our history
AVV (Athelstone Valley View) Calisthenics Club was formed in 2000, following the amalgamation of the Valley View Calisthenics Club and the Athelstone Calisthenics Club.
1970-2000
Valley View Calisthenics Club
Valley View Girls Calisthenics Club was founded in 1970 by Raelene Russell, who was at the time struggling to find a suitable activity for her pre-schooler, in the Valley View area. Figuring other mother’s may have been experiencing a similar issue and having done calisthenics herself, she thought she would offer lessons. After making up flyers and distributing them via letter box drops, she was pleasantly surprised at the first attendance which was held in the Valley View Hall, Eyre Crescent.
Lessons commenced and the club took their colours of maroon & gold from the local school, Ingle Farm East. Raelene made it very clear to the parents, come committee, that she would just start and see how they went. In their first competition, the club fielded Sub-Junior & Junior Teams. The Sub-Juniors performed ‘The Purple People Eater’ for their Song & Dance and the Junior’s spectacular display was ‘Mermaid’s Playground’.
Raelene ran the club for several years by herself before passing it over to become a committee run club. She was the sole club coach until 1975.
1981 saw Bev Bahr appointed the club coach and that same year the club won the F Grade aggregate after winning all age sections at the Calisthenics Association of South Australia (CASA) Competitions. The club colours at this time were dark green, light green, red & white. Bev had enormous success and over the next 6 years, the club climbed the CASA gradings, year after year winning the overall club aggregate, and was due to progress to the hailed A Grade Section in 1987.
However, as Bev was retiring at the completion of the 1986 year, with the agreement of CASA, the club remained in B Grade, allowing time to appoint a new club coach.
Our current AVV coach, Miss Amy Sandery (nee Vettese) started at Valley View in 1992 in the Babies team. By 1994 the Club had once again won the B Grade aggregate and was promoted to A Grade for the 1995 competitions! Valley View’s colours were navy, jade green & gold.
Coaches throughout the successful 90’s era included Emma & Anne Sutherland, Tracey Emes, Heather Zandegu, Karen Brothers, Shannon Mossop & Kylie Duncan. Lisa Vettese joined the teachers at Valley View in 1997, taking over the Intermediates and then the Juniors in 1998 & 1999.
At the end of 1999 the Valley View CC committee approached Adele Donaldson, Athelstone Calisthenics Club head coach, about a possible merger of the two clubs. Valley View had large Sub-Junior & Junior numbers but lacked Intermediates & Seniors and Athelstone had fewer Sub-Junior & Junior girls but more Inters & Seniors. In 2000, the two clubs merged.
Athelstone Calisthenics Club
Athelstone Calisthenics Club was formed in 1976 by Lyn Brown (Lyn Hallet). Classes were held at the Athlestone Primary School and Lyn was the owner and sole coach until 1987, when Sue Whelan took over. The club colours were pink and navy.
From the late 1980’s the club moved up divisions from D Grade through to A Grade in 1993. Lisa Vettese taught the Athelstone Seniors in 1994 and 1995 with much success, gaining 1st and 2nd place in the overall aggregates respectively.
Prior to the club amalgamation, Athelstone Calisthenics Club, was relegated to B Grade.
AVV Calisthenics Club
2000-2021
The club was renamed Athelstone Valley View (later shortened to AVV) for the commencement of the year 2000 and as hoped for, the club had strong numbers throughout all sections. Run by Adele Donaldson, the club colours were pink, teal and navy blue. Kim Myles (nee Harbutt) took over from Adele in 2003.
Amy Vettese returned to AVV in 2009 to coach the Juniors, winning the Division 1 Aggregate in 2010, resulting in the club reaching the pinnacle Champ Division for the following year. Joining Amy was Miss Lisa, offering her support, guidance and expertise to the club – as she still does today!
In 2012, the Club was taken over by Karen Costanzo who changed the name to AVV Millennium Calisthenics & Dance Academy and introduced orange and black as the new colours. The club practiced at the Millennium Hall at Enfield, and Karen introduced dance to the curriculum, so adding Millennium to the name was fitting – this was the new way forward for the club, for the new millennium!
In 2015 the club moved to a large studio situated in Broadview. That same year also saw the first AVV Masters Team enter the CASA Competitions under the guidance of Lisa Vettese and in 2016 the team travelled to Gold Coast to compete in the bi-annual Pan Pacific Masters Games, coming home with 2 gold, a silver and a bronze medal!
In 2016 the Juniors won the Division 1 Aggregate again and back up to Champ they went. In 2017, they received six 2nd places.
The club was now a Championship & Division 1 calisthenics club with competitors from Tinies to Masters.
The club became a second family to many and experienced significant growth both in the number of pupils and its curriculum. Karen’s daughters Tiana and Samara were actively involved and coached the Tinies Calisthenics as well as Lyrical, Hip-Hop and Jazz. As the club expanded, we were fortunate to recruit other dedicated, highly experienced and passionate coaches.
AVV: the next generation
(2021-present)
At the beginning of 2021, after a decade of dedication, commitment, selflessness and love for AVV Millennium Calisthenics and Dance, Karen handed the reigns over to Merron Lee (nee Holst).
Merron brings a wealth of experience to the club, having participated in the sport since she was 3 years old at Championship level. Merron has been a coach at AVV since 2017 and has been by Karen’s side as she has built up the club. Merron’s commitment and passion for calisthenics is second to none and she looks forward to progressing the club by continuing to nurture, inspire and empower AVV members to be the best dancers & individuals they can be.
From 2021, the club’s colours are pink, orange, black & gold which incorporates many of the previous colours and ties them all together to pay homage to the club’s rich and proud history.
