Love in LaLa Land Tournament 2006

Posted on 17 Feb 2006 by WebMaster

It all started at the Australian Festival netball tournament in Nashville, September of 2005 when the brilliant idea was voiced – “Let’s invite teams from all over the country to Santa Monica to play – and let’s do it around Valentine’s Day, we’ll call it the “Love in Lalaland Tournament””. Who would have known that Jo O’Key would take that idea and fly with it? Well in retrospect we all should have known. What an astounding success. Six teams traveling to LA from as far away as New York and Virgina, and 4 – yes you read right, 4 Waves teams – a record! This was the biggest netball tournament the west coast has ever seen and it promises to be even bigger and better next year!

The participating teams were as follows:

The Navigators – New York (Mens)
Manhattan International Netball Club – New York (Womens)
NOVA Reds- Virgina (Womens)
The Kangaroos – Nashville (Mixed)
The Southern Stars – San Francisco Bay Area (Mixed)
The Bee Attitudes – Las Vegas (Womens)
Riptide – Santa Monica (Womens)
Tidal – Santa Monica (Womens)
The Breakers – Santa Monica (Womens)
The Longboards – Santa Monica (Mixed)

Teams started to arrive around 8am, to witness the handy-work of a well organized crew who had been setting up since 6am that morning. Everything looked fantastic – food and drinks stands, a sausage sizzle, a chiropractor, and a pink court (did Jodie buy the paint?). As the day progressed lots of people joined the sidelines and a beautiful sunny Southern California day emerged - much to the delight of those who came from the east coast missing one of the worst blizzards in history.

The day was filled with fantastic netball, great umpiring, and universal enthusiasm for the game. Highlights of the day included the acrobatic stunts of the ever-impressive Navigators (if only we could all jump like them), the Longboards winning against the seasoned and often unbeatable Riptide team, and a complete absence of injuries! Special kudos goes to the Breakers, a hastily put together team of social players who played with such spirit and gusto.

The overall tournament winners were the Navigators, with MINC taking the Women’s division, and the Bee Attitudes coming in second. Mandy Street of NOVA Reds won the best female player, our own Shane Clark won best male player, and Riptide won the most disciplined team! A big thanks to all those who made it such a wonderful day, especially the Waves Committee whose members devoted so much of their time to organizing the tournament and who are all still recovering! We can’t wait for next year, for all the teams who participated this year to return, and for more teams to join in the lalaland fun!