management committee and merger with Henley Old scholars Volleyball Club to form Henley Hawks in 1998. We still hold this history proud as Cheetahs was a great club.

Henley Hawks (1998 – 2009):

The strength of the inaugural committee including Rick Daniels, Trish Virag, Tracy Gibbs, Paul Finn and others resulted in a strong women’s and men’s program and the evolution of a club junior programme. Most of these people stayed involved in the committee until 2005 and 2006. 2006 also saw the retirement of a number of the women’s League team members and the election of several new committee members beginning a new focus for the club.

Henley Hawks (2009-2011):

Again enthusiasm to form a management committee waned with the retirement of the majority of the previous committee. The club was unable to maintain the a male league coach and team due to the reduction in interest and suitably qualified playing members. .A new management committee was unable to be formed at the 2009 Annual General Meeting and was subsequently formed at the
exceptional AGM. An association was formed with Adelaide University Volleyball Club which saw an injection of players. Ex-players from the Northern Suburbs also return to the club., 2010 also saw the retirement of Paul Finn from the Junior Co-ordinator role after a number of years of dedicated service.

Henley Hawks (2011-2015):

In 2011 the men’s league team was re-established under the coaching of Brad Tutton. 2011 also saw the introduction of a new logo and playing uniform for the State League teams. Under the Presidency of Matt Lane, the League Men’s team achieved a premiership in 2013 and an association was formed between the Hawks and the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association. However, success on the men’s side was accompanied by issues in the women’s side, with the club failing to field a league team between 2013 and 2015. 2014 saw the entry of the Adelaide University Volleyball Club into State League as the Blacks, and as a result many of the players associated with the Hawks through the link with the Blacks were lost to a new rival in the competition as well as a number of retirements from the League men’s side. Following Matt Lane’s retirement in 2014, Hamish Moore was elected president and guided the club through a difficult year in 2015. An extraordinary meeting was called at the conclusion of the 2015 season to examine the feasibility of the club. As a result of this meeting a largely new committee was formed and Michael Collins was elected president for 2016.

Henley Hawks (2016 – 2020)

2016 saw the return of Henley to the Women’s League competition, coached by Russell Moore and Linda Harvey. Player numbers were supported by the inclusion of players from the Tea Tree Gully Volleyball Association, with Matt Lane sponsoring and coaching the divisional women’s team, however numbers were still an issue for the club in 2016. The election of a new committee in 2017 saw Michael Collins continuing his role as president, and encouragingly a continued presence from younger committee members eager to improve the club. The committee was further developed in 2018, with a further increased presence from the 2015 / 2016 intake of players. Numbers also improved in 2018, with the club able to comfortably field three teams in each senior division for the first time since prior to 2013, increasing to four teams in 2019, which was highlighted by two junior league gold medals. Numbers were maintained in 2020 despite the global Covid-19 pandemic, and numbers of juniors experienced significant growth with the club fielding 10 summer league teams at the conclusion of 2020.

Henley Hawks (2021 - Present)

2021 saw an increase in the numbers for both senior and junior volleyball along with a large change in the Committee. Callan Bray took over the role of President after Michael, along with new and old faces in the committee. From here 2021 continued to present issues with the COVID pandemic continuing. Despite this, we fielded teams in all state league spots, including two men’s teams in division 2. The only exception to this was that we were unable to field a division 2 women’s team.

2021 also saw the first gold medal for the club in 8 years, with the division 1 Women’s team taking out the State League Division 1 championship, coached by Kealyn Madden.

Callan continued on as President in 2022, and the committee remained largely unchanged with only a few additions. Again, 2022 saw an increase in numbers across the board with added inclusions of a boys and girls SAVL junior team, along with additions of a Division 3 Men’s team and Division 2 Women’s team.

2022 saw one of the most successful years for the Hawks on court, with 8 Senior teams and 2 junior teams making finals – Notably the U15 Division 2 Girls Coached by Igor Lukic, Division 1 Women coached by Kealyn Madden (Back to Back), and League Women Coached by Phil Im all winning Gold in their respective Grand Finals.

2023 was notably another Year Of The Hawk, Henley have grown to 10 Senior Teams adding Division 4/5 Men. League Women coached by Phil Im and Chris Wormald, win Back To Back Premierships.

However in the beginning of a new era, our beloved President Callan Bray steps down and hands over the torch to the next generation. With a whole new committee full of fresh eager faces, Henley Hawks strive to continue to reach new heights full of family values, good vibes and even better volleyball.