November 10th, 2010 – Langley, BC
In sport we use terms like: battle, war, victory, struggle and others. We use these terms to describe the effort and outcome of games. On a weekend such as this these terms take on a different meaning. The Remembrance Day weekend is about these same terms but not in a game, rather in reflecting and honoring the battles, wars, victories and struggles of the men and women who fought and died to earn the freedoms we now enjoy. This blog post will out line the upcoming matches between TWU and Regina where young men, 18-22 years old, will compete on a volleyball court as they pursue their careers in their respective universities as students. These same young men sixty some years ago were the backbone of the armed forces. Instead of competing in volleyball for a conference win, they were on the fields, in the bunkers and trenches defending our nations from tyranny. So it is with full respect and remembrance that we head into this weekend. Thankful that we can look forward to the matches and the joy sport brings to these young men. So to all who have had family serve and especially to those who have served themselves…THANK YOU!
To continue the remembrance theme it is good to look back on this TWU vs Regina match up through the years. It all began in the spring of 2000…oh those days when the leaves were so yellow and the rain dropped so swiftly. The Regina Cougars arrived to TWU to play the CIS rookie Spartans who in their first year in the CIS, sorry the CIAU at the time, were looking to find their way in their new league. Armed with a core of 2nd and 3rd year players who were brought to TWU to lead the transition from the college league along with some seasoned CCAA veterans the Spartans looked to defend the friendly confines of the David E. Enarson Gymnasium against their foes from the frozen tundra of southern Saskatchewan. It was to be a historic match as Spartan standout Luke Bainard would set the school record for kills in a match with 32 leading the young Spartans in triumph over the Red Baron and his Cougar teammates.
A few years later another chapter in the Cougar-Spartan story unfolded in Regina in the spring of 2003. When a hobbled Spartan squad made the journey into Cougar territory only to be upset in a heartbreaking 5 setter. While the loss was devastating the full effect was not felt until the end of February when that loss created a tie in the standings between the Spartans and the Calgary Dinos with the latter winning on sets for and against thus taking the 4th seed into the playoffs. That 4th seed was gold at the time due to the “lucky loser” playoff structure. Six teams made the playoffs with 1 vs 6, 2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4. The three winners advanced to the Canada West Final 4 along with the highest seeded losing team so if the first three teams all covered their playoff series then the 4th seed became the “lucky loser.” Due to the tiebreak the Dinos won that honor and the Spartans had to go to Winnipeg to play the 18-2 Manitoba Bisons. Two quick wins for the home team and the Spartans had to watch the Dinos take what they thought was their spot at the National Tournament en route to a respectable 4th place finish and the Spartans unfortunate playoff opponent Manitoba went on to win the National Title. Looking back on that season the Spartans loss to Regina sealed their fate thus moving their first appearance on the National stage to the following year where they were the “lucky loser” and rode that horseshoe to a bronze medal in the program’s first National Tournament appearance.
Fast-forward to today and the Spartans have not lost to the Cougars since that day in 2003. Another hobbled Spartan squad heads to Regina in hopes of avoiding that 2003 fate. The 2010-11 Spartan walking wounded has been well documented in this blog as well as in other Spartan publications. Add to the trio of Marc Howatson, Devyn Plett and Brad Kufske the newly injured Derek Thiessen and wounded Rudy Verhoeff, who is able to play but through some pain, and you have a very thin bench available for this coming weekend. Thinning the Spartan ranks even more, but for much more positive reasons, is the absence of Head Coach Ben Josephson from the bench this weekend. Following the birth of his first child, a son named Cooper, Josephson has elected to stay behind to improve his fathering abilities and aid his wife Jennifer. Taking the helm this weekend is Assistant Coach Ryan Adams and with whom lay the human-interest story of the weekend.
Adams was a freshman at TWU in the fall of 1998, the final year of CCAA competition for TWU before joining the CIAU in 1999. Ryan left TWU before that historic match mentioned earlier to go back to Ontario, his home province, to finish schooling at McMaster University. Upon completion as a Marauder, Adams took an assistant coaching position with…you guessed it, the University of Regina Cougars Men’s Volleyball Team. It was the first stop on a string of coaching experiences that has led Ryan back to Spartan Men’s Volleyball. After Regina Ryan took the Head Coaching position with the Briercrest Clippers Women’s Volleyball team. Then it was back to TWU as an assistant coach of the Spartan women and after three years there he made the move through the office wall and now is in his second year as the Men’s team assistant. To add to the human interest Ryan’s wife Deb is from Regina and many of her family members, including her parents, still reside there. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Ryan as he and his wife make the trip back to Regina where it all began.
There are also a few other unique story lines this weekend that surround some other relationships between Cougars and Spartans. The Regina Head Coach Greg Barthell led the Canadian Junior National Team to a NORCECA silver medal this past summer that qualified the team to compete in next summer’s World Junior Championships. Two current Spartans, Lucas Van Berkel (2nd Middle) and Branden Schmidt (1st, Outside) were fortunate enough to play for Coach Barthell this past summer. Prior to his posting at the U of R, Barthell was the Head Coach at The King’s University College in Edmonton and had recruited a few of the current Spartans, namely Josh Doornenbal who was seriously considering TKUC before finally deciding on TWU.
With all of the story lines weaving together this weekend there still are a couple volleyball matches to play. The on court match up is one that favours the Spartan squad who still have a lot of fire power regardless of their injury situation. The Cougars are a young and building squad with very little CIS experience on the roster. The #4 ranked Spartans are a heavy favourite to sweep the weekend but as last weekend showed anything is possible in the Canada West volleyball conference. TWU was heavily favored to sweep the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack but it took 10 sets to earn a split on the unranked Kamloops team. Elsewhere in the conference #1 ranked Alberta Bears, the Spartans next opponent, needed to come back from down 0-2 against the unranked UBC T-Birds who the Spartans had beaten soundly the week before 3-0, and 3-1. It is becoming clear in a short period of time that the 2010-11 Canada West season will be a tight and competitive one. Who knows what, where and when the pitfalls and upsets may come for any team. This could be a bit of a trap weekend for the Spartans. With their bench boss home in Langley with his son, their first three left side players unavailable to the team and their assistant coach making his CIS coaching debut in his wife’s home town the Spartans have their hands full with a very sound volleyball team in the Cougars. It will take an inspired performance and bench contributions to raise TWU to victory in Regina. Here is to seeing that performance on this Remembrance Day weekend, lest we forget the fate that befell the 2003 Spartan team.
Go Spartans!!!
2012 CIS National Champs
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
UBC Weekend Preview
October 28th, 2010 – Langley, BC
After the mother of all preseason schedules the Canada West regular season is upon us at Spartan Men’s Volleyball. Excitement is in the air, athletes and coaches are sleepless in anticipation…well coaches…coach…for sure. To add to the Christmas Eve feeling is the opponent facing the Spartans on opening weekend. The cross-town rivals UBC T-Birds are the assigned opponents for the second consecutive season.
To put into perspective what this weekend’s match up has to offer we must look back on the past of this rivalry. From the Spartans first year in the CIS the ‘Birds were always an exciting opponent to play against. In the early years UBC boasted a great team stacked with freaky athletes that included left side greats Jeff Orchard and Guy Davis, serving and attacking specialist middle player Mike Dalziel and one of the most gifted jumpers CanWest has ever seen in right side Chad Grimm. As the Spartans great up and the freaky Bird cycle graduated the balance of power switched to Langley. In one stretch the Spartans won 26 of 27 matches. As typical of the rivalry just as one team established dominance the other team closed the gap and eventually took over the lower mainland thrown of vball dominance.
At the tail end of the Championship cycle the T-Birds gathered another great group of athletes that included MEI product Jarrod Krause, current National teamer Steve Gotch and perennial CanWest libero of the year Blair Bann. This ‘Bird core were able to knock off the Spartan squad twice in Vancouver stripping TWU of their #1 national ranking at the time. A few weeks later the Spartans were able to avenge those defeats by defeating the T-Birds in dominant fashion en route to TWU’s first Canada West Championship. Those same teams met again in McMaster in the National Championship bronze medal match with the Spartans dominating that match again winning their 4th consecutive national medal 3-0.
As the Championship cycle for the Spartans graduated and the current Spartan cycle began to take their places on the court it was UBC’s turn to dominate the regular season matches. TWU was able to score a 5 set thrilling upset of the Birds but that was followed up with two heart-breaking losses in Vancouver the following year. On both nights TWU had taken the first set only to lose the next three sets making it a 1-3 loss on both nights. To make things worse the Saturday night match has gone down in infamy in Spartan lore. After dropping sets 2 & 3 the Spartans built a big lead in the 4th set and had all the momentum. Up 23-16 the fate was all but sealed when the unthinkable happened. After a side out to make the score 23-17 the ‘Birds went on a 7 point run to go up 24-23 eventually winning the set and match 28-26. It was the last match of the first semester and it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Spartans all Christmas break long.
For the current Spartans that loss is one of the toughest they have ever taken. But from all things positive outcomes are possible. That loss has created an environment in training that no lead is safe, no outcome is certain, both up or down. That lesson has helped shape the way the current team competes, trains and prepares for each and every match. On the eve of yet another epic weekend’s battle with the UBC Thunderbirds it is important to remember the wars that have gone on before…at the War (Memorial Gymnasium, UBC), at the Enar (David E. Enarson Gymnasium, TWU) or most recently as last season the Langley Events Centre.
Last season the home opener was against UBC and in front of 1200 spectators, the largest crowd in Spartan MVB history the home team was able to win a 5 set thriller in dramatic fashion. The second night saw a reversal of fortunes from that fateful night in Vancouver that Spartan lore refers to as “the run.” TWU lost the first set but recovered to build towards a 4 set win including a 25-14 drubbing in the 4th set.
This season the season opener for both teams is the home opener for UBC. There is sure to be a big crowd on hand to witness another Lower Mainland volleyball battle royale. While UBC is coming off what they would describe as a disappointing 2009-10 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs with a 4-14 record they return most of their key players and add a few additions to bolster their roster. Last season’s underperformance is one that the UBC Birds have trained hard to prepare to overcome in the 2010-11 season. While their hopes are high the Spartans look to try to get back on the winning track at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver. It has been 6 years since the TWU squad has won a match in the UBC gym. The #3 ranked Spartans are the clear favourite in this weekend’s matches but the history of the rivalry has shown that favourites or underdogs have no bearing on the outcomes when these two teams collide.
The Spartans are coming off a lengthy 28 match preseason schedule that saw them compete from Russia to Kelowna to Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The hurricane of travel and matches has prepared the TWU athletes to compete in all kinds of scenarios. Winning easy, losing hard, winning hard and thankfully only one loss hard, the Spartans are very match ready. The preseason schedule has allowed for a lot of match time for all 15 members of the active roster. That depth will allow TWU to absorb most any kind of pitfall that may come their way this weekend. It will most likely take all 12 athletes on the match roster to try to dispatch a feisty UBC team that will battle to the end to defend their home turf.
Look for 4th year and team captain Rudy Verhoeff to make his regular season debut on the left side a memorable one. Rudy has been one of the Spartans best players throughout the preseason schedule. Fellow former middle player Josh Doornenbal has also been impressive during the preseason as he makes the move from the middle to the right side. The ability of these two accomplished middles to play effectively on the wing proves their all around or universal abilities on the volleyball court. These two mainstays on the Spartan starting lineup will be relied upon heavily by the “engine,” setter Ben Ball to keep the Spartan offense clicking. New comers to the starting line up Dan Jansen Van Doorn and Lucas Van Berkel take over in the middle for Rudy and Josh. Both of the giants have seen a lot of preseason match play and their game readiness is as close as it can be for the Conference phase of the season. Adding to the mix are two great internal positional battles for the Spartans. Jarrod Offereins and John Wiebe are the two liberos competing for the starting job all preseason with both putting up great matches throughout the Eastern Canada Tour. That battle will continue to rage on throughout the first semester adding depth and competitiveness to the Spartan squad. The second left side position is another hotly contested spot by Mikiah Schalk (5th) and freshman Nick Del Bianco. In the last two matches of the preseason vs Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax these two both put up their best matches of the young season. The performance of both have put the Spartans in a very enviable position but coach Josephson in a difficult position of having to choose which to give the opener start to. While difficult the position of having too many match ready players is a problem most teams in the country would relish.
With the Spartans seemingly firing on all cylinders this weekend should be a great kick off to the 2010-11 season. The confident Spartans and the feisty T-Birds should put on a great show this weekend in Vancouver. Match times are set for 8pm both nights at UBC’s War Memorial Gymnasium on the beautiful UBC campus. Both matches will also be webcast for those outside the Vancouver area.
Go Spartans!!!
After the mother of all preseason schedules the Canada West regular season is upon us at Spartan Men’s Volleyball. Excitement is in the air, athletes and coaches are sleepless in anticipation…well coaches…coach…for sure. To add to the Christmas Eve feeling is the opponent facing the Spartans on opening weekend. The cross-town rivals UBC T-Birds are the assigned opponents for the second consecutive season.
To put into perspective what this weekend’s match up has to offer we must look back on the past of this rivalry. From the Spartans first year in the CIS the ‘Birds were always an exciting opponent to play against. In the early years UBC boasted a great team stacked with freaky athletes that included left side greats Jeff Orchard and Guy Davis, serving and attacking specialist middle player Mike Dalziel and one of the most gifted jumpers CanWest has ever seen in right side Chad Grimm. As the Spartans great up and the freaky Bird cycle graduated the balance of power switched to Langley. In one stretch the Spartans won 26 of 27 matches. As typical of the rivalry just as one team established dominance the other team closed the gap and eventually took over the lower mainland thrown of vball dominance.
At the tail end of the Championship cycle the T-Birds gathered another great group of athletes that included MEI product Jarrod Krause, current National teamer Steve Gotch and perennial CanWest libero of the year Blair Bann. This ‘Bird core were able to knock off the Spartan squad twice in Vancouver stripping TWU of their #1 national ranking at the time. A few weeks later the Spartans were able to avenge those defeats by defeating the T-Birds in dominant fashion en route to TWU’s first Canada West Championship. Those same teams met again in McMaster in the National Championship bronze medal match with the Spartans dominating that match again winning their 4th consecutive national medal 3-0.
As the Championship cycle for the Spartans graduated and the current Spartan cycle began to take their places on the court it was UBC’s turn to dominate the regular season matches. TWU was able to score a 5 set thrilling upset of the Birds but that was followed up with two heart-breaking losses in Vancouver the following year. On both nights TWU had taken the first set only to lose the next three sets making it a 1-3 loss on both nights. To make things worse the Saturday night match has gone down in infamy in Spartan lore. After dropping sets 2 & 3 the Spartans built a big lead in the 4th set and had all the momentum. Up 23-16 the fate was all but sealed when the unthinkable happened. After a side out to make the score 23-17 the ‘Birds went on a 7 point run to go up 24-23 eventually winning the set and match 28-26. It was the last match of the first semester and it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Spartans all Christmas break long.
For the current Spartans that loss is one of the toughest they have ever taken. But from all things positive outcomes are possible. That loss has created an environment in training that no lead is safe, no outcome is certain, both up or down. That lesson has helped shape the way the current team competes, trains and prepares for each and every match. On the eve of yet another epic weekend’s battle with the UBC Thunderbirds it is important to remember the wars that have gone on before…at the War (Memorial Gymnasium, UBC), at the Enar (David E. Enarson Gymnasium, TWU) or most recently as last season the Langley Events Centre.
Last season the home opener was against UBC and in front of 1200 spectators, the largest crowd in Spartan MVB history the home team was able to win a 5 set thriller in dramatic fashion. The second night saw a reversal of fortunes from that fateful night in Vancouver that Spartan lore refers to as “the run.” TWU lost the first set but recovered to build towards a 4 set win including a 25-14 drubbing in the 4th set.
This season the season opener for both teams is the home opener for UBC. There is sure to be a big crowd on hand to witness another Lower Mainland volleyball battle royale. While UBC is coming off what they would describe as a disappointing 2009-10 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs with a 4-14 record they return most of their key players and add a few additions to bolster their roster. Last season’s underperformance is one that the UBC Birds have trained hard to prepare to overcome in the 2010-11 season. While their hopes are high the Spartans look to try to get back on the winning track at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Vancouver. It has been 6 years since the TWU squad has won a match in the UBC gym. The #3 ranked Spartans are the clear favourite in this weekend’s matches but the history of the rivalry has shown that favourites or underdogs have no bearing on the outcomes when these two teams collide.
The Spartans are coming off a lengthy 28 match preseason schedule that saw them compete from Russia to Kelowna to Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The hurricane of travel and matches has prepared the TWU athletes to compete in all kinds of scenarios. Winning easy, losing hard, winning hard and thankfully only one loss hard, the Spartans are very match ready. The preseason schedule has allowed for a lot of match time for all 15 members of the active roster. That depth will allow TWU to absorb most any kind of pitfall that may come their way this weekend. It will most likely take all 12 athletes on the match roster to try to dispatch a feisty UBC team that will battle to the end to defend their home turf.
Look for 4th year and team captain Rudy Verhoeff to make his regular season debut on the left side a memorable one. Rudy has been one of the Spartans best players throughout the preseason schedule. Fellow former middle player Josh Doornenbal has also been impressive during the preseason as he makes the move from the middle to the right side. The ability of these two accomplished middles to play effectively on the wing proves their all around or universal abilities on the volleyball court. These two mainstays on the Spartan starting lineup will be relied upon heavily by the “engine,” setter Ben Ball to keep the Spartan offense clicking. New comers to the starting line up Dan Jansen Van Doorn and Lucas Van Berkel take over in the middle for Rudy and Josh. Both of the giants have seen a lot of preseason match play and their game readiness is as close as it can be for the Conference phase of the season. Adding to the mix are two great internal positional battles for the Spartans. Jarrod Offereins and John Wiebe are the two liberos competing for the starting job all preseason with both putting up great matches throughout the Eastern Canada Tour. That battle will continue to rage on throughout the first semester adding depth and competitiveness to the Spartan squad. The second left side position is another hotly contested spot by Mikiah Schalk (5th) and freshman Nick Del Bianco. In the last two matches of the preseason vs Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax these two both put up their best matches of the young season. The performance of both have put the Spartans in a very enviable position but coach Josephson in a difficult position of having to choose which to give the opener start to. While difficult the position of having too many match ready players is a problem most teams in the country would relish.
With the Spartans seemingly firing on all cylinders this weekend should be a great kick off to the 2010-11 season. The confident Spartans and the feisty T-Birds should put on a great show this weekend in Vancouver. Match times are set for 8pm both nights at UBC’s War Memorial Gymnasium on the beautiful UBC campus. Both matches will also be webcast for those outside the Vancouver area.
Go Spartans!!!
Friday, October 22, 2010
East Canada Tour: Fredericton Recap
September 22nd, 2010: Halifax, Nova Scotia
The second portion, and much longer portion of the Eastern Canada Tour began with a lengthy travel day. The team departed Kingston for Ottawa from which they flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Upon arrival in Halifax it was quickly back into vans and then a 4 hour drive to Fredericton, New Brunswick, home of the UNB Varsity Reds who would be the next Spartan opponent. It was a late arrival so a quick sleep was required for the boys before our first team practice in nearly two weeks.
Upon arrival at the UNB campus we were struck by the beauty of the campus. UNB had banners hanging from the light poles celebrating 225 years of operation and the campus was just what you would expect from a long standing university. All the buildings were red brick with white trim. There were huge trees everywhere that were in full fall bloom with red, orange and yellow leaves complimenting the beautiful architecture. It was something straight out of Dead Poet’s Society, all we needed was Robin Williams and O Captain my Captain to make the scene complete.
They gym was also something out of a movie. It was an old building, like they all were but its charm was special. Walking in was like stepping into Hoosiers with the dark wood floor, old style seats and bleachers. Visions of Jimmy Chipwood shooting hoops in the corner and Ollie granny tossing a free throw were easily conjured. It was a fun place to practice and it became clear that the campus was excited to have us there. Many students and staff were coming in and out of practice to see the westerners and take a look at the team UNB had brought in to open their exhibition schedule with.
The match environment was even better. They had a great crowd in and the noise level was picking up in warm up that suggested it was going to be a very exciting night. Just before the game a number of shirtless, red paint covered students settled in the front row and began a ruckus creating a classic university sport experience for the volleyball match. The game didn’t disappoint either. It was a grueling 5 set thriller with the teams trading big kills, blocks and digs giving all who came to watch a great display of preseason volleyball. The Spartans cam out victorious after 2.5 hours and another great five set character win.
After the match it was a quick bite at McDonalds, not exactly high performance but its McDonalds monopoly so it was a treat for the guys for winning. Just like when they were kids and after the little league game or soccer game and dads would take their kids to McD’s for ice cream so it was for the large boys on the Spartan volleyball team.
Day two ad the same flow, morning practice in Hickory then nap, study hall and a pregame meal. Then back to the gym for game two of the two game set with UNB Varsity Reds. Game two saw the Reds control the first two sets winning both by 4 points. Game three was the Spartans and they won 25-14 in dominant fashion. Game 4 was a slugfest down to the wire with the home team UNB winning the set and match. The crowd went nuts as the underdog host upset the #3 ranked Spartans. While the match didn’t go the way of the Spartan, it was a great match for the Spartan babies to gather some more much needed match experience.
After the match it was back to the hotel for another quick sleep and an early morning. The Spartans departed Fredericton at 6:30am for Nova Scotia by way of a ferry. A quick drive to Saint John and a three hour ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy landing in Digby. The ferry was a great time of relaxation; much better than the 7 hour van ride option. ON the ferry the boys were able to get some much-needed homework done as the stress of a week of missed classes was alleviated somewhat. Those who did not have homework slept on the benches making a ring of Spartans laying head to foot ringing the outskirts of the ferry cabin.
Upon arrival in Digby the Spartans found a little seafood diner to get some lunch. It mush have been a sight for the locals to see 15 huge men walk into a diner that most of them had to duck their heads in order to avoid concussing them selves on the low hanging beams. It was lobster and fish and chips for the boys and home made pie, a feast for a king, well more like a sailor but either way it was a great meal. Then it was back into the vans and a short drive to West King’s District High School that was hosting the first of three matches with perennial eastern power Dalhousie University.
The team arrived to the high school a little earlier than needed so we had some time to kill. We saw a sign for a zoo so the curiosity of a zoo in what seemed like the middle of nowhere was too much to pass up. We found the zoo expecting some farm animals but instead found a fully functioning zoo with exotic animals. They had the Guinness record biggest Lion in captivity in the world there but he had passed away a few months before so we did not get to see him but saw his grave. A little odd to see a lion’s greave but not much odder than seeing a zoo in the middle of farm country Nova Scotia. The steep price of $3 entry to the zoo was a little too much for 30 minutes so the staff was gracious enough to let the guys into the reptile area for free. There they had all manners of lizards, turtles and snakes. The highlight was a couple 15’ boa constrictors, one of which was hanging from the roof. Ricky and Lucy were their names and Ricky decided to put on a show for the guys has he dropped from the ceiling to the floor eliciting a school girl scream from the entire team that had gathered to admire the massive snakes. A bunch of large athletes screaming was too much for the baby girl in the room as she began to cry and the boys giggled like equally young children.
Outside we were able to look at some of the other animals that they had gathered at this peculiar zoo. They had monkeys, donkeys, horses, and wild turkeys running everywhere. A bunch of the guys had fun trying to catch the turkeys and it was a good warm up for the upcoming match. Then it was back to the gym where the host committee had prepared a pregame meal of lasagna and Caesar salad for both teams. It was a fun time to catch up with friends on the other team as many of the Spartans had played club, provincial team or national team with some members of the Dalhousie Tigers team. After dinner there was some dead time and for those who know some of this year’s Spartan team, idle time usually leads to shenanigans.
In Digby a couple guys had found a fireworks store and the pyromaniacs purchased some exploding fun. While we were killing time in the gym we realized the pyros had gone missing so in looking for them someone went outside and heard fireworks coming from the bushes. The team was gathered and the search commenced for the fun that was being had. A bunch of explosions, both of bottle rockets and laughter kept the fellas occupied as they waited to take the court for warm up.
Then it was work time as the team suited up for the match. The Dalhousie Tigers have been to the CIS National Tournament a record 33 straight seasons and coach Dan Ota always produces a well-prepared and talented team. Being the first match of the three game set and with both teams having key players nursing injuries it was a great match for the younger players on both teams to compete. This was Dal’s first exhibition match of the season so they were a little sloppy but so too were the tired Spartans. The teams traded sets with Dal taking 1 & 3 and TWU taking 2 & 4. Finally after almost two hours of error filled volleyball a great volleyball game broke out in the fifth. The deciding set was a great display of two of the most talented teams in the country doing battle. It was a 1 point game the whole way with Tiger three time All Canadian Sander “Ranchdip” Ratsep ripping a match winning ace taking the set 16-14 and the match 3-2. It was a great game for the Spartan youngsters with three freshmen two third years, a second yearn and Ben Ball being the lone “starter” from last year’s team on the court. Another great test of character for the young Spartans that will pay dividends later in their career.
After the match the host committee had a light post game snack prepared and then it was back into the vans and an hour and a half drive to the city of Halifax and the final destination of the Eastern Canada Tour. The team checked into the hotel and hit the hay for some much needed rest after another really long day.
Games 2 & 3 and the final two matches of the lengthy Eastern Canada Tour are to be played at Dalhousie in the Dalplex, home of the Tigers. Both teams look to put their best lineups on the floor in what should be the best matches of the tour and the final preparation matches before both teams begin conference play the following weekend.
Great things are about to happen,
Go Spartans!!!
The second portion, and much longer portion of the Eastern Canada Tour began with a lengthy travel day. The team departed Kingston for Ottawa from which they flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Upon arrival in Halifax it was quickly back into vans and then a 4 hour drive to Fredericton, New Brunswick, home of the UNB Varsity Reds who would be the next Spartan opponent. It was a late arrival so a quick sleep was required for the boys before our first team practice in nearly two weeks.
Upon arrival at the UNB campus we were struck by the beauty of the campus. UNB had banners hanging from the light poles celebrating 225 years of operation and the campus was just what you would expect from a long standing university. All the buildings were red brick with white trim. There were huge trees everywhere that were in full fall bloom with red, orange and yellow leaves complimenting the beautiful architecture. It was something straight out of Dead Poet’s Society, all we needed was Robin Williams and O Captain my Captain to make the scene complete.
They gym was also something out of a movie. It was an old building, like they all were but its charm was special. Walking in was like stepping into Hoosiers with the dark wood floor, old style seats and bleachers. Visions of Jimmy Chipwood shooting hoops in the corner and Ollie granny tossing a free throw were easily conjured. It was a fun place to practice and it became clear that the campus was excited to have us there. Many students and staff were coming in and out of practice to see the westerners and take a look at the team UNB had brought in to open their exhibition schedule with.
The match environment was even better. They had a great crowd in and the noise level was picking up in warm up that suggested it was going to be a very exciting night. Just before the game a number of shirtless, red paint covered students settled in the front row and began a ruckus creating a classic university sport experience for the volleyball match. The game didn’t disappoint either. It was a grueling 5 set thriller with the teams trading big kills, blocks and digs giving all who came to watch a great display of preseason volleyball. The Spartans cam out victorious after 2.5 hours and another great five set character win.
After the match it was a quick bite at McDonalds, not exactly high performance but its McDonalds monopoly so it was a treat for the guys for winning. Just like when they were kids and after the little league game or soccer game and dads would take their kids to McD’s for ice cream so it was for the large boys on the Spartan volleyball team.
Day two ad the same flow, morning practice in Hickory then nap, study hall and a pregame meal. Then back to the gym for game two of the two game set with UNB Varsity Reds. Game two saw the Reds control the first two sets winning both by 4 points. Game three was the Spartans and they won 25-14 in dominant fashion. Game 4 was a slugfest down to the wire with the home team UNB winning the set and match. The crowd went nuts as the underdog host upset the #3 ranked Spartans. While the match didn’t go the way of the Spartan, it was a great match for the Spartan babies to gather some more much needed match experience.
After the match it was back to the hotel for another quick sleep and an early morning. The Spartans departed Fredericton at 6:30am for Nova Scotia by way of a ferry. A quick drive to Saint John and a three hour ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy landing in Digby. The ferry was a great time of relaxation; much better than the 7 hour van ride option. ON the ferry the boys were able to get some much-needed homework done as the stress of a week of missed classes was alleviated somewhat. Those who did not have homework slept on the benches making a ring of Spartans laying head to foot ringing the outskirts of the ferry cabin.
Upon arrival in Digby the Spartans found a little seafood diner to get some lunch. It mush have been a sight for the locals to see 15 huge men walk into a diner that most of them had to duck their heads in order to avoid concussing them selves on the low hanging beams. It was lobster and fish and chips for the boys and home made pie, a feast for a king, well more like a sailor but either way it was a great meal. Then it was back into the vans and a short drive to West King’s District High School that was hosting the first of three matches with perennial eastern power Dalhousie University.
The team arrived to the high school a little earlier than needed so we had some time to kill. We saw a sign for a zoo so the curiosity of a zoo in what seemed like the middle of nowhere was too much to pass up. We found the zoo expecting some farm animals but instead found a fully functioning zoo with exotic animals. They had the Guinness record biggest Lion in captivity in the world there but he had passed away a few months before so we did not get to see him but saw his grave. A little odd to see a lion’s greave but not much odder than seeing a zoo in the middle of farm country Nova Scotia. The steep price of $3 entry to the zoo was a little too much for 30 minutes so the staff was gracious enough to let the guys into the reptile area for free. There they had all manners of lizards, turtles and snakes. The highlight was a couple 15’ boa constrictors, one of which was hanging from the roof. Ricky and Lucy were their names and Ricky decided to put on a show for the guys has he dropped from the ceiling to the floor eliciting a school girl scream from the entire team that had gathered to admire the massive snakes. A bunch of large athletes screaming was too much for the baby girl in the room as she began to cry and the boys giggled like equally young children.
Outside we were able to look at some of the other animals that they had gathered at this peculiar zoo. They had monkeys, donkeys, horses, and wild turkeys running everywhere. A bunch of the guys had fun trying to catch the turkeys and it was a good warm up for the upcoming match. Then it was back to the gym where the host committee had prepared a pregame meal of lasagna and Caesar salad for both teams. It was a fun time to catch up with friends on the other team as many of the Spartans had played club, provincial team or national team with some members of the Dalhousie Tigers team. After dinner there was some dead time and for those who know some of this year’s Spartan team, idle time usually leads to shenanigans.
In Digby a couple guys had found a fireworks store and the pyromaniacs purchased some exploding fun. While we were killing time in the gym we realized the pyros had gone missing so in looking for them someone went outside and heard fireworks coming from the bushes. The team was gathered and the search commenced for the fun that was being had. A bunch of explosions, both of bottle rockets and laughter kept the fellas occupied as they waited to take the court for warm up.
Then it was work time as the team suited up for the match. The Dalhousie Tigers have been to the CIS National Tournament a record 33 straight seasons and coach Dan Ota always produces a well-prepared and talented team. Being the first match of the three game set and with both teams having key players nursing injuries it was a great match for the younger players on both teams to compete. This was Dal’s first exhibition match of the season so they were a little sloppy but so too were the tired Spartans. The teams traded sets with Dal taking 1 & 3 and TWU taking 2 & 4. Finally after almost two hours of error filled volleyball a great volleyball game broke out in the fifth. The deciding set was a great display of two of the most talented teams in the country doing battle. It was a 1 point game the whole way with Tiger three time All Canadian Sander “Ranchdip” Ratsep ripping a match winning ace taking the set 16-14 and the match 3-2. It was a great game for the Spartan youngsters with three freshmen two third years, a second yearn and Ben Ball being the lone “starter” from last year’s team on the court. Another great test of character for the young Spartans that will pay dividends later in their career.
After the match the host committee had a light post game snack prepared and then it was back into the vans and an hour and a half drive to the city of Halifax and the final destination of the Eastern Canada Tour. The team checked into the hotel and hit the hay for some much needed rest after another really long day.
Games 2 & 3 and the final two matches of the lengthy Eastern Canada Tour are to be played at Dalhousie in the Dalplex, home of the Tigers. Both teams look to put their best lineups on the floor in what should be the best matches of the tour and the final preparation matches before both teams begin conference play the following weekend.
Great things are about to happen,
Go Spartans!!!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Queen's Tournament Recap
October 17th, 2010: Kingston, Ontario
This past weekend Spartan Men's Volleyball competed in the Queen's Invitational Tournament hosted by Queen's University. This was an important event for the Spartans to play in because it gave them the opportunity to play two of the OUA's (Ontario Conference) top teams and also exposed them the facility that will host the 2012 CIS National Tournament.
The Spartan's preseason schedule is a hectic one that has seen them compete in Russia, BC now Ontario and on to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The mentality is to expose the athletes to as many difficult playing conditions as possible to test their toughness under stress and force some team unity in the process. To make things even crazier than travelling east to play an unfamiliar team in an unfamiliar place. The Spartans had to play the first game on little to no sleep. The team departed Abbotsford at 7:45pm on October 14th. Landed in Calgary at 10pm and took off for Toronto at 12:45am, October 15th. A quick turn around at Lester B Pearson airport in Toronto and off to Ottawa arriving at 8am. Then a two hour van ride to Kingston and what was to be a chance to nap turned into a test of durability. The team could not check into the hotel until 3pm so off to the Queen's gym they went. Shortly after arriving at the gym the Spartans scattered around the beautiful Athletic Recreation Centre or ARC to find whatever open piece of furniture, floor or bleacher they could to fall asleep on. Not exactly a high performance procedure. After a short and interrupted nap the team checked into the hotel and tried to catch a few more z's. The it was up for pregame meal and off to the gym for a the feature match of the tournament with the host team Queen's Gaels. For those who remember last March's CIS National Tournament this was the same team the Spartans faced in the quarterfinal match. Last season's OUA champs returned all but one player from last year's team and are thought to be the top team in the OUA this coming season. It was truly going to be a great test for the tired yet resilient Spartans.
To make things worse the match between Brandon and Western went the distance and lengthened the the time before the Spartans could go back to sleep. Starting the match at 9pm a full 25:15 hours after departing Abbotsford it was clear the level of performance was not going to be up to the usual Spartan standard. Queen's took game 1 25-23 and the Spartans showed signs of themselves but made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. They responded to take game 2 25-23 but fell 25-23 in the 3rd. The match was extremely competitive with both squads boasting a number of National level athletes. Game 4 saw the Spartans shake the sleep from their eyes and the all to familiar blocking dominance was on display helping win the game 25-18. On to the 5th set and the Gaels (what is a Gael anyway) jumped out to a 4-1 lead. It would have been very easy for the Spartans to fold up and take any of the plethora of excuses available to them and hold their heads high after a valiant battle. "We were up all night", nope, "We ate too late," nope, "we didn't get a serve and pass in the new gym," nope, "we are missing our true left sides," nope, "we have 4 middles on the court," nope, "our setter is injured," nope, "we haven't practiced in 9 days," nope. None of that was heard. What was heard was the intensity of an extremely proud and competitive group as all 13 athletes joined in one voice and declared we will not go quietly into the Kingston night. The Spartans rallied and played inspired volleyball and won the set and match 15-10. It was a great character win for the Langley lads. An adage the team uses is that nothing is learned from losing. Losing reveals lessons, winning learns them. The team learned a valuable lesson that day. If the team stays together and relies upon each other they can truly accomplish anything, on and off the court. Day 1 complete and finally the Spartan could get their much deserved rest.
Day 2 was much better than day 1 from a high performance preparation stand point. The team was able to sleep in, get a good breakfast and relax during the afternoon. They had the chance to get some homework done as they are now about to miss 5 days of school during the midterm phase of the school year. The chance to alleviate some of that stress always helps athletes clear their minds to focus on the task at hand. A good pregame meal and off to the gym for the 6pm tilt versus the Western Mustangs, the team that had beaten the highly thought of Brandon Bobcats the evening before. This match had a much better feeling heading into it from a Spartan perspective. The lads were loose and focused and that carried over into their play winning the first two sets 25-21 and 25-18 respectively. The the match took a turn. The Spartans built a good lead in the third and then just lost focus. The resilient Mustangs went from trot to gallop and ran all over the Spartans claiming a 25-23 set win. TWU tried to regain focus and built a lead only to relinquish it late losing 25-23 again. For the second night in a row a tired Spartan squad had to reach deep to try to dispatch a very tenacious Mustang team Jack Black and Kyle Gas would be proud of. Unlike the night before the Spartans could not shake the 'stangs. 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11 and then it happened. Block, ace, kill...game set match and another character win for the Spartans. After the match there was nothing but respect for the Western team for battling back from down 0-2 but the Spartans were the better team and found a way again. Then it was off to bed and some more needed sleep for the short turn around and a 1pm match the next afternoon with the Brandon Bobcats in what would be a winner take all match.
Day 3 saw the Spartans in a much more normal groove. Up for breakfast, then took a tour of Fort Henry and walked around downtown Kingston admiring the old buildings. We found a novelty shop that sold a fishing game that you could play while on the proverbial porcelain toilet that a few almost purchased but the asking price of 30 bones was a little too much for an easy laugh. A picture, a joke and it was off to the gym. Brandon returned the reigning CIS player of the year from a year ago Paul Sanderson who brought a few more of his Aussie countrymen with him for the 2010-11 campaign. This Bobcat team who is widely thought to be the class of the conference this season had played well the night before and easily dispatched the Queen's team 3-0. To make the match a little more interesting the Spartans would play three freshmen in the wing hitter positions. Nick Del Bianco and Derek Thiessen manned the left side while Brandon Schmidt held down the Right. The curious looks from the Bobcat players at the younglings across the net from them and the sight of Spartan standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal standing in the sub's pen was fun to watch. Even more fun to watch was the way the young Spartans battled the Bobcats the entire set. Leading at 18 by 1 it was a slug fest to finish just shy 23-25. The young Spartan squad continued to improve their game and led again 18-17 only to lose by the same margin, 23-25. The improvement curve continued as the Spartans took an 18-14 lead and finished with a 25-21 lead and new life sprang up on the bench. Set four was another great battle as the young Spartans were showing to be the more physical team, which was a bit of a shock considering the Bobcats had a 7'1" Aussie patrolling the middle. While TWU was the more physical presence at the net the Bobcats showed their experience and they greased their way to a 25-23 set and match win. The loss was hard to swallow considering that the Spartans had multiple opportunities to win each set but one thing or another broke down to stifle their hopes. In the end it was another great experience for the tool box to be relied upon at a later date. The Spartans took the Bobcats best shot without their veterans and made almost the most of the opportunity.
With the win Brandon won the tournament but the future of the Spartans served notice that they will be tough for a long time to come. Rudy Verhoeff and setter Ben Ball received much deserved All Star recognition for their performances in the tournament. The it was off to dinner and a great night of sports watching. Phillies v Giants in the NLCS and Sunday Night Football...what more could we ask for...maybe one more win.
Go Spartans!!!
This past weekend Spartan Men's Volleyball competed in the Queen's Invitational Tournament hosted by Queen's University. This was an important event for the Spartans to play in because it gave them the opportunity to play two of the OUA's (Ontario Conference) top teams and also exposed them the facility that will host the 2012 CIS National Tournament.
The Spartan's preseason schedule is a hectic one that has seen them compete in Russia, BC now Ontario and on to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The mentality is to expose the athletes to as many difficult playing conditions as possible to test their toughness under stress and force some team unity in the process. To make things even crazier than travelling east to play an unfamiliar team in an unfamiliar place. The Spartans had to play the first game on little to no sleep. The team departed Abbotsford at 7:45pm on October 14th. Landed in Calgary at 10pm and took off for Toronto at 12:45am, October 15th. A quick turn around at Lester B Pearson airport in Toronto and off to Ottawa arriving at 8am. Then a two hour van ride to Kingston and what was to be a chance to nap turned into a test of durability. The team could not check into the hotel until 3pm so off to the Queen's gym they went. Shortly after arriving at the gym the Spartans scattered around the beautiful Athletic Recreation Centre or ARC to find whatever open piece of furniture, floor or bleacher they could to fall asleep on. Not exactly a high performance procedure. After a short and interrupted nap the team checked into the hotel and tried to catch a few more z's. The it was up for pregame meal and off to the gym for a the feature match of the tournament with the host team Queen's Gaels. For those who remember last March's CIS National Tournament this was the same team the Spartans faced in the quarterfinal match. Last season's OUA champs returned all but one player from last year's team and are thought to be the top team in the OUA this coming season. It was truly going to be a great test for the tired yet resilient Spartans.
To make things worse the match between Brandon and Western went the distance and lengthened the the time before the Spartans could go back to sleep. Starting the match at 9pm a full 25:15 hours after departing Abbotsford it was clear the level of performance was not going to be up to the usual Spartan standard. Queen's took game 1 25-23 and the Spartans showed signs of themselves but made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. They responded to take game 2 25-23 but fell 25-23 in the 3rd. The match was extremely competitive with both squads boasting a number of National level athletes. Game 4 saw the Spartans shake the sleep from their eyes and the all to familiar blocking dominance was on display helping win the game 25-18. On to the 5th set and the Gaels (what is a Gael anyway) jumped out to a 4-1 lead. It would have been very easy for the Spartans to fold up and take any of the plethora of excuses available to them and hold their heads high after a valiant battle. "We were up all night", nope, "We ate too late," nope, "we didn't get a serve and pass in the new gym," nope, "we are missing our true left sides," nope, "we have 4 middles on the court," nope, "our setter is injured," nope, "we haven't practiced in 9 days," nope. None of that was heard. What was heard was the intensity of an extremely proud and competitive group as all 13 athletes joined in one voice and declared we will not go quietly into the Kingston night. The Spartans rallied and played inspired volleyball and won the set and match 15-10. It was a great character win for the Langley lads. An adage the team uses is that nothing is learned from losing. Losing reveals lessons, winning learns them. The team learned a valuable lesson that day. If the team stays together and relies upon each other they can truly accomplish anything, on and off the court. Day 1 complete and finally the Spartan could get their much deserved rest.
Day 2 was much better than day 1 from a high performance preparation stand point. The team was able to sleep in, get a good breakfast and relax during the afternoon. They had the chance to get some homework done as they are now about to miss 5 days of school during the midterm phase of the school year. The chance to alleviate some of that stress always helps athletes clear their minds to focus on the task at hand. A good pregame meal and off to the gym for the 6pm tilt versus the Western Mustangs, the team that had beaten the highly thought of Brandon Bobcats the evening before. This match had a much better feeling heading into it from a Spartan perspective. The lads were loose and focused and that carried over into their play winning the first two sets 25-21 and 25-18 respectively. The the match took a turn. The Spartans built a good lead in the third and then just lost focus. The resilient Mustangs went from trot to gallop and ran all over the Spartans claiming a 25-23 set win. TWU tried to regain focus and built a lead only to relinquish it late losing 25-23 again. For the second night in a row a tired Spartan squad had to reach deep to try to dispatch a very tenacious Mustang team Jack Black and Kyle Gas would be proud of. Unlike the night before the Spartans could not shake the 'stangs. 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11 and then it happened. Block, ace, kill...game set match and another character win for the Spartans. After the match there was nothing but respect for the Western team for battling back from down 0-2 but the Spartans were the better team and found a way again. Then it was off to bed and some more needed sleep for the short turn around and a 1pm match the next afternoon with the Brandon Bobcats in what would be a winner take all match.
Day 3 saw the Spartans in a much more normal groove. Up for breakfast, then took a tour of Fort Henry and walked around downtown Kingston admiring the old buildings. We found a novelty shop that sold a fishing game that you could play while on the proverbial porcelain toilet that a few almost purchased but the asking price of 30 bones was a little too much for an easy laugh. A picture, a joke and it was off to the gym. Brandon returned the reigning CIS player of the year from a year ago Paul Sanderson who brought a few more of his Aussie countrymen with him for the 2010-11 campaign. This Bobcat team who is widely thought to be the class of the conference this season had played well the night before and easily dispatched the Queen's team 3-0. To make the match a little more interesting the Spartans would play three freshmen in the wing hitter positions. Nick Del Bianco and Derek Thiessen manned the left side while Brandon Schmidt held down the Right. The curious looks from the Bobcat players at the younglings across the net from them and the sight of Spartan standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal standing in the sub's pen was fun to watch. Even more fun to watch was the way the young Spartans battled the Bobcats the entire set. Leading at 18 by 1 it was a slug fest to finish just shy 23-25. The young Spartan squad continued to improve their game and led again 18-17 only to lose by the same margin, 23-25. The improvement curve continued as the Spartans took an 18-14 lead and finished with a 25-21 lead and new life sprang up on the bench. Set four was another great battle as the young Spartans were showing to be the more physical team, which was a bit of a shock considering the Bobcats had a 7'1" Aussie patrolling the middle. While TWU was the more physical presence at the net the Bobcats showed their experience and they greased their way to a 25-23 set and match win. The loss was hard to swallow considering that the Spartans had multiple opportunities to win each set but one thing or another broke down to stifle their hopes. In the end it was another great experience for the tool box to be relied upon at a later date. The Spartans took the Bobcats best shot without their veterans and made almost the most of the opportunity.
With the win Brandon won the tournament but the future of the Spartans served notice that they will be tough for a long time to come. Rudy Verhoeff and setter Ben Ball received much deserved All Star recognition for their performances in the tournament. The it was off to dinner and a great night of sports watching. Phillies v Giants in the NLCS and Sunday Night Football...what more could we ask for...maybe one more win.
Go Spartans!!!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Douglas Tournament Recap Oct 9th & 10th
October 12th, 2010 - Langley, BC
After coming off two matches with Canada West rival Thompson Rivers University the Spartans switched gears and entered a tournament at Douglas College that featured the top college teams in the BCCAA and Keyano College from the Alberta College league.
This is the fourth year the Spartans have competed in the Douglas Tournament on the Thanksgiving weekend. It provides some great on court experience for the Spartan younglings. The ability for a team to perform well on weekends is due to its ability to train well during the week. As the conference schedule draws closer the training pits the older players against the younger players. The ability of the "second" unit to push and compete against the "first" unit helps sharpen the team and raises their performance level. The younger Spartans had a great opportunity to raise their level playing against similar aged competition this past weekend and will make their ability to push and compete against their fellow Spartans that much better.
Game 1 of the tournament was against the Capilano Blues from northern Vancouver. The Blues were a very scrappy team with inspired defense and gave the Spartan squad a tough battle. Game 1 to the Spartans, game 2 to the Blues and game 3 to the Spartans. The Spartans were showcasing four freshamen in their lineup: Micah Jansen Van Doorn (Setter, Langley, BC), Nick Del Bianco (Left Side, Langley, BC), Branden Schmidt (Right Side, Calgary, AB) and Derek Thiessen (Outside Hitter, Coquitlam, BC). Thiessen is a freshman by eligibility standards as he had to sit out last season recovering from an ACL surgery. The young Spartans showed their youth in this match making a few too many unforced errors to win in two sets but showed enough maturity to play well in the third and deciding set.
Game 2 was against the host Douglas Royals. These two teams are very familiar with many members of both teams playing together in club and high school. The familiarity made the match fun as the two teams battled. The Spartans were paced by Derek Thiesen and Branden Schmidt who were on fire offensively. It was great to see Thiessen start to regain his former glory as he continues to find his match rhythm. Schmidt, a highly recruited high schooler from a year ago, showed why he was a prize recruit for the Spartans this off season as he imposed his physical presence on the match from the baseline serving and at the net attacking and blocking. The Spartans started the first set poorly going down 7-17 but after a timeout and a challenge from coach they went out and played with extreme passion winning the first set 27-25. The timeout challenge was simple, "they way you are playing...I don't think you can beat this team" stated coach Josephson. Sounds awefully like something a coach would say to u16 players but the Spartans sure didnt play like u16 athletes after the timeout. It was some of the most dominating volleyball of the tournament to finish the first set. Sets 2 & 3 were more of the same as the Spartans found their rhythm and executed the Royals to at three set death. Douglas College will be one of the dominant teams in teh BCCA this season as they are very big and are extremely well coached. They will be a team that will make some huge noise in the CCAA playoffs in March 2011.
Game 3 of the tournament saw a battle of the Valley with TWU taking on University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. In another match that saw a lot of former teammates competing against each other it was very enjoyable to watch the battle. The Spartans were playing really solid ball by this point in the tournament. The younglings were proving to be very tough servers as they continued to bomb away from the baseline with all four freshmen hitting their spin serves will by this point. The Cascades passed the tough Spartan serves well but they were a little too small to get past what is becoming the identity of this year's team match by match...Blike. Its a block but scores like a spike...blike. The Spartans used their dominance at the net to score another 3-0 win.
October 10th or 10-10-10 was the playoff phase of the tournament. In the semi final the Spartans played fellow Christian school and Valley residents Columbia Bible College. The Bearcats' head coach Rocky Olfert is a Spartan alum and spent one season with the Spartans as an assistant coach. He is more than an accomplished coach and his team was the best team systematically in the tournament based on the performances versus TWU. The CBC team was also very big and posed some major issues for TWU at the net. For the first time in the tournament the Spartans were rejected on their aggressive shots. A few adjustments by the young Spartans and the floor shots turned into hand wipes and the Spartans began to roll again. This match showcased the youngling's ability from the baseline instead of the net as they served their way to a 3-0 win. Though the Spartans were able to win all three sets the match was very competitive and will fuel the battle that will continue Wednesday October 13th, as the teams play again at Langley Christian High School.
The final was another match against the TRU Wolfpack. Many of TRU's older players and regular starters went home the night before as they had been down since thursday. The team the 'pack put on the floor for the final was many of their young players with a couple ringers. Former national teamer Drew Venables, TRU assistant coach, who set for the Manitoba Bisons was enlisted as the TRU setter. At 6'8 he gave the Spartans some trouble at the net with the height he was able to pass the ball at. The Wolfpack also showed their size at the other positions blocking their way to a good sized first set lead. When the first set was all but finished the Spartans made one last surge and came back from a 22-24 deficit to win 27-25. After that first set the young Spartans led by 4th year captain Rudy Verhoeff stormed through sets 2 & 3 en route to yet another 3-0 win over TRU. This match showcased last year's top BC high school volleyball athlete Nick Del Bianco. Nick hit .500 and went error free for the match in one of this season's special performances helping the Spartans take the Douglas Tournament championship.
The tournament was a great display of system volleyball the Spartan way. The younglings played better and better as the tournament went along and these experiences will go a long way to helping this team as it prepares for Canada West play as well as building for the future when the current core begins to retire. The future of Spartan Men's Volleyball will be in good hands.
The Spartans resume play Wednesday, October 13th vs CBC at Langley Christian before heading out east for 8 matches in 10 days. These matches include opponents such as Queen's, Western Ontario, Brandon, UNB and Dalhousie. This will be the final preseason push before returning home to begin Canada West play October 29t at the UBC T-Birds and another heated rivarly.
Go Spartans!!!
After coming off two matches with Canada West rival Thompson Rivers University the Spartans switched gears and entered a tournament at Douglas College that featured the top college teams in the BCCAA and Keyano College from the Alberta College league.
This is the fourth year the Spartans have competed in the Douglas Tournament on the Thanksgiving weekend. It provides some great on court experience for the Spartan younglings. The ability for a team to perform well on weekends is due to its ability to train well during the week. As the conference schedule draws closer the training pits the older players against the younger players. The ability of the "second" unit to push and compete against the "first" unit helps sharpen the team and raises their performance level. The younger Spartans had a great opportunity to raise their level playing against similar aged competition this past weekend and will make their ability to push and compete against their fellow Spartans that much better.
Game 1 of the tournament was against the Capilano Blues from northern Vancouver. The Blues were a very scrappy team with inspired defense and gave the Spartan squad a tough battle. Game 1 to the Spartans, game 2 to the Blues and game 3 to the Spartans. The Spartans were showcasing four freshamen in their lineup: Micah Jansen Van Doorn (Setter, Langley, BC), Nick Del Bianco (Left Side, Langley, BC), Branden Schmidt (Right Side, Calgary, AB) and Derek Thiessen (Outside Hitter, Coquitlam, BC). Thiessen is a freshman by eligibility standards as he had to sit out last season recovering from an ACL surgery. The young Spartans showed their youth in this match making a few too many unforced errors to win in two sets but showed enough maturity to play well in the third and deciding set.
Game 2 was against the host Douglas Royals. These two teams are very familiar with many members of both teams playing together in club and high school. The familiarity made the match fun as the two teams battled. The Spartans were paced by Derek Thiesen and Branden Schmidt who were on fire offensively. It was great to see Thiessen start to regain his former glory as he continues to find his match rhythm. Schmidt, a highly recruited high schooler from a year ago, showed why he was a prize recruit for the Spartans this off season as he imposed his physical presence on the match from the baseline serving and at the net attacking and blocking. The Spartans started the first set poorly going down 7-17 but after a timeout and a challenge from coach they went out and played with extreme passion winning the first set 27-25. The timeout challenge was simple, "they way you are playing...I don't think you can beat this team" stated coach Josephson. Sounds awefully like something a coach would say to u16 players but the Spartans sure didnt play like u16 athletes after the timeout. It was some of the most dominating volleyball of the tournament to finish the first set. Sets 2 & 3 were more of the same as the Spartans found their rhythm and executed the Royals to at three set death. Douglas College will be one of the dominant teams in teh BCCA this season as they are very big and are extremely well coached. They will be a team that will make some huge noise in the CCAA playoffs in March 2011.
Game 3 of the tournament saw a battle of the Valley with TWU taking on University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. In another match that saw a lot of former teammates competing against each other it was very enjoyable to watch the battle. The Spartans were playing really solid ball by this point in the tournament. The younglings were proving to be very tough servers as they continued to bomb away from the baseline with all four freshmen hitting their spin serves will by this point. The Cascades passed the tough Spartan serves well but they were a little too small to get past what is becoming the identity of this year's team match by match...Blike. Its a block but scores like a spike...blike. The Spartans used their dominance at the net to score another 3-0 win.
October 10th or 10-10-10 was the playoff phase of the tournament. In the semi final the Spartans played fellow Christian school and Valley residents Columbia Bible College. The Bearcats' head coach Rocky Olfert is a Spartan alum and spent one season with the Spartans as an assistant coach. He is more than an accomplished coach and his team was the best team systematically in the tournament based on the performances versus TWU. The CBC team was also very big and posed some major issues for TWU at the net. For the first time in the tournament the Spartans were rejected on their aggressive shots. A few adjustments by the young Spartans and the floor shots turned into hand wipes and the Spartans began to roll again. This match showcased the youngling's ability from the baseline instead of the net as they served their way to a 3-0 win. Though the Spartans were able to win all three sets the match was very competitive and will fuel the battle that will continue Wednesday October 13th, as the teams play again at Langley Christian High School.
The final was another match against the TRU Wolfpack. Many of TRU's older players and regular starters went home the night before as they had been down since thursday. The team the 'pack put on the floor for the final was many of their young players with a couple ringers. Former national teamer Drew Venables, TRU assistant coach, who set for the Manitoba Bisons was enlisted as the TRU setter. At 6'8 he gave the Spartans some trouble at the net with the height he was able to pass the ball at. The Wolfpack also showed their size at the other positions blocking their way to a good sized first set lead. When the first set was all but finished the Spartans made one last surge and came back from a 22-24 deficit to win 27-25. After that first set the young Spartans led by 4th year captain Rudy Verhoeff stormed through sets 2 & 3 en route to yet another 3-0 win over TRU. This match showcased last year's top BC high school volleyball athlete Nick Del Bianco. Nick hit .500 and went error free for the match in one of this season's special performances helping the Spartans take the Douglas Tournament championship.
The tournament was a great display of system volleyball the Spartan way. The younglings played better and better as the tournament went along and these experiences will go a long way to helping this team as it prepares for Canada West play as well as building for the future when the current core begins to retire. The future of Spartan Men's Volleyball will be in good hands.
The Spartans resume play Wednesday, October 13th vs CBC at Langley Christian before heading out east for 8 matches in 10 days. These matches include opponents such as Queen's, Western Ontario, Brandon, UNB and Dalhousie. This will be the final preseason push before returning home to begin Canada West play October 29t at the UBC T-Birds and another heated rivarly.
Go Spartans!!!
October 7th & 8th vs TRU Wolfpack Recap
October 12th, 2010 - Langley, BC
This was a busy week for Spartan Men's Volleyball. Two matches with TRU on Oct 7th & 8th followed by a 5 match weekend tournament at Douglas College. All tolled it was..."great success" for the Spartans.
October 7th, 2010: vs TRU @ MEI, Abbotsford, BC
The first match of the weekend was against long time rival Thompson Rivers University from Kamloops. For those unaware of the rivalry it is often heated and very competitive as the recent Canada West member Wolfpack team has quickly become a force in the league grabbing three national championship appearances including a bronze medal. These same Wolfpackers also knocked the Spartans out of the Canada West playoffs in 2009. Needless to say whenever these two teams collide there is fireworks. The match on October 7th was no different.
The match was hosted by Mennonite Educational Institute which is the standard of BC High School Boy's volleyball winning the previous 5 provincial AA titles and 7 of the last 8. The Eagles have produced many great Spartans as well as T-Birds and Wolfpack players. The current Spartan roster showcases two former Eagles in setter Ben Ball (4th) and libero John Wiebe (3rd). Just prior to the match these two MEI greats were honored in a special ceremony with TRU libero Matt Kruger. All three athletes are two time provincial senior champions and were given commemorative picture collages to remember their time at MEI with.
The crowd was in high spirits as this was their first view of the 2010-11 edition of the Spartans and many alumni, family members and Spartan Faithful were in attendance. The match got off to a good start for the home team as the Spartans blocked their way to a first set win of 25-17.
Game two was more of the same from the Spartans as they lead the whole way finishing the set with a score of 25-17. The TWU lineup is a bit curious to those who've followed the Spartans over the past couple of years. Long time middle standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal were no longer standing tall in the middle, rather they were playing on the wings this match. With injuries sidelining expected starters Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske the Spartans have moved their starting middles from the previous two seasons to the wings. This move has made the TWU team extremely big and having four middles on the court give the Spartans a block the Green Bay Packers O-Line would be proud of. It would seem natural that with four middles on the court the team would lose some reception and defense but this was not visually the case. The ball control was solid and the blocking and attacking was much more than solid.
Game three was much more competitive as the Wolfpack played their best set trying to stave off the sweep but a late comeback by the Spartans finished off the night with a 26-24 three set sweep. The teams, sensing the crowd wanted more, agreed to play another set which gave TWU a chance to get some of the younglings in and a taste of playing in front of the Spartan friendly crowd. The young lads of Sparta were great down the stretch and served ace bombs. A total of 7 aces from freshmen Branden Schmid (Calgary, AB) and Nick Del Bianco (Langley, BC) finished off the night and gave the Spartans a 4-0 win.
After the match the Spartan Faithful and Friends were treated to a Russia Tour recap. The athletes shared their highlights and some of the forming experiences the team had while on their two week tour in Russia. It was a great night of sharing and connecting between all generations of Spartan Men's Volleyball. All in all it was a special night. Spartans win, share and all went home happy, maybe not TRU but there is always another day...that day would be Friday.
October 8th: vs TRU @ Langley Events Centre - Home of the Spartans
The Friday night match was the second of the mini tour between the Spartans and the Wolfpack. This was the first match played in the friendly confines of the Langley Events Centre which saw the home team only lose three times during the 2009-10 campaign. Like any wounded animal the Spartans were expecting the pack of Wolves from TRU to come out hot and ready to respond to the previous nights loss. The Spartans came out with bad intentions to defend their home soil and send the 'pack back to their den 0-2. The first set's score says it all 25-9. The Spartans controlled the set from start to finish only committing two unforced errors all set.
Set two saw Schmidt and Del Bianco make their LEC debut and they continued where the veterans left off helping the Spartans take game 2 25-12. The Spartans were playing with great energy and continued to block the ball extremely well. Assistant coach Ryan Adams is in charge of the Spartan block and though TWU has looked good in training blocking even he could not expect the proficiency the home squad blocked the ball with. The third set ended 25-17 and ran the total for the 7 sets to 36 stuff blocks. While under Head Coach Ben Josephson the Spartans have come to be known as a defensive/ball control team based around a highly efficient offense. Now with the addition of a dominating block the Spartans are building a multi-dimensional team that can win in a variety of ways.
After the first two matches of the week TWU was feeling really good as they draw first blood in the TRU v TWU rivalry in 2010. While the wins looked lopsided this will not likely be the case when TRU returns for the Canada West home opener November 5th. CIS rookie of the year in 2009-10 Kevin Tillie was injured and played libero on the second night. Tillie is a very dangerous weapon for the 'pack and with him healthy the matches will take on a very different appearance, but hopefully for the Spartan Faithful the same result.
Look for the next edition of the inter provincial rivalry to take place at the LEC November 5th & 6th.
Go Spartans!!!
This was a busy week for Spartan Men's Volleyball. Two matches with TRU on Oct 7th & 8th followed by a 5 match weekend tournament at Douglas College. All tolled it was..."great success" for the Spartans.
October 7th, 2010: vs TRU @ MEI, Abbotsford, BC
The first match of the weekend was against long time rival Thompson Rivers University from Kamloops. For those unaware of the rivalry it is often heated and very competitive as the recent Canada West member Wolfpack team has quickly become a force in the league grabbing three national championship appearances including a bronze medal. These same Wolfpackers also knocked the Spartans out of the Canada West playoffs in 2009. Needless to say whenever these two teams collide there is fireworks. The match on October 7th was no different.
The match was hosted by Mennonite Educational Institute which is the standard of BC High School Boy's volleyball winning the previous 5 provincial AA titles and 7 of the last 8. The Eagles have produced many great Spartans as well as T-Birds and Wolfpack players. The current Spartan roster showcases two former Eagles in setter Ben Ball (4th) and libero John Wiebe (3rd). Just prior to the match these two MEI greats were honored in a special ceremony with TRU libero Matt Kruger. All three athletes are two time provincial senior champions and were given commemorative picture collages to remember their time at MEI with.
The crowd was in high spirits as this was their first view of the 2010-11 edition of the Spartans and many alumni, family members and Spartan Faithful were in attendance. The match got off to a good start for the home team as the Spartans blocked their way to a first set win of 25-17.
Game two was more of the same from the Spartans as they lead the whole way finishing the set with a score of 25-17. The TWU lineup is a bit curious to those who've followed the Spartans over the past couple of years. Long time middle standouts Rudy Verhoeff and Josh Doornenbal were no longer standing tall in the middle, rather they were playing on the wings this match. With injuries sidelining expected starters Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske the Spartans have moved their starting middles from the previous two seasons to the wings. This move has made the TWU team extremely big and having four middles on the court give the Spartans a block the Green Bay Packers O-Line would be proud of. It would seem natural that with four middles on the court the team would lose some reception and defense but this was not visually the case. The ball control was solid and the blocking and attacking was much more than solid.
Game three was much more competitive as the Wolfpack played their best set trying to stave off the sweep but a late comeback by the Spartans finished off the night with a 26-24 three set sweep. The teams, sensing the crowd wanted more, agreed to play another set which gave TWU a chance to get some of the younglings in and a taste of playing in front of the Spartan friendly crowd. The young lads of Sparta were great down the stretch and served ace bombs. A total of 7 aces from freshmen Branden Schmid (Calgary, AB) and Nick Del Bianco (Langley, BC) finished off the night and gave the Spartans a 4-0 win.
After the match the Spartan Faithful and Friends were treated to a Russia Tour recap. The athletes shared their highlights and some of the forming experiences the team had while on their two week tour in Russia. It was a great night of sharing and connecting between all generations of Spartan Men's Volleyball. All in all it was a special night. Spartans win, share and all went home happy, maybe not TRU but there is always another day...that day would be Friday.
October 8th: vs TRU @ Langley Events Centre - Home of the Spartans
The Friday night match was the second of the mini tour between the Spartans and the Wolfpack. This was the first match played in the friendly confines of the Langley Events Centre which saw the home team only lose three times during the 2009-10 campaign. Like any wounded animal the Spartans were expecting the pack of Wolves from TRU to come out hot and ready to respond to the previous nights loss. The Spartans came out with bad intentions to defend their home soil and send the 'pack back to their den 0-2. The first set's score says it all 25-9. The Spartans controlled the set from start to finish only committing two unforced errors all set.
Set two saw Schmidt and Del Bianco make their LEC debut and they continued where the veterans left off helping the Spartans take game 2 25-12. The Spartans were playing with great energy and continued to block the ball extremely well. Assistant coach Ryan Adams is in charge of the Spartan block and though TWU has looked good in training blocking even he could not expect the proficiency the home squad blocked the ball with. The third set ended 25-17 and ran the total for the 7 sets to 36 stuff blocks. While under Head Coach Ben Josephson the Spartans have come to be known as a defensive/ball control team based around a highly efficient offense. Now with the addition of a dominating block the Spartans are building a multi-dimensional team that can win in a variety of ways.
After the first two matches of the week TWU was feeling really good as they draw first blood in the TRU v TWU rivalry in 2010. While the wins looked lopsided this will not likely be the case when TRU returns for the Canada West home opener November 5th. CIS rookie of the year in 2009-10 Kevin Tillie was injured and played libero on the second night. Tillie is a very dangerous weapon for the 'pack and with him healthy the matches will take on a very different appearance, but hopefully for the Spartan Faithful the same result.
Look for the next edition of the inter provincial rivalry to take place at the LEC November 5th & 6th.
Go Spartans!!!
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Players to watch this week
October 5th, 2010 - Langley, BC
As this weekend's matches loom closer and the Spartans are getting amped up for another Canada West exhibition series we want to look at a couple players that will receive a bulk of the playing time.
Tale of Two Giants:
This season's preseason training has showcased two of the rising young stars for the TWU Spartans. Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (3rd Middle) and Lucas Van Berkel (2nd Middle) have been in the middle (pun intended) of a great battle. Heading into the season it looked like one of the two giants would start while the other would be in a reserve role. As the season looms closer these two have been two of the top performers in practice and in training thus far. Standing 6'8 & 6'9 respectively, Dan and Lucas have made eachother better by competing daily head to head. When teams have depth as the Spartans do this year the concept of iron sharpens iron becomes a very real and dangerous weapon. Dan and Lucas are the recipients of that sharpening as they prepare to cut up some opponents in the weeks to come.
Daniel Jansen Van Doorn:
Heading into his third year with the team Dan has worked hard to put himself into a position to be a threat in Canada West. His training and work away from the court over the past two seasons are now paying dividends in his on court performance. While he still has a lot to learn about performing on a day in and day out basis his high end potential keeps raising. This past off season Dan has put his body in a shape that matches his stature...huge. He has trimmed some of the young athlete excess and has left himself an explosive and quick toolbox to work from. He has always been a dominant presence blocking but now he is adding an attacking presence that makes him a multi-dimentional player. Add an improving jump serve and we may be witnessing the coming out party of a Canada West star.
Lucas Van Berkel:
He came to TWU as a highly recruited player from Edmonton Christian High School and Northern Alberta Volleyball Club. His final decision came down to the Bears of Alberta and the Spartans. The Faithful and Spartans are all thankful to be the beneficiaries of Lucas' decision. At 6'9 Lucas possesses international size and after this summer's experience on the Junior National Team he also has some international experience. Lucas finished the NORCECA tournament as the 4th highest rated plus/minus player in the tournament based on stats compiled by Volleyball Canada. His performance was impressive on its own but considering the fact that Lucas had season ending surgery last January it makes his quick recovery to the international age group level the more impressive. Lucas' special skill set of size and athleticism hasnt been seen to this level a lot in the Canada West. Combine that with his tireless work ethic and you have a budding superstar.
Look for these two to garner a lot of playing time through the preseason for the Spartans. The injury bug has hit the Langley squad and the response has been to move the previous two season's starting middle players to the wings. Rudy Verhoeff (4th) and Josh Doornenbal (5th) have been mainstays in the middle of the Spartan formation for the past two years together. They were arguably the top middle pairing over these seasons. Now in the wake of the injuries they have been training and playing wide opening up the middle of the court for Giants. While injuries often hurt a team beyond repair this season's injuries have given the opportunity for both of these two giants to step in to a playing role. While their head to head battles continue to rage they are no longer competing to see who plays. Now they are competing to make each other better in the attempt to take it out on who ever dares oppose the Spartans.
Look for the giant sighting to take place this Thursday, October 7th at 6pm in Abbotsford, BC at MEI where the Spartans take on the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.
Go Spartans!!!
As this weekend's matches loom closer and the Spartans are getting amped up for another Canada West exhibition series we want to look at a couple players that will receive a bulk of the playing time.
Tale of Two Giants:
This season's preseason training has showcased two of the rising young stars for the TWU Spartans. Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (3rd Middle) and Lucas Van Berkel (2nd Middle) have been in the middle (pun intended) of a great battle. Heading into the season it looked like one of the two giants would start while the other would be in a reserve role. As the season looms closer these two have been two of the top performers in practice and in training thus far. Standing 6'8 & 6'9 respectively, Dan and Lucas have made eachother better by competing daily head to head. When teams have depth as the Spartans do this year the concept of iron sharpens iron becomes a very real and dangerous weapon. Dan and Lucas are the recipients of that sharpening as they prepare to cut up some opponents in the weeks to come.
Daniel Jansen Van Doorn:
Heading into his third year with the team Dan has worked hard to put himself into a position to be a threat in Canada West. His training and work away from the court over the past two seasons are now paying dividends in his on court performance. While he still has a lot to learn about performing on a day in and day out basis his high end potential keeps raising. This past off season Dan has put his body in a shape that matches his stature...huge. He has trimmed some of the young athlete excess and has left himself an explosive and quick toolbox to work from. He has always been a dominant presence blocking but now he is adding an attacking presence that makes him a multi-dimentional player. Add an improving jump serve and we may be witnessing the coming out party of a Canada West star.
Lucas Van Berkel:
He came to TWU as a highly recruited player from Edmonton Christian High School and Northern Alberta Volleyball Club. His final decision came down to the Bears of Alberta and the Spartans. The Faithful and Spartans are all thankful to be the beneficiaries of Lucas' decision. At 6'9 Lucas possesses international size and after this summer's experience on the Junior National Team he also has some international experience. Lucas finished the NORCECA tournament as the 4th highest rated plus/minus player in the tournament based on stats compiled by Volleyball Canada. His performance was impressive on its own but considering the fact that Lucas had season ending surgery last January it makes his quick recovery to the international age group level the more impressive. Lucas' special skill set of size and athleticism hasnt been seen to this level a lot in the Canada West. Combine that with his tireless work ethic and you have a budding superstar.
Look for these two to garner a lot of playing time through the preseason for the Spartans. The injury bug has hit the Langley squad and the response has been to move the previous two season's starting middle players to the wings. Rudy Verhoeff (4th) and Josh Doornenbal (5th) have been mainstays in the middle of the Spartan formation for the past two years together. They were arguably the top middle pairing over these seasons. Now in the wake of the injuries they have been training and playing wide opening up the middle of the court for Giants. While injuries often hurt a team beyond repair this season's injuries have given the opportunity for both of these two giants to step in to a playing role. While their head to head battles continue to rage they are no longer competing to see who plays. Now they are competing to make each other better in the attempt to take it out on who ever dares oppose the Spartans.
Look for the giant sighting to take place this Thursday, October 7th at 6pm in Abbotsford, BC at MEI where the Spartans take on the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.
Go Spartans!!!
Monday, October 04, 2010
Things are about to get interesting...
October 4th, 2010 - Langley, BC
This week begins the long haul over the next 7 weeks taking the Spartan Men's Volleyball team right through the first semester. After a busy preseason already the Volley-boys from Tee-Dub now embark on a cross country romp beginning this weekend locally taking them out to Halifax and Fredericton and then back again to finish the semester in the friendly confines of the LEC.
Not sure what brainiac decided it was a good idea for the Spartans to have 28 preseason matches but whats done is done. At the time the roster looked deep but now injuries have taken their toll. While the healthy bodies are more than capable of taking on all comers their once deep ranks have been thinned.
This weekend the mighty Spartans take on 6 matches all locally:
October 7th 6pm vs Thompson Rivers Wolfpack @ MEI in Abbotsford
October 8th 7pm vs Thompson Rivers Wolfpack @ LEC in Langley, BC
October 9th & 10th: Douglas College Tournament, New Westminster, BC
Oct. 9th 10am vs Capilano Blues @ Douglas College
Oct. 9th 1pm vs Douglas Royals @ Douglas College
Oct. 10th 10am vs UFV Cascades @ Douglas College
Oct. 10th TBD vs TBD
October 13th 8pm vs Columbia Bible College @ Langley Christian HS in Langley, BC
October 15-17th: Queen's University Tournament
Oct. 15th 8pm vs Queen's Gaels @ Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario
Oct. 16th 6pm vs Western Mustangs @ Queen's University in Kingston, ON
Oct. 17th 1pm vs Brandon Bobcats @ Queen's University in Kingston, ON
October 18th TBD vs Team Canada Full Time Centre Athletes (To Be Confirmed)
October 19th TBD vs UNB Reds @ University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB
October 20th TBD vs UNB Reds @ University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB
October 21st TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
October 22nd TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
October 23rd TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
whew...that was tiring just to type...sorry fellas.
Then Canada West Conference play begins:
October 29/30 @ UBC T-Birds in Vancouver, BC
November 5/6 vs TRU Wolfpack @ LEC in Langley ---- HOME OPENER!!!
November 12/13 @ Regina Cougars in Regina, Saskatchewan
November 19/20 @ Alberta Bears in Edmonton, Alberta
November 26/27 vs Winnipeg Wesmen @ LEC in Langley --- LAST GAMES OF SEMESTER!!!
and that ladies and gentlemen is how to run a team through the gauntlet. The first question is why? Well, looking at this year's team and the opportunity to host the National Championships in March we have an opportunity to develop two teams during the first semester without worrying about the potential for losing a match here or there due to exhaustion. This schedule allows us to prepare the current 'core' for this year's run towards the Championship in March. While allowing us to prepare the 'next cycle' for their turn as they take over the reigns once the older guys begin to graduate. The opportunity for the babies and toddler Spartans to play in meaningful matches this early in their careers will pay huge dividends later giving them more experiences on court to rely upon when their time comes to be middle children and old men.
The strength of the 10-11 Spartans is their depth. 1-15 they can all play and sustain the level of play regardless of who is on the court. This depth also allows us to train at an extremely high level day in and day out as the "2nd Side" can battle with most anyone in the country and the "1st Unit" makes sure on a daily basis that they are prepared to play the best. This model has been stolen from Coach Pete Carroll during his time at Univeristy of Southern California. Their motto was "always compete" and they created an environment in practice that was as if not more competitive than their regular season matches on the weekend. This allowed them to play with a toughness and focus that was unmatched for the better part of a decade. While Spartan Men's Volleyball has a long way to go before we can claim the level of the USC Trojan Football Program it has to start somewhere.
This weekend begins the long run toward the end of November when the semester ends and the arrival of the newest and youngest Spartan is sure to add to the team's depth.
Go Jen & Go Spartans!!!
This week begins the long haul over the next 7 weeks taking the Spartan Men's Volleyball team right through the first semester. After a busy preseason already the Volley-boys from Tee-Dub now embark on a cross country romp beginning this weekend locally taking them out to Halifax and Fredericton and then back again to finish the semester in the friendly confines of the LEC.
Not sure what brainiac decided it was a good idea for the Spartans to have 28 preseason matches but whats done is done. At the time the roster looked deep but now injuries have taken their toll. While the healthy bodies are more than capable of taking on all comers their once deep ranks have been thinned.
This weekend the mighty Spartans take on 6 matches all locally:
October 7th 6pm vs Thompson Rivers Wolfpack @ MEI in Abbotsford
October 8th 7pm vs Thompson Rivers Wolfpack @ LEC in Langley, BC
October 9th & 10th: Douglas College Tournament, New Westminster, BC
Oct. 9th 10am vs Capilano Blues @ Douglas College
Oct. 9th 1pm vs Douglas Royals @ Douglas College
Oct. 10th 10am vs UFV Cascades @ Douglas College
Oct. 10th TBD vs TBD
October 13th 8pm vs Columbia Bible College @ Langley Christian HS in Langley, BC
October 15-17th: Queen's University Tournament
Oct. 15th 8pm vs Queen's Gaels @ Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario
Oct. 16th 6pm vs Western Mustangs @ Queen's University in Kingston, ON
Oct. 17th 1pm vs Brandon Bobcats @ Queen's University in Kingston, ON
October 18th TBD vs Team Canada Full Time Centre Athletes (To Be Confirmed)
October 19th TBD vs UNB Reds @ University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB
October 20th TBD vs UNB Reds @ University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB
October 21st TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
October 22nd TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
October 23rd TBD vs Dalhousie Tigers @ Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS
whew...that was tiring just to type...sorry fellas.
Then Canada West Conference play begins:
October 29/30 @ UBC T-Birds in Vancouver, BC
November 5/6 vs TRU Wolfpack @ LEC in Langley ---- HOME OPENER!!!
November 12/13 @ Regina Cougars in Regina, Saskatchewan
November 19/20 @ Alberta Bears in Edmonton, Alberta
November 26/27 vs Winnipeg Wesmen @ LEC in Langley --- LAST GAMES OF SEMESTER!!!
and that ladies and gentlemen is how to run a team through the gauntlet. The first question is why? Well, looking at this year's team and the opportunity to host the National Championships in March we have an opportunity to develop two teams during the first semester without worrying about the potential for losing a match here or there due to exhaustion. This schedule allows us to prepare the current 'core' for this year's run towards the Championship in March. While allowing us to prepare the 'next cycle' for their turn as they take over the reigns once the older guys begin to graduate. The opportunity for the babies and toddler Spartans to play in meaningful matches this early in their careers will pay huge dividends later giving them more experiences on court to rely upon when their time comes to be middle children and old men.
The strength of the 10-11 Spartans is their depth. 1-15 they can all play and sustain the level of play regardless of who is on the court. This depth also allows us to train at an extremely high level day in and day out as the "2nd Side" can battle with most anyone in the country and the "1st Unit" makes sure on a daily basis that they are prepared to play the best. This model has been stolen from Coach Pete Carroll during his time at Univeristy of Southern California. Their motto was "always compete" and they created an environment in practice that was as if not more competitive than their regular season matches on the weekend. This allowed them to play with a toughness and focus that was unmatched for the better part of a decade. While Spartan Men's Volleyball has a long way to go before we can claim the level of the USC Trojan Football Program it has to start somewhere.
This weekend begins the long run toward the end of November when the semester ends and the arrival of the newest and youngest Spartan is sure to add to the team's depth.
Go Jen & Go Spartans!!!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Okanagan Tour 2010 Recap
September 27th, 2010: Langley, BC
This past weekend the 2010-2011 Spartan Men's Volleyball team travelled to the beautiful Okanagan area in BC to play a three game exhibition tour. This is the 9th edition of the Okanagan Tour which pits the Spartans against the Bears as the feature matches of the tour with the third tilt with the UBC-O Heat.
The Okanagan Tour is the traditional "kick off" of the season. Nothing says a new season is about to begin like the van ride to Penticton on a thursday afternoon en route to take on a perennially strong Alberta Bears squad. The history between the Bears and Spartans is stuff of legend and one of Canada West's great rivalries in recent years. The Bears have been in 8 of the last 9 CIS National Finals while the Spartans have been in 3 of the last 6. In the last 9 years these two programs have combined for 14 national medals. Needless to say these early exhibition matches are often a showcase of teams that hope to contend for the championship every March.
This year was to be no different as both teams return the bulk of their core for the 10-11 season. The first match was played in Penticton, BC at Princess Margaret High School. This was the 6th year the kick off match of the tour was played at Princess Margaret and as always they did a great job of hosting. A good crowd was on hand and the environment was great for an early preseason match. Right away it was clear that the Spartans were the more match ready squad as they went out to an early lead of 18-12. In typical OK Tour fashion nothing was going to come easy as the tough Bears team rallied and tightened up the score pushing the Spartans and just narrowly missing out losing 25-23. The first set was highlighted by a couple middle bombs dropped by Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (3rd Middle) and Josh Doornenbal (5th Middle/Outside) late in the set to seal the deal.
Game two was almost a carbon copy of game one with the Spartans going out to an 18-13 lead with the Bears closing the gap late ending in the same score of 25-23. Game two was characterized by some tough serving from Nick Del Bianco (1st Left Side) and Rudy Verhoeff (4th Outside) combining for 4 aces in the set. The Spartans were working on a new formation that featured three middles on the court at the same time. This is something the Langley squad has been working on since early spring in preparation for this coming season. The benefit puts Verhoeff and Doornenbal in position to get more scoring opportunities while allowing one of the young "giants" to patrol the middle of the court and impose their size. DVD (Daniel JVD) got the start in the "Big" spot in the formation and was just that in the second set.
The third set was a reminder that this was still preseason as Coach Josephson made a lineup error. Lucas Van Berkel was inserted into the "Big" position in the formation but instead of Doornenbal, DVD was slotted into one of the "Athelte" positions. Not a huge deal as Daniel is more than capable of playing the spot though he nor the team had never trained in that formation. The initial confusion of the coaching error cost the Spartans a few early points as they tried to figure out the rotations. After going down 4-8 they caught their game rhythm and pushed ahead finishing match with a 25-19 set win and a 3-0 match win to open the domestic preseason schedule.
After the match the two teams had a chance to catch up as there are a lot of preexisting relationships on the two squads. Many of these two teams have athletes that grew up playing club, provincial and national teams together. It is always fun to compete against former teammates in healthy rivalry. This match marks one of the few times the Spartans have beat the Bears in the Okanagan Tour and after the '09 tour's 0-9 set ratio it was good for TWU to get off the schnide on the first night.
After a short sleep the Spartans departed Penticton for Kelowna and another tradition on the Okanagan Tour...Paintball. Every OK Tour the TWU team does some "team building" by shooting eachother with exploding orbs of paint. Nothing brings a team together like inflicting some pain...with love on eachother. This tradition goes back to 2004 when the inagural paintball battle took place on the fields of the Safari Paint Ball complex. As is the case every year many laughs, yelps, cheers and welts were had. While probably not the most effective prematch exercise the enjoyment factor is worth whatever price, financial or physical.
Later that Friday night the Spartans and Bears resumed the rivalry in a match hosted by the UBC-Okanagan Heat. This match was a mirror image of the previous night with the Bears looking strong right from the first serve while the Spartans struggled with execution. The Spartans did not look like they were prepared for the battle the Bears brought. The lesson of the day was that in Canada West every team is good and it is extremely difficult to beat a good team back to back. Once a team loses they get what we call the "skip" meaning they have the added motivation of pride coming from a loss. In order to combat the skip a team must be prepared to play even harder and battle even tougher if they intend to repeat the same outcome. The Bears utilized the skip while the Spartans did not prepare for the battle properly...another coaching blunder most likely. With that said the veteran Spartans, Verhoeff and Doornenbal, played great as the ability to perform on back to back nights is something they have learned to do over previous seasons. The younger Spartans struggled with execution much more and without a full team clicking it is highly unlikely to defeat a team like the Bears of Albera.
A common mantra for the Spartans is that losing doesnt teach anything, it just revels the lessons that need to be addressed to be attempted to learn at a later date. Winning is how learning is done, the ability to succeed shows that a lesson has been learned. This match put some good lessons on the table for the 10-11 Spartans to be learned at a later date, and these Spartans are good students.
The Saturday of Okanagan Tour is about shaping the identity and culture of the team. The team went to the shores of the beautiful Okanagan Lake to delve into what it means to be a Spartan. Coach Ryan Adams took the lead on this phase as he directed the team in a few "ice breaker" games to get the guys to understand the connectedness of a team and how each action affects the other members. The team was broken up into four "mentor" groups that will remain for the rest of the season. The groups chose names and made fight songs that honored their names. The humor and creativity of these lads never ceases to amaze as the Hammer, Humans, Babushkas and Derek Thiessen led Lights Out showcased their songs and...dances???
All joking aside the team got into some great discussion surrounding identity and culture. What a Spartan is, was and what they want this edition of Spartan Men's Volleyball to be. The legacy of this program is deep and the future is bright with this group. The exercises shared on the shore are crutial to the forming of the team. This day was special and was capped off with a Bible study on the Holy Spirit and what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
The spiritual focus that began in Russia has clearly remained a central theme for this team. A number of innitiatives have been laid out by the leaders of the team that will continue to push, challenge, encourage and develop these young men to be better men, teammates and children of God as the season progresses.
The first of these innitiatives began that evening as the team gathered in the team room at the UBC-O gymnasium. The act of communion between believers in rememberance of Christ's sacrifice is one that has been shared by believers since mere days before the beginning of Christianity. This is something that this team has decided was important to share in as they continue to develop the unity that community is based upon. Marc Howatson shared the history behind the tradition and then the team served eachother as Jesus did during the Last Supper. It was a great time of community and unity and set the team in a great frame of mind providing perspective and balance as they prepared for the final match of the Okanagan Tour.
The Saturday match was against the UBC-O Heat who will begin their innagural season in the Canada West the fall of 2011. They are coming off a CCAA National Bronze medal the year before and their team has improved with the addition of former T-Bird Greg (uh-oh) Niemasvadriet (sorry Greg, I tried) and the development of newly named Junior National Team Middle Blocker Chris Howe. These two talents along with 4th year setter Preston Tucker (Team BC Canada Games) and studly outside hitter Nate Speijer make the Heat a tough opponent for the Spartans. This match was to be the first domestic test for the "next" Spartan cycle. The Spartan babies and toddlers got the start: Del Bianco (1st), Thiessen (1st Medical Red Shirt), Schmidt (1st), Van Berkel (2nd), Kufske (2nd) and DVD (3rd). Add in Ben Ball (4th) and the young Spartan lineup got their first match together on home soil. The Heat were just that from the baseline giving the Spartans a lot of trouble in reception. As the young Spartans battled they began to fine their rhythm and Lights Out himself (Derek Thiessen) ended the first set on a brilliant lane fill C Ball kill to end the set 25-21.
Set two saw the Spartans continue to get more comfortable with eachother and their opponents and their play improved. Unfortunately the injury bug followed the Spartans back to Canada but bit the Heat this time. Just after pumping a ball, Chris Howe rolled an ankle and was out of the match. This was a blow to both teams as Chris is one of the main degrees of the Heat. He also is one of those players who is a lot of fun to compete against as his zest and love of...well, everything is infectious. One of the few players who cheers for every good play be it friend or foe. It was too bad he had to leave the match, but as the Spartans know all to well, injuries are part of the game (we miss you Marc...soon). The Spartans finished off the second set 25-21 with some middle dominance by the giants DVD & Berks.
Set three saw freshman setter Micah Jansen Van Doorn get the start. The last in the JVD clan that now has four siblings to have donned the Blue & White. Micah did a great job taking over for veteran (wierd to type) Ben Ball in guiding the Spartan offense. The lads didnt skip a beat and after a few reception issues early found great rhythm and defeated the Heat 25-19 and redeemed a 0-3 beating from last year's tour.
The match concluded with another innitiative this year's team wants to start as all of the Spartan Faithful in attendance joined the team on the court post game for a prayer time of thanks to God for the opportunity to worship through sport. A time of fellowship with some of the Heat players and coaches followed and then it was time to jump into the vans and head back to Langley.
The Okanagan Tour is a time to kick off the season, begin to form as a team, begin to lay the ground work for this year's culture and take the first steps on the journey of a season. It was a great first weekend of the season. The lessons learned and tabled from Russia were still with the team. New ones were learned and revealed. God was glorified and of course...
Go Spartans!!!
This past weekend the 2010-2011 Spartan Men's Volleyball team travelled to the beautiful Okanagan area in BC to play a three game exhibition tour. This is the 9th edition of the Okanagan Tour which pits the Spartans against the Bears as the feature matches of the tour with the third tilt with the UBC-O Heat.
The Okanagan Tour is the traditional "kick off" of the season. Nothing says a new season is about to begin like the van ride to Penticton on a thursday afternoon en route to take on a perennially strong Alberta Bears squad. The history between the Bears and Spartans is stuff of legend and one of Canada West's great rivalries in recent years. The Bears have been in 8 of the last 9 CIS National Finals while the Spartans have been in 3 of the last 6. In the last 9 years these two programs have combined for 14 national medals. Needless to say these early exhibition matches are often a showcase of teams that hope to contend for the championship every March.
This year was to be no different as both teams return the bulk of their core for the 10-11 season. The first match was played in Penticton, BC at Princess Margaret High School. This was the 6th year the kick off match of the tour was played at Princess Margaret and as always they did a great job of hosting. A good crowd was on hand and the environment was great for an early preseason match. Right away it was clear that the Spartans were the more match ready squad as they went out to an early lead of 18-12. In typical OK Tour fashion nothing was going to come easy as the tough Bears team rallied and tightened up the score pushing the Spartans and just narrowly missing out losing 25-23. The first set was highlighted by a couple middle bombs dropped by Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (3rd Middle) and Josh Doornenbal (5th Middle/Outside) late in the set to seal the deal.
Game two was almost a carbon copy of game one with the Spartans going out to an 18-13 lead with the Bears closing the gap late ending in the same score of 25-23. Game two was characterized by some tough serving from Nick Del Bianco (1st Left Side) and Rudy Verhoeff (4th Outside) combining for 4 aces in the set. The Spartans were working on a new formation that featured three middles on the court at the same time. This is something the Langley squad has been working on since early spring in preparation for this coming season. The benefit puts Verhoeff and Doornenbal in position to get more scoring opportunities while allowing one of the young "giants" to patrol the middle of the court and impose their size. DVD (Daniel JVD) got the start in the "Big" spot in the formation and was just that in the second set.
The third set was a reminder that this was still preseason as Coach Josephson made a lineup error. Lucas Van Berkel was inserted into the "Big" position in the formation but instead of Doornenbal, DVD was slotted into one of the "Athelte" positions. Not a huge deal as Daniel is more than capable of playing the spot though he nor the team had never trained in that formation. The initial confusion of the coaching error cost the Spartans a few early points as they tried to figure out the rotations. After going down 4-8 they caught their game rhythm and pushed ahead finishing match with a 25-19 set win and a 3-0 match win to open the domestic preseason schedule.
After the match the two teams had a chance to catch up as there are a lot of preexisting relationships on the two squads. Many of these two teams have athletes that grew up playing club, provincial and national teams together. It is always fun to compete against former teammates in healthy rivalry. This match marks one of the few times the Spartans have beat the Bears in the Okanagan Tour and after the '09 tour's 0-9 set ratio it was good for TWU to get off the schnide on the first night.
After a short sleep the Spartans departed Penticton for Kelowna and another tradition on the Okanagan Tour...Paintball. Every OK Tour the TWU team does some "team building" by shooting eachother with exploding orbs of paint. Nothing brings a team together like inflicting some pain...with love on eachother. This tradition goes back to 2004 when the inagural paintball battle took place on the fields of the Safari Paint Ball complex. As is the case every year many laughs, yelps, cheers and welts were had. While probably not the most effective prematch exercise the enjoyment factor is worth whatever price, financial or physical.
Later that Friday night the Spartans and Bears resumed the rivalry in a match hosted by the UBC-Okanagan Heat. This match was a mirror image of the previous night with the Bears looking strong right from the first serve while the Spartans struggled with execution. The Spartans did not look like they were prepared for the battle the Bears brought. The lesson of the day was that in Canada West every team is good and it is extremely difficult to beat a good team back to back. Once a team loses they get what we call the "skip" meaning they have the added motivation of pride coming from a loss. In order to combat the skip a team must be prepared to play even harder and battle even tougher if they intend to repeat the same outcome. The Bears utilized the skip while the Spartans did not prepare for the battle properly...another coaching blunder most likely. With that said the veteran Spartans, Verhoeff and Doornenbal, played great as the ability to perform on back to back nights is something they have learned to do over previous seasons. The younger Spartans struggled with execution much more and without a full team clicking it is highly unlikely to defeat a team like the Bears of Albera.
A common mantra for the Spartans is that losing doesnt teach anything, it just revels the lessons that need to be addressed to be attempted to learn at a later date. Winning is how learning is done, the ability to succeed shows that a lesson has been learned. This match put some good lessons on the table for the 10-11 Spartans to be learned at a later date, and these Spartans are good students.
The Saturday of Okanagan Tour is about shaping the identity and culture of the team. The team went to the shores of the beautiful Okanagan Lake to delve into what it means to be a Spartan. Coach Ryan Adams took the lead on this phase as he directed the team in a few "ice breaker" games to get the guys to understand the connectedness of a team and how each action affects the other members. The team was broken up into four "mentor" groups that will remain for the rest of the season. The groups chose names and made fight songs that honored their names. The humor and creativity of these lads never ceases to amaze as the Hammer, Humans, Babushkas and Derek Thiessen led Lights Out showcased their songs and...dances???
All joking aside the team got into some great discussion surrounding identity and culture. What a Spartan is, was and what they want this edition of Spartan Men's Volleyball to be. The legacy of this program is deep and the future is bright with this group. The exercises shared on the shore are crutial to the forming of the team. This day was special and was capped off with a Bible study on the Holy Spirit and what it means to be filled with the Spirit.
The spiritual focus that began in Russia has clearly remained a central theme for this team. A number of innitiatives have been laid out by the leaders of the team that will continue to push, challenge, encourage and develop these young men to be better men, teammates and children of God as the season progresses.
The first of these innitiatives began that evening as the team gathered in the team room at the UBC-O gymnasium. The act of communion between believers in rememberance of Christ's sacrifice is one that has been shared by believers since mere days before the beginning of Christianity. This is something that this team has decided was important to share in as they continue to develop the unity that community is based upon. Marc Howatson shared the history behind the tradition and then the team served eachother as Jesus did during the Last Supper. It was a great time of community and unity and set the team in a great frame of mind providing perspective and balance as they prepared for the final match of the Okanagan Tour.
The Saturday match was against the UBC-O Heat who will begin their innagural season in the Canada West the fall of 2011. They are coming off a CCAA National Bronze medal the year before and their team has improved with the addition of former T-Bird Greg (uh-oh) Niemasvadriet (sorry Greg, I tried) and the development of newly named Junior National Team Middle Blocker Chris Howe. These two talents along with 4th year setter Preston Tucker (Team BC Canada Games) and studly outside hitter Nate Speijer make the Heat a tough opponent for the Spartans. This match was to be the first domestic test for the "next" Spartan cycle. The Spartan babies and toddlers got the start: Del Bianco (1st), Thiessen (1st Medical Red Shirt), Schmidt (1st), Van Berkel (2nd), Kufske (2nd) and DVD (3rd). Add in Ben Ball (4th) and the young Spartan lineup got their first match together on home soil. The Heat were just that from the baseline giving the Spartans a lot of trouble in reception. As the young Spartans battled they began to fine their rhythm and Lights Out himself (Derek Thiessen) ended the first set on a brilliant lane fill C Ball kill to end the set 25-21.
Set two saw the Spartans continue to get more comfortable with eachother and their opponents and their play improved. Unfortunately the injury bug followed the Spartans back to Canada but bit the Heat this time. Just after pumping a ball, Chris Howe rolled an ankle and was out of the match. This was a blow to both teams as Chris is one of the main degrees of the Heat. He also is one of those players who is a lot of fun to compete against as his zest and love of...well, everything is infectious. One of the few players who cheers for every good play be it friend or foe. It was too bad he had to leave the match, but as the Spartans know all to well, injuries are part of the game (we miss you Marc...soon). The Spartans finished off the second set 25-21 with some middle dominance by the giants DVD & Berks.
Set three saw freshman setter Micah Jansen Van Doorn get the start. The last in the JVD clan that now has four siblings to have donned the Blue & White. Micah did a great job taking over for veteran (wierd to type) Ben Ball in guiding the Spartan offense. The lads didnt skip a beat and after a few reception issues early found great rhythm and defeated the Heat 25-19 and redeemed a 0-3 beating from last year's tour.
The match concluded with another innitiative this year's team wants to start as all of the Spartan Faithful in attendance joined the team on the court post game for a prayer time of thanks to God for the opportunity to worship through sport. A time of fellowship with some of the Heat players and coaches followed and then it was time to jump into the vans and head back to Langley.
The Okanagan Tour is a time to kick off the season, begin to form as a team, begin to lay the ground work for this year's culture and take the first steps on the journey of a season. It was a great first weekend of the season. The lessons learned and tabled from Russia were still with the team. New ones were learned and revealed. God was glorified and of course...
Go Spartans!!!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Spartans: Week 2 - Okanagan Tour Week
September 20th, 2010 - Langley, BC
This marks the beginning of week 2 for the 2010-2011 edition of the TWU Spartan Men's Volleyball Team. Considering the season has been going for 16 days prior to the official week 1 in Russia things are going exceedingly well. The team after coming back from Russia is quite beat up. The 10 matches in 12 days with little to no therapy and no ice (come on, no ice in Russia what are the odds) meant the nagging injuries or hurts went unattended and began to really nag the athletes. A lot of the Spartans were playing during the summer and many picked up "overuse" hurts (are you hurt or are you injured...hurt players can play, injured players cannot) that now have to be attended to.
This is to be a short week with the team departing for the annual Okanagan Tour with the University of Alberta Bears and the UBC-Okanagan Heat. The first game of the tour will be thursday night, September 23rd versus the Bears in Penticton, BC. Game 2 will be Friday, September 24th against those same Bears from Alberta but in Kelowna at the beautiful UBC-Okanagan campus at 8pm. The final match of the tour will be against future Canada West rival beginning fall of 2011, the UBC-O Heat.
This Okanagan Tour is a long time Spartan tradition as the Spartans and Bears have been doing this exhibition tour for around eight seasons with some epic matches being played. This year's edition of the tour looks to be just as exciting as previous years with both Alberta and TWU medalling at last year's CIS National Championship in Kamloops (Alberta 3rd, TWU 2nd). Both perennial contenders for the CIS Title will be in the hunt again this year as the two squads return the bulk of their starting line ups from a year ago.
Adding to the excitement this year will be the match against the Heat of UBC-O. One year ago the CCAA Bronze medalists beat the Spartans in a laugher 3-0. The Heat, who will begin CIS play in the fall of 2011 boast a great CCAA line up that will be able to make the jump to Canada West play quite smoothly under the leadership of coach Greg "Potsy" Poitras. A coach with one of the best down ball arms around has put together a very physical team led by Canadian Junior National Team middle blocker Chris Howe and the BCCAA's most dominant outside hitter Nate Speijer. While the Spartans look to avoid another defeat the Heat will look to cut their Canwest teeth in preparation for their move to the big leagues.
The Spartans, who in recent years, have struggled in the preseason look to start the 10-11 campaign in style. A year ago the TWU squad only won one preseason match against Canadian competition. This year the Spartans head to the Okanagan with a number more matches under their belt from the Russian Tour. That match experience on a young Spartan squad, seems like we say that every year somehow, should allow the Spartans to play beyond their 8 practice experience.
Look for TWU to play a variety of line ups in the matches this weekend as they look to find the right combination of players to fill the gaps left by Steve Marshal & Paul Linemulder's departure from last season's silver medal winning team. The projected left sides Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske are both out with injury and will not be available to play this weekend so the question of left side play will remain open. Mikiah Schalk (5th year), freshman Nick Del Bianco and former middle Rudy Verhoeff will shoulder most of the load in the passing attacker (noosh) role.
The surprise of the preseason training has been the play of Daniel Jansen Van Doorn who put a ton of work into getting himself ready for this season in his off season training. His hard work has paid dividends as his testing numbers were off the charts . DVD, as he is affectionately called by teammates, tied for the hightest spike touch at 11'7 and was half an inch off Spartan legend Chris Meehan's block touch record of 10'10.5". Dan's numbers put him along side many international middle blocker's jump testing numbers. His 6'11 wing span is an imposing figure to go along with a 6'8 frame.
Along with Dan, 4th year setter Ben Ball has been extremely impressive in preseason training and on the Russian Tour. Ben is heading into his 4th year and has started all but his first semester as a Spartan. As one of the most gifted athletes ever to wear a Spartan uniform he is the engine that runs the Spartan machine and he has never looked better than he has this fall. His physical testing numbers were impressive but so too has his playmaking ability. Look for Ben to turn heads this year and the Spartans try to defend their title as the top attacking team in Canada West (1st in Kills/Game).
Finally, the biggest question, both in and out of the Spartan camp has been who will pick up the kills left by departing all conference player and Spartan kill leader Steve Marshall. The easy answer was Marc Howatson but with his ankle injury making him unavailable until at least mid-semester the role goes to fellow National Team member Rudy Verhoeff who looks to make the move to the wing for the first time in his CIS career. Rudy was among the top middles in the CIS the past two seasons but now he must reprove himself as a wing player. For those who know Rudy it comes as no surprise that he has worked very hard improving his physicality, passing and attacking ability. He tested at 11'6, up from 11'4, and has become a very stable passer. His lightning fast arm and aggressive nature make him a very potent offensive force potentially and a more than adaquate replacement for Marshall on the wing.
With their ticket already booked to the National Championship this March by way of the host berth the Spartans have the entire season to find the right combination of players, style of play and mentality to make a run to return to the National Final...this time with hopes of a different outcome.
This quest begins in just three days...the Faithful, Spartans, Bears & Heat are all excited to see what awaits this weekend in the beautiful interior BC towns of Penticton and Kelowna. Stay tuned to this blog & gospartans.ca for match details.
Go Spartans!!!
This marks the beginning of week 2 for the 2010-2011 edition of the TWU Spartan Men's Volleyball Team. Considering the season has been going for 16 days prior to the official week 1 in Russia things are going exceedingly well. The team after coming back from Russia is quite beat up. The 10 matches in 12 days with little to no therapy and no ice (come on, no ice in Russia what are the odds) meant the nagging injuries or hurts went unattended and began to really nag the athletes. A lot of the Spartans were playing during the summer and many picked up "overuse" hurts (are you hurt or are you injured...hurt players can play, injured players cannot) that now have to be attended to.
This is to be a short week with the team departing for the annual Okanagan Tour with the University of Alberta Bears and the UBC-Okanagan Heat. The first game of the tour will be thursday night, September 23rd versus the Bears in Penticton, BC. Game 2 will be Friday, September 24th against those same Bears from Alberta but in Kelowna at the beautiful UBC-Okanagan campus at 8pm. The final match of the tour will be against future Canada West rival beginning fall of 2011, the UBC-O Heat.
This Okanagan Tour is a long time Spartan tradition as the Spartans and Bears have been doing this exhibition tour for around eight seasons with some epic matches being played. This year's edition of the tour looks to be just as exciting as previous years with both Alberta and TWU medalling at last year's CIS National Championship in Kamloops (Alberta 3rd, TWU 2nd). Both perennial contenders for the CIS Title will be in the hunt again this year as the two squads return the bulk of their starting line ups from a year ago.
Adding to the excitement this year will be the match against the Heat of UBC-O. One year ago the CCAA Bronze medalists beat the Spartans in a laugher 3-0. The Heat, who will begin CIS play in the fall of 2011 boast a great CCAA line up that will be able to make the jump to Canada West play quite smoothly under the leadership of coach Greg "Potsy" Poitras. A coach with one of the best down ball arms around has put together a very physical team led by Canadian Junior National Team middle blocker Chris Howe and the BCCAA's most dominant outside hitter Nate Speijer. While the Spartans look to avoid another defeat the Heat will look to cut their Canwest teeth in preparation for their move to the big leagues.
The Spartans, who in recent years, have struggled in the preseason look to start the 10-11 campaign in style. A year ago the TWU squad only won one preseason match against Canadian competition. This year the Spartans head to the Okanagan with a number more matches under their belt from the Russian Tour. That match experience on a young Spartan squad, seems like we say that every year somehow, should allow the Spartans to play beyond their 8 practice experience.
Look for TWU to play a variety of line ups in the matches this weekend as they look to find the right combination of players to fill the gaps left by Steve Marshal & Paul Linemulder's departure from last season's silver medal winning team. The projected left sides Marc Howatson and Brad Kufske are both out with injury and will not be available to play this weekend so the question of left side play will remain open. Mikiah Schalk (5th year), freshman Nick Del Bianco and former middle Rudy Verhoeff will shoulder most of the load in the passing attacker (noosh) role.
The surprise of the preseason training has been the play of Daniel Jansen Van Doorn who put a ton of work into getting himself ready for this season in his off season training. His hard work has paid dividends as his testing numbers were off the charts . DVD, as he is affectionately called by teammates, tied for the hightest spike touch at 11'7 and was half an inch off Spartan legend Chris Meehan's block touch record of 10'10.5". Dan's numbers put him along side many international middle blocker's jump testing numbers. His 6'11 wing span is an imposing figure to go along with a 6'8 frame.
Along with Dan, 4th year setter Ben Ball has been extremely impressive in preseason training and on the Russian Tour. Ben is heading into his 4th year and has started all but his first semester as a Spartan. As one of the most gifted athletes ever to wear a Spartan uniform he is the engine that runs the Spartan machine and he has never looked better than he has this fall. His physical testing numbers were impressive but so too has his playmaking ability. Look for Ben to turn heads this year and the Spartans try to defend their title as the top attacking team in Canada West (1st in Kills/Game).
Finally, the biggest question, both in and out of the Spartan camp has been who will pick up the kills left by departing all conference player and Spartan kill leader Steve Marshall. The easy answer was Marc Howatson but with his ankle injury making him unavailable until at least mid-semester the role goes to fellow National Team member Rudy Verhoeff who looks to make the move to the wing for the first time in his CIS career. Rudy was among the top middles in the CIS the past two seasons but now he must reprove himself as a wing player. For those who know Rudy it comes as no surprise that he has worked very hard improving his physicality, passing and attacking ability. He tested at 11'6, up from 11'4, and has become a very stable passer. His lightning fast arm and aggressive nature make him a very potent offensive force potentially and a more than adaquate replacement for Marshall on the wing.
With their ticket already booked to the National Championship this March by way of the host berth the Spartans have the entire season to find the right combination of players, style of play and mentality to make a run to return to the National Final...this time with hopes of a different outcome.
This quest begins in just three days...the Faithful, Spartans, Bears & Heat are all excited to see what awaits this weekend in the beautiful interior BC towns of Penticton and Kelowna. Stay tuned to this blog & gospartans.ca for match details.
Go Spartans!!!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Spartans in Russia 15
September 11th, 2010: Moscow, Russia
The final day of our Russia Tour and the team was very excited for it. The volleyball portion is over and now it is just the tourist in us left. As usual we started early and we have to just to get anywhere in the chaos that is Moscow traffic. The first stop of the day was a Russian market…aka tourist trap.
There are a lot of questions in this world. One of which that comes to mind is how fly paper works. The coiled, dangling sticky strip of substance that does not replicate anything in nature is something that, apparently, is irresistible for flies. Now why would that be? Does it smell? Is it shiny or sparkly to fly eyes? Or is it one of those forbidden fruit things that’s just too tempting to resist? I think it is door number three and I ask the question because these open air markets are like fly paper for tourists. It smells (usually), there are a lot of things that are shiny ‘n sparkly and it is one of those places where you know what is about to happen, not much of it good, but yet you cannot resist going to “just see what it is.” You know you are about to spend way too much money buying things you don’t need because you talked the vendor down 20% from the asking price when we all know full well its marked up 80% from cost. Even with all of that knowledge we LOVE it and just have to get stuck to it.
As far as tourist fly paper goes, this was as good as it gets. English speaking people everywhere, completely ignorant to the allure of the place. More than willing to open up their waist belts, cleverly hidden underneath their shirts so that no one can quickly steal their stuff but they can slowly and very conspiculously show the world that they haven’t worked out or eaten well while on vacation. Of course by ‘they’ I really mean ‘we.’
This was the Russian mega market. There were four primary categories of what was for sale and each grouping was more tempting than the one before. First you had the Mafia Attire and this included fur hats, leather coats, track suits, watches & jewelry. The next level up were the old things that were being sold to westerners as antiques. Now lets be honest, aren’t antiques just old things everywhere, why is Russia any different. The difference is at this market you can buy authentic Russian old things…sorry antiques. They are much nicer than the non-authentic Russian antiques that immigrated to North America. The third category at this mega market were the things that recalled the Soviet days. This concept is amusing in that the Russian people have come so far and worked so hard to leave the communist regime behind yet they print CCCP and KGB on any and everything they think a westerner will buy. Lighters, flasks, collapsing shot glasses, shot glass sets, cigarette cases, wallets, and on and on. All with the hammer and sickle, all red and all marked up to turn a huge profit. Come to think of it, maybe this really is a sign of capitalist Russia peddling the supply of their history to the demand of the needy…sorry…greedy.
The final category and the one that dominated Spartan shopping bags were the “authentic” Russian souvaneirs. This of course was the famous Russian nesting dolls. The variety of these dolls was mind bottling. The traditional red, shiny dolls were there but so too were the blue, yellow and green ones. All of Roy G. Biv’s colours were represented in force. That wasn’t the half of it though. The themed dolls were the most entertaining. Every sports team in the world it seemed had its own nesting dolls. From the Capitals to the Yankees to Chelsea FC to the greatest franchise in the history of sport…the Green Bay Packers. As the dolls got smaller the star power represented was smaller. Aaron Rogers opened up to reveal Greg Jennings, who opened to Donald Driver who led to Ryan Grant, etc. They even had a nesting doll with the image of the unspeakable name in sports. It starts with a B the middle part is rett Fav and ends in FILTHY TRAITOR. The themes didn’t end with sports teams. These dolls were used for political statements with past presidents and prime ministers of Russia and the USA represented. There was Metallica and The Doors doll sets, Russian hockey sets. You name it and I’m sure you could find a Russian doll set to match. It was a Russian nesting doll smorgosboard.
With all that said it was a lot of fun to search for souveneirs and trinkets to bring back for friends, family and sponsors. The guys had a lot of fun searching for a little piece of Russia to bring back to Canada. Though we are bringing back so many souveneirs that we had to apply for an importer’s liscence they are not the most plentiful thing we are bringing back with us. That spot is reserved for the memories and stories that we’ve picked up along the way. Though we have tried to keep up with the stories through the blog, pictures, video, twitter and email there is really no way of fully communicating all that went on here on this tour.
A phrase we use a lot on our team is stolen from the Friday Night Lights movie and it is “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.” The line has to do with the way in which we approach each day and each match. With eyes wide open ready to experience whatever God has in store for us. Also with hearts full of love to share with all of those we come in contact with be it friend or foe, Spartan or not, Russian or…well…Russian mostly. As far as I can tell these young Spartan men are returning to Canada with very full hearts and misty eyes which may not be as catchy but is both more accurate and indicative of their hearts’ fullness.
Go Spartans!!!
The final day of our Russia Tour and the team was very excited for it. The volleyball portion is over and now it is just the tourist in us left. As usual we started early and we have to just to get anywhere in the chaos that is Moscow traffic. The first stop of the day was a Russian market…aka tourist trap.
There are a lot of questions in this world. One of which that comes to mind is how fly paper works. The coiled, dangling sticky strip of substance that does not replicate anything in nature is something that, apparently, is irresistible for flies. Now why would that be? Does it smell? Is it shiny or sparkly to fly eyes? Or is it one of those forbidden fruit things that’s just too tempting to resist? I think it is door number three and I ask the question because these open air markets are like fly paper for tourists. It smells (usually), there are a lot of things that are shiny ‘n sparkly and it is one of those places where you know what is about to happen, not much of it good, but yet you cannot resist going to “just see what it is.” You know you are about to spend way too much money buying things you don’t need because you talked the vendor down 20% from the asking price when we all know full well its marked up 80% from cost. Even with all of that knowledge we LOVE it and just have to get stuck to it.
As far as tourist fly paper goes, this was as good as it gets. English speaking people everywhere, completely ignorant to the allure of the place. More than willing to open up their waist belts, cleverly hidden underneath their shirts so that no one can quickly steal their stuff but they can slowly and very conspiculously show the world that they haven’t worked out or eaten well while on vacation. Of course by ‘they’ I really mean ‘we.’
This was the Russian mega market. There were four primary categories of what was for sale and each grouping was more tempting than the one before. First you had the Mafia Attire and this included fur hats, leather coats, track suits, watches & jewelry. The next level up were the old things that were being sold to westerners as antiques. Now lets be honest, aren’t antiques just old things everywhere, why is Russia any different. The difference is at this market you can buy authentic Russian old things…sorry antiques. They are much nicer than the non-authentic Russian antiques that immigrated to North America. The third category at this mega market were the things that recalled the Soviet days. This concept is amusing in that the Russian people have come so far and worked so hard to leave the communist regime behind yet they print CCCP and KGB on any and everything they think a westerner will buy. Lighters, flasks, collapsing shot glasses, shot glass sets, cigarette cases, wallets, and on and on. All with the hammer and sickle, all red and all marked up to turn a huge profit. Come to think of it, maybe this really is a sign of capitalist Russia peddling the supply of their history to the demand of the needy…sorry…greedy.
The final category and the one that dominated Spartan shopping bags were the “authentic” Russian souvaneirs. This of course was the famous Russian nesting dolls. The variety of these dolls was mind bottling. The traditional red, shiny dolls were there but so too were the blue, yellow and green ones. All of Roy G. Biv’s colours were represented in force. That wasn’t the half of it though. The themed dolls were the most entertaining. Every sports team in the world it seemed had its own nesting dolls. From the Capitals to the Yankees to Chelsea FC to the greatest franchise in the history of sport…the Green Bay Packers. As the dolls got smaller the star power represented was smaller. Aaron Rogers opened up to reveal Greg Jennings, who opened to Donald Driver who led to Ryan Grant, etc. They even had a nesting doll with the image of the unspeakable name in sports. It starts with a B the middle part is rett Fav and ends in FILTHY TRAITOR. The themes didn’t end with sports teams. These dolls were used for political statements with past presidents and prime ministers of Russia and the USA represented. There was Metallica and The Doors doll sets, Russian hockey sets. You name it and I’m sure you could find a Russian doll set to match. It was a Russian nesting doll smorgosboard.
With all that said it was a lot of fun to search for souveneirs and trinkets to bring back for friends, family and sponsors. The guys had a lot of fun searching for a little piece of Russia to bring back to Canada. Though we are bringing back so many souveneirs that we had to apply for an importer’s liscence they are not the most plentiful thing we are bringing back with us. That spot is reserved for the memories and stories that we’ve picked up along the way. Though we have tried to keep up with the stories through the blog, pictures, video, twitter and email there is really no way of fully communicating all that went on here on this tour.
A phrase we use a lot on our team is stolen from the Friday Night Lights movie and it is “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.” The line has to do with the way in which we approach each day and each match. With eyes wide open ready to experience whatever God has in store for us. Also with hearts full of love to share with all of those we come in contact with be it friend or foe, Spartan or not, Russian or…well…Russian mostly. As far as I can tell these young Spartan men are returning to Canada with very full hearts and misty eyes which may not be as catchy but is both more accurate and indicative of their hearts’ fullness.
Go Spartans!!!
Spartans in Russia 14
September 10th, 2010: Moscow, Russia
This was the final day of the volleyball phase of the Russia Tour. It began early and ended late but all was great. The first match was to be against a team in the Dynamo Moscow club system. When we arrived we discovered the match would be played in a forest. As we walked into the university that was “home base” to our opponents, Dynamo Olymp, we were dwarfed by the giant, young, trees. We had heard the night before that this team was going to be big and could block well but we did not realize that what they meant was they blocked out the sun. Six foot six to six foot ten was the height range of our opponents. To make things more impressive was their age range was 15 to 19. This team is the “youth” development team for the parent club Dynamo Moscow. They compete in a Russian professional league called 1st Division. This league mandates that all athletes must be under 20. Apparently the team graduated 7 players from the previous year’s team to the High League A development team. The Russian development system is complex but we think that we’ve figured it out:
Sport School: Volleyball Focus (15-17 years)
Club Youth Development Team (15-19 years)
Sport University: Volleyball Focus (17-21 years)
Club Development Team: High League A/B (20-24)
Advanced University Training: Non-Volleyball Focus (21-25)
Superleage Professional / High League A (20-40)
Pro Leagues:
1st Division (Dynamo Olymp – today’s team)
High League B (the team we played when Marc got hurt)
High League A (most of the players from the sport university)
Super League (Kazan, Dynamo Moscow, etc)
Now that it is as clear to you as it is to me (note the hint of sarcasm) we can move on. Where were we…oh yes…the forest. We quickly changed as we were running late, standard for the Spartans in this country. When we hit the court our opponents looked even bigger than they did in the lobby. We had a chance to talk with the coach and the intimidation continued as we discovered he had coached in Brazil and hadn’t lost a major competition the entire time he was there. He started name-dropping, usually not a desirable practice, unless of course you are dropping names like Sergio, Gustavo and Heller (all gold medalists with Brazil and legends of the game). DJ was joking that the mind games were in full effect, true that but we concede the battle of minds to the guy who helped develop the best libero in the history of the planet (Sergio).
Warm up started and a very nervy Spartan squad began to shake out the edginess and tired legs from the short turn around from the night before. As hitting warm up began it started to become clear just how young our opponents were. Their arm speed and pop in the legs just wasn’t the same as the Sport University team we played the previous night. The battle of minds may have gone to the opposing coach (it usually does) but the battle of bodies looked like it was strongly leaning the Spartan way.
The match followed the trend of the warm up for the first two sets. The Spartans were just too physical and too well skilled to be tested too much by the young Dynamos. It was very clear that we were playing future world superstars with the operative word being future. Two quick sets had the Spartans sitting pretty in the third when…Boom…just like when the Death Box hits a pothole the Spartan machine was shaken. The Spartans looked very tired and the young Russians were getting better and more confident, especially from the baseline. Set three to the Russians.
After our beloved bus (Death Box) hit a pothole the following few kilometers were a little hairy as it lurched, shuttered and shook. Just when we thought a breakdown was inevitable sweet DB caught her rhythm and we continued. The fourth set was much that way. The Spartans found their rhythm and continued on the same path building a 22-18 lead…Boom. Uh-oh, not again…big hole and the axel has to be gone. There was a stench, things were uncomfortable, we were hot, tired and cranky…wait I forgot what part of the analogy we are talking about…no matter its about the same. In the fifth the Spartans recovered their rhythm and rolled smoothly to the destination, safe, sound and thankful to be done that exhaust-ing journey. It was a great example of toughness and grit as the Spartans found a way amid a variety of distractions and continue to not let anything come in their way as they pursue their goals.
After the match the teams had a chance to share together and Dan JVD gave his story. He did a fantastic job and has a career in speech writing should he choose. Again it was clear that these were very young men that we were speaking to but they were very friendly, like all the Russians we have met thus far. Unfortunately we had to get moving and it was time for lunch…McDonalds, hey-oh. Rotten Ronnie’s has now become our go to for a little taste of home.
After gorging ourselves we made our way over to the volleyball sports school to play the younglings again. This time it was to be an official match not just a five set scrimmage. When we arrived the kids were excited to see us again and they remembered/researched our names and said hi to us individually as we walked in. The volleyball community in Moscow, like in Canada, is a small world and word travels fast. They knew all of our results and were talking about it with us when we arrived.
Canadians and Russians have a lot in common. Similar look physically except they are the bullies on the playground we are the bullied size wise. Similar climate, vegetation, diet, sports interests, etc. Both nations are very competitive but one of the major differences we’ve noticed is the amount of pride the Russians have, in a good way. This match was another example of the Russian pride that broke the might of Napoleon and Hitler like Lucas against the rocks in Sochi. While we were not attempting to conquer a nation we were trying to win another volleyball game against some very young and talented kids. What we saw in that match was some of the most inspired defense and big play ability you could imagine on a 17 year old. We played our babies and toddlers against them to level the playing field and we gave them all we had. Those little, sorry not little, young Russians dig everything and transitioned it right back. Their coach had either lit a fire in them or they were showing their best for a national hero who was in attendance. Just before the game a mountain of a man walked into the gym and immediately Victor the Russian ran over and introduced me to Kazakov. One of the Russian Senior National Team’s middle blockers who was just playing in the World League Final a couple months prior to this meeting. I’m sure his 7 foot presence inspired the young Russians to play well. To OUR younglings’ credit they played well in the face of adversity and won in four sets.
After this match we had another time of sharing. The young students spoke some English so there were a number of great conversations. This was our most friendly time of sharing and showed that it was a great idea to come back to further the relationships with these young superstars. After lots of talking, joking and trading it was time to head home. A late night return and a big day of sightseeing in Red Square awaited our morning’s rise.
The volleyball phase of the tour is now over. The recap is:
Sochi #1: W 4-1
Sochi #2: W 3-1
Anapa Inside: L 1-4
Anapa Outside: L 0-3
Krasnodar Culture Centre #1: 2-0
#2: 2-0
Krasnodar Agriculture University: W 3-2
Prison: W Got out alive
Mykop: W 3-2
Moscow Sport School: W 4-1
Moscow Sport University: W 3-2
Dynamo Olymp: W 3-2
Moscow Sport School: W 3-1
One bump on the road on an otherwise perfect record. If this tour was all about volleyball it would be a success but it is about so much more. That more is where this tour’s biggest successes lay.
Go Spartans!!!
This was the final day of the volleyball phase of the Russia Tour. It began early and ended late but all was great. The first match was to be against a team in the Dynamo Moscow club system. When we arrived we discovered the match would be played in a forest. As we walked into the university that was “home base” to our opponents, Dynamo Olymp, we were dwarfed by the giant, young, trees. We had heard the night before that this team was going to be big and could block well but we did not realize that what they meant was they blocked out the sun. Six foot six to six foot ten was the height range of our opponents. To make things more impressive was their age range was 15 to 19. This team is the “youth” development team for the parent club Dynamo Moscow. They compete in a Russian professional league called 1st Division. This league mandates that all athletes must be under 20. Apparently the team graduated 7 players from the previous year’s team to the High League A development team. The Russian development system is complex but we think that we’ve figured it out:
Sport School: Volleyball Focus (15-17 years)
Club Youth Development Team (15-19 years)
Sport University: Volleyball Focus (17-21 years)
Club Development Team: High League A/B (20-24)
Advanced University Training: Non-Volleyball Focus (21-25)
Superleage Professional / High League A (20-40)
Pro Leagues:
1st Division (Dynamo Olymp – today’s team)
High League B (the team we played when Marc got hurt)
High League A (most of the players from the sport university)
Super League (Kazan, Dynamo Moscow, etc)
Now that it is as clear to you as it is to me (note the hint of sarcasm) we can move on. Where were we…oh yes…the forest. We quickly changed as we were running late, standard for the Spartans in this country. When we hit the court our opponents looked even bigger than they did in the lobby. We had a chance to talk with the coach and the intimidation continued as we discovered he had coached in Brazil and hadn’t lost a major competition the entire time he was there. He started name-dropping, usually not a desirable practice, unless of course you are dropping names like Sergio, Gustavo and Heller (all gold medalists with Brazil and legends of the game). DJ was joking that the mind games were in full effect, true that but we concede the battle of minds to the guy who helped develop the best libero in the history of the planet (Sergio).
Warm up started and a very nervy Spartan squad began to shake out the edginess and tired legs from the short turn around from the night before. As hitting warm up began it started to become clear just how young our opponents were. Their arm speed and pop in the legs just wasn’t the same as the Sport University team we played the previous night. The battle of minds may have gone to the opposing coach (it usually does) but the battle of bodies looked like it was strongly leaning the Spartan way.
The match followed the trend of the warm up for the first two sets. The Spartans were just too physical and too well skilled to be tested too much by the young Dynamos. It was very clear that we were playing future world superstars with the operative word being future. Two quick sets had the Spartans sitting pretty in the third when…Boom…just like when the Death Box hits a pothole the Spartan machine was shaken. The Spartans looked very tired and the young Russians were getting better and more confident, especially from the baseline. Set three to the Russians.
After our beloved bus (Death Box) hit a pothole the following few kilometers were a little hairy as it lurched, shuttered and shook. Just when we thought a breakdown was inevitable sweet DB caught her rhythm and we continued. The fourth set was much that way. The Spartans found their rhythm and continued on the same path building a 22-18 lead…Boom. Uh-oh, not again…big hole and the axel has to be gone. There was a stench, things were uncomfortable, we were hot, tired and cranky…wait I forgot what part of the analogy we are talking about…no matter its about the same. In the fifth the Spartans recovered their rhythm and rolled smoothly to the destination, safe, sound and thankful to be done that exhaust-ing journey. It was a great example of toughness and grit as the Spartans found a way amid a variety of distractions and continue to not let anything come in their way as they pursue their goals.
After the match the teams had a chance to share together and Dan JVD gave his story. He did a fantastic job and has a career in speech writing should he choose. Again it was clear that these were very young men that we were speaking to but they were very friendly, like all the Russians we have met thus far. Unfortunately we had to get moving and it was time for lunch…McDonalds, hey-oh. Rotten Ronnie’s has now become our go to for a little taste of home.
After gorging ourselves we made our way over to the volleyball sports school to play the younglings again. This time it was to be an official match not just a five set scrimmage. When we arrived the kids were excited to see us again and they remembered/researched our names and said hi to us individually as we walked in. The volleyball community in Moscow, like in Canada, is a small world and word travels fast. They knew all of our results and were talking about it with us when we arrived.
Canadians and Russians have a lot in common. Similar look physically except they are the bullies on the playground we are the bullied size wise. Similar climate, vegetation, diet, sports interests, etc. Both nations are very competitive but one of the major differences we’ve noticed is the amount of pride the Russians have, in a good way. This match was another example of the Russian pride that broke the might of Napoleon and Hitler like Lucas against the rocks in Sochi. While we were not attempting to conquer a nation we were trying to win another volleyball game against some very young and talented kids. What we saw in that match was some of the most inspired defense and big play ability you could imagine on a 17 year old. We played our babies and toddlers against them to level the playing field and we gave them all we had. Those little, sorry not little, young Russians dig everything and transitioned it right back. Their coach had either lit a fire in them or they were showing their best for a national hero who was in attendance. Just before the game a mountain of a man walked into the gym and immediately Victor the Russian ran over and introduced me to Kazakov. One of the Russian Senior National Team’s middle blockers who was just playing in the World League Final a couple months prior to this meeting. I’m sure his 7 foot presence inspired the young Russians to play well. To OUR younglings’ credit they played well in the face of adversity and won in four sets.
After this match we had another time of sharing. The young students spoke some English so there were a number of great conversations. This was our most friendly time of sharing and showed that it was a great idea to come back to further the relationships with these young superstars. After lots of talking, joking and trading it was time to head home. A late night return and a big day of sightseeing in Red Square awaited our morning’s rise.
The volleyball phase of the tour is now over. The recap is:
Sochi #1: W 4-1
Sochi #2: W 3-1
Anapa Inside: L 1-4
Anapa Outside: L 0-3
Krasnodar Culture Centre #1: 2-0
#2: 2-0
Krasnodar Agriculture University: W 3-2
Prison: W Got out alive
Mykop: W 3-2
Moscow Sport School: W 4-1
Moscow Sport University: W 3-2
Dynamo Olymp: W 3-2
Moscow Sport School: W 3-1
One bump on the road on an otherwise perfect record. If this tour was all about volleyball it would be a success but it is about so much more. That more is where this tour’s biggest successes lay.
Go Spartans!!!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Spartans in Russia 13
September 9th, 2010: Moscow, Russia
Today began with a team session where we talked about the Holy Spirit. What he is, does and what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The challenge to the team is to invite the Holy Spirit to join the team on the court, continuing our path of learning to blend our sport and our faith.
After the team session we had a short practice in the facility beside our residence. It was a great place to practice with one exception, no lighting. Most of the Russian gyms are very dark, which only adds to the intimidation factor. If you cannot see you opponent it is hard to play them…its not too bad but we miss the LEC. A good practice then lunch were the perfect beginning to day two in Moscow.
We then jumped back into the death box…wait, what is this? A different box…we call this one the moderately maimed box. It is a much smoother ride with much less carbon monoxide leaking but the driver resembles Andy Samberg from Hot Rod (maybe not the hway he looks but for sure in the hway he drives). We went to a sport university where Stan the Russian trains with the team and our new Russian friend Yuri the Russian has a campus ministry. What we saw when we arrived made all of us very jealous.
This is a sport university where all they do is study their sport and the methods and methodology of the game. All aspects of sport are represented and all Olympic sports have a department in the school. They gave us a tour of the facility and there are gyms for every sport, indoor & outdoor. An unbelievably impressive campus and a breeding ground for future Olympians…literally. While we were on tour we went around a corner and came face to face with Ovi. Yep, Alexander the Great went to this school but we are all fairly sure that he didn’t actually “attend” but he was enrolled. They also began to rattle off the names of the other great athletes who went to this university and its pretty impressive. We began to get nervous about our matches.
We were to have two matches against their two teams. The first was their second team in a best of three. We played the baby Spartans and beat our opponents 2-0. They weren’t very good but we were still very concerned about their 1st team. Apparently the first team was full of High League A players. The Russian pro system goes Superleague (Kazan, Dynamo Moscow etc) then High League A, High League B then 1st Division. So many of the players we were to play played their club in High League A. They had to compete for the University to keep their scholarship to the school.
As soon as warm up began we new we were in for a battle, or a shelling, we were still unsure. In typical fashion of Russians they were huge with huge arms and bombed away in warm up. The first set was great. Back and forth siding out with huge blocks, digs and kills. It was beautiful volleyball, especially for this time of the season. We lost the first 23-25 but let it get away late. The second we controlled the whole way and evened the game up 1-1 (25-19). The third was a stinker for us as we were blown out due to unforced errors (18-25). The fourth was outstanding and maybe the most exciting we’ve played in a long time. The big plays made were insane. Foot digs, massive bounces (block & kill) and heroic strizzles (digs). 25-23 for us forced a fifth set and that was just what this match deserved. For those who saw our National semi final last march in Kamloops, this match had much the same feel. The play, intensity and blows going back and forth had a very similar feel. We went up big in the fifth set but they came flying back. It was a battle to see if our speed or their block could control the match. 11-11, 12-12, 13-13…we flinched…down 13-14 with their right side going back. A 6’8 leftie with the most impressive arm any of us have ever seen. He had been fairly inconsistent with his spin serve throughout the match but he striped this one. Big players make big plays at big times and their big guy did. But so did one of ours, but it was one of our babies. Nick Del Bianco dimed their best serve of the night and Doornenbal killed it to level the match up 14-14. We scored a point on Doorny’s serve and had a 15-14 service for the match. Mikiah subbed in to serve and ripped a tape ace…should have been. A hometown call kept the play alive and then a missed touch call gave them the point and kept them alive at 15-15. Then another of their great servers ripped a great serve that missed the baseline by 2.5 centimeters or for our American friends…not much. The refs got this one right and we were up 16-15. The match point wasn’t too exciting but the win was. It was a great match. Playing that type of game at this point in the season was very special and a ton of fun for all involved.
After the match we had a snack and time of sharing with the players and staff. It was a great time to talk and get to know our Russian opponents. They were very impressed with how hard our guys competed and our example of unity and love shown through again.
On the long bus ride home Victor the Russian and Yuri the Russian thanked us for our performance. They said that our play and result helped their ministry a lot. Their credibility went way up in the eyes of the University and they called it a miraculous moment. Maybe an overstatement but we were very proud to help out their ministry. Our time in Russia is short but their ministry remains. One of our goals was to help open doors for the in country AIA staff to continue and grow their ministry. We also talked with the university officials about a potential exchange program where they would come to us in two years. That would be an exciting opportunity should that fall into place.
After a long ride back to home a very tired and content volleyball team went to bed and had a short turn around before we play Dynamo Moscow’s farm team who competes in High League B.
Go Spartans!!!
Today began with a team session where we talked about the Holy Spirit. What he is, does and what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The challenge to the team is to invite the Holy Spirit to join the team on the court, continuing our path of learning to blend our sport and our faith.
After the team session we had a short practice in the facility beside our residence. It was a great place to practice with one exception, no lighting. Most of the Russian gyms are very dark, which only adds to the intimidation factor. If you cannot see you opponent it is hard to play them…its not too bad but we miss the LEC. A good practice then lunch were the perfect beginning to day two in Moscow.
We then jumped back into the death box…wait, what is this? A different box…we call this one the moderately maimed box. It is a much smoother ride with much less carbon monoxide leaking but the driver resembles Andy Samberg from Hot Rod (maybe not the hway he looks but for sure in the hway he drives). We went to a sport university where Stan the Russian trains with the team and our new Russian friend Yuri the Russian has a campus ministry. What we saw when we arrived made all of us very jealous.
This is a sport university where all they do is study their sport and the methods and methodology of the game. All aspects of sport are represented and all Olympic sports have a department in the school. They gave us a tour of the facility and there are gyms for every sport, indoor & outdoor. An unbelievably impressive campus and a breeding ground for future Olympians…literally. While we were on tour we went around a corner and came face to face with Ovi. Yep, Alexander the Great went to this school but we are all fairly sure that he didn’t actually “attend” but he was enrolled. They also began to rattle off the names of the other great athletes who went to this university and its pretty impressive. We began to get nervous about our matches.
We were to have two matches against their two teams. The first was their second team in a best of three. We played the baby Spartans and beat our opponents 2-0. They weren’t very good but we were still very concerned about their 1st team. Apparently the first team was full of High League A players. The Russian pro system goes Superleague (Kazan, Dynamo Moscow etc) then High League A, High League B then 1st Division. So many of the players we were to play played their club in High League A. They had to compete for the University to keep their scholarship to the school.
As soon as warm up began we new we were in for a battle, or a shelling, we were still unsure. In typical fashion of Russians they were huge with huge arms and bombed away in warm up. The first set was great. Back and forth siding out with huge blocks, digs and kills. It was beautiful volleyball, especially for this time of the season. We lost the first 23-25 but let it get away late. The second we controlled the whole way and evened the game up 1-1 (25-19). The third was a stinker for us as we were blown out due to unforced errors (18-25). The fourth was outstanding and maybe the most exciting we’ve played in a long time. The big plays made were insane. Foot digs, massive bounces (block & kill) and heroic strizzles (digs). 25-23 for us forced a fifth set and that was just what this match deserved. For those who saw our National semi final last march in Kamloops, this match had much the same feel. The play, intensity and blows going back and forth had a very similar feel. We went up big in the fifth set but they came flying back. It was a battle to see if our speed or their block could control the match. 11-11, 12-12, 13-13…we flinched…down 13-14 with their right side going back. A 6’8 leftie with the most impressive arm any of us have ever seen. He had been fairly inconsistent with his spin serve throughout the match but he striped this one. Big players make big plays at big times and their big guy did. But so did one of ours, but it was one of our babies. Nick Del Bianco dimed their best serve of the night and Doornenbal killed it to level the match up 14-14. We scored a point on Doorny’s serve and had a 15-14 service for the match. Mikiah subbed in to serve and ripped a tape ace…should have been. A hometown call kept the play alive and then a missed touch call gave them the point and kept them alive at 15-15. Then another of their great servers ripped a great serve that missed the baseline by 2.5 centimeters or for our American friends…not much. The refs got this one right and we were up 16-15. The match point wasn’t too exciting but the win was. It was a great match. Playing that type of game at this point in the season was very special and a ton of fun for all involved.
After the match we had a snack and time of sharing with the players and staff. It was a great time to talk and get to know our Russian opponents. They were very impressed with how hard our guys competed and our example of unity and love shown through again.
On the long bus ride home Victor the Russian and Yuri the Russian thanked us for our performance. They said that our play and result helped their ministry a lot. Their credibility went way up in the eyes of the University and they called it a miraculous moment. Maybe an overstatement but we were very proud to help out their ministry. Our time in Russia is short but their ministry remains. One of our goals was to help open doors for the in country AIA staff to continue and grow their ministry. We also talked with the university officials about a potential exchange program where they would come to us in two years. That would be an exciting opportunity should that fall into place.
After a long ride back to home a very tired and content volleyball team went to bed and had a short turn around before we play Dynamo Moscow’s farm team who competes in High League B.
Go Spartans!!!
Spartans in Russia 12
September 8th, 2010: Moscow, Russia
Today started early. 4am departure from our dorms to the airport in Krasnodar. The group from Mykop had to leave at 1:30am to make it there so that made our Krasnodar group not complain. Marc Howatson joined us at the airport. The missionaries that he stayed with in Anapa got up early and drove him to join us. They truly went way beyond the call with their generosity. John and Naomi Musgrave were their names, and their ministry is called House of Grace, Russia. Please pray for them and their ministry here in Russia.
It was a short trip to Moscow made even shorter due to everyone sleeping. Once in Mockba (as the Russians spell it) we experienced traffic in a way North Americans can never understand. We asked Victor the Russian when rush hour was and the answer was 5am to 3am so if you wanted to go anywhere you had a two hour window to utilize. With that said it was clear we needed to get comfortable riding on busses. To make things interesting was the bus in which we were riding. It sat 23 which was perfect as we had 23 in our entourage but that didn’t account for our baggage. So the Spartan clown car, packed to the gills with athletes, coaches, bags and Victor the Russian, made our way…slowly…to our Moscow home. Two hours later and 35km we arrived to our destination.
We are staying at a volleyball centre where a number of different professional and club teams call their home base. The facility is amazing with multiple beach courts, indoor swimming pool, weight facility and a beautiful 3 court gym (1 of which is a Teraflex court). The complex is designed for volleyball training and our “house” that we are staying in is perfect for our needs. We have one house with 7 rooms plus a common area and laundry. A great home to finish our tour at.
After a brief nap we jumped back into the bus of death and headed back into the chaos of Russian roads. The death trap leaks carbon monoxide, grinds gears, shakes, rattles and we are praying doesn’t roll. The possibility of rolling requires speed and that is what we don’t have…a positive hey-oh. The team has taken the death box and the traffic just like they have taken everything on this trip, in stride with a positive attitude of adventure.
We went to a sports school to play an allstar team of sorts. Moscow had 6-8 of these volleyball schools (we heard differing numbers). This one was coached by Alexi Verbov’s mother. For those who don’t know Verbov was the libero for the Russian national team the past two Olympic cycles and is considered one of the best on the planet. It was an honor to meet her. When we arrived at the school the hallways were lined with pictures of Russian legends and trophies. A pretty intimidating entrance but what we saw when we walked into the gym was equally intimidating.
There were 24 6’3-6’7 athletes all with perfect arm swings and digging/passing technique playing pepper. It was like a little army barracks with the soldiers in the yard drilling. They were like robots in their play, we were thoroughly impressed. Once we began to play we realized that as perfect as their skills were they were still young. We beat them pretty soundly but it is now very clear why Russian volleyball is #2 in the world. There are 5-7 more of these in the city producing 12-15 athletes a year with these types of skills, size and athleticism.
After the match we had a time of sharing and Rudy gave his story again. We agreed to play this school again Friday and the coach said she would bring in some different players…aka ringers. We took the subway back to the death box and had fun experiencing the Moscow subway system. Like most European countries the subway system was very efficient and busy.
Back to the surface and back to home. Day one in Moscow completed and if we can survive the traffic, the death box and short nights it looks to be a great leg of the trip.
Go Spartans!!!
Today started early. 4am departure from our dorms to the airport in Krasnodar. The group from Mykop had to leave at 1:30am to make it there so that made our Krasnodar group not complain. Marc Howatson joined us at the airport. The missionaries that he stayed with in Anapa got up early and drove him to join us. They truly went way beyond the call with their generosity. John and Naomi Musgrave were their names, and their ministry is called House of Grace, Russia. Please pray for them and their ministry here in Russia.
It was a short trip to Moscow made even shorter due to everyone sleeping. Once in Mockba (as the Russians spell it) we experienced traffic in a way North Americans can never understand. We asked Victor the Russian when rush hour was and the answer was 5am to 3am so if you wanted to go anywhere you had a two hour window to utilize. With that said it was clear we needed to get comfortable riding on busses. To make things interesting was the bus in which we were riding. It sat 23 which was perfect as we had 23 in our entourage but that didn’t account for our baggage. So the Spartan clown car, packed to the gills with athletes, coaches, bags and Victor the Russian, made our way…slowly…to our Moscow home. Two hours later and 35km we arrived to our destination.
We are staying at a volleyball centre where a number of different professional and club teams call their home base. The facility is amazing with multiple beach courts, indoor swimming pool, weight facility and a beautiful 3 court gym (1 of which is a Teraflex court). The complex is designed for volleyball training and our “house” that we are staying in is perfect for our needs. We have one house with 7 rooms plus a common area and laundry. A great home to finish our tour at.
After a brief nap we jumped back into the bus of death and headed back into the chaos of Russian roads. The death trap leaks carbon monoxide, grinds gears, shakes, rattles and we are praying doesn’t roll. The possibility of rolling requires speed and that is what we don’t have…a positive hey-oh. The team has taken the death box and the traffic just like they have taken everything on this trip, in stride with a positive attitude of adventure.
We went to a sports school to play an allstar team of sorts. Moscow had 6-8 of these volleyball schools (we heard differing numbers). This one was coached by Alexi Verbov’s mother. For those who don’t know Verbov was the libero for the Russian national team the past two Olympic cycles and is considered one of the best on the planet. It was an honor to meet her. When we arrived at the school the hallways were lined with pictures of Russian legends and trophies. A pretty intimidating entrance but what we saw when we walked into the gym was equally intimidating.
There were 24 6’3-6’7 athletes all with perfect arm swings and digging/passing technique playing pepper. It was like a little army barracks with the soldiers in the yard drilling. They were like robots in their play, we were thoroughly impressed. Once we began to play we realized that as perfect as their skills were they were still young. We beat them pretty soundly but it is now very clear why Russian volleyball is #2 in the world. There are 5-7 more of these in the city producing 12-15 athletes a year with these types of skills, size and athleticism.
After the match we had a time of sharing and Rudy gave his story again. We agreed to play this school again Friday and the coach said she would bring in some different players…aka ringers. We took the subway back to the death box and had fun experiencing the Moscow subway system. Like most European countries the subway system was very efficient and busy.
Back to the surface and back to home. Day one in Moscow completed and if we can survive the traffic, the death box and short nights it looks to be a great leg of the trip.
Go Spartans!!!
Spartans in Russia 11
September 7th, 2010: Krasnodar, Russia
Well today was one of the stuff of legend. The day started early with a 6am wake up call followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride to a prison. Nothing wakes you up in the morning like going to prison. The plan was to put on a clinic or skills demonstration for the inmates and then have a match against the guards. That sounded like a lot of fun and fairly unobtrusive. As seems to be the case the plan was not what happened.
When we first arrived to the prison it took a while for us to get organized and the screening process was lengthy. The first pioneers on the team were on the inside for about 15 minutes before the whole team got through. 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but when you have ten huge Russian inmates hanging out of their windows yelling at you 15 minutes, that may be your last, is an eternity.
Once the whole team was in we moved down the secure area towards what we thought was going to be a gym…nope…there was a sand/gravel court in the middle of the “grounds” with a net strung across it. We were looking at each other as if to say, “Are we really going in THERE?” Yep…we entered the common grounds with all of the prisoners and surprisingly very few guards. Nick summed it up best when I asked if he is nervous. He said, “Ya, a little…and by little I mean extremely.” So bunch of nervy athletes from Canada and at least 20 times as many curious Russians congregated on the football pitch (gravel rectangular space) and did what they all new best. The athletes began to play pepper and the inmates moved in clumps surrounding the athletes peppering them with questions…in Russian. Thankfully a few inmates were able to translate a portion of the conversation so we were able to communicate a bit. After a few minutes almost the entire prison had surrounded the volleyball court and a game with the inmates seemed inevitable.
Six very big, very strong Russian men emerged on the court in a scene right out of the Longest Yard. Six very skinny, by comparison, and very scared Canadians stood and awaited the Russians. Just before the game began the team decided that they did not want to show the inmates up by not trying but it became clear quickly that the inmates were not the best at volleyball. The Spartans laid off the gas a bit and there were some extended rallies. The mood in the “yard” was improving as there was more laughter as the heckling between the inmates and the taunts of the Canadians picked up, all in good humour…it seemed. The two teams played three sets total and after the Spartans got to 20 in the third set Victor the Russian told the boys to play the last few points hard. They obliged and almost ended three Russians’ sentences early. That may not have been a good idea but in the end it turned out great as there were a few good laughs and the inmates got a good block right at the end.
Those first few minutes when the inmates were gathering around us while we were on the pitch were the scariest moments we have ever had. Two to three hundred inmates surrounding you speaking a language you don’t understand. In a foreign country with only a few people knowing where we were. Eleven of us tried to stay together but we were easily separated from each other. Those moments were high stress and high anxiety times. As the volleyball match went on the stress level and anxiety reduced. The power of sport once again bringing people of all walks together.
After the volleyball match we moved to a courtyard area and had a short program prepared. Brad Kufske and Jordan Geransky gave their stories to the inmates and DJ gave the evangelism talk. After we had time for a question and answer period. There were some interesting questions. Have we ever been in a prison, what do we think about the prison, were we scared to come into the prison…etc. There were also some odd requests, one being could we sing a song. We obliged with the singing of O Canada. I remember right around ‘true north strong and free’ thinking this is a very strange sight. Ten Canadians singing O Canada to two hundred Russian inmates in a dungy prison in the middle of Russia. There were a lot of strange things that we expected to experience in Russia but this most assuredly was not one of them.
After the program a few of the inmate believers invited us to their chapel. Once there we had a time of prayer and sharing. A number of the inmates shared their stories of how they came to Christ and a few even shared how they came to be in the prison. One inmate’s route to prison was very interesting, or at least the telling of it. He was a gangster for an oil company, we can only imagine what he did as he didn’t specify. He came to Christ shortly after being incarcerated and said that he felt it was God that brought him to prison. An interesting comment to be sure. He went on to say that had he not come to prison he would now be dead and his daughter wouldn’t have a daddy. After coming to Christ he vowed that his daughter, who was having her 10th birthday while we were there, would never see him drunk again. His exact words were, “my daughter will never see her daddy drunk.” Powerful stuff as this huge gangster man, with tears in his eyes and Christ’s love in his heart poured it out for our team to see in a tiny makeshift chapel in a Russian country prison.
Our time in the prison was a strange one. The first hour was the scariest and most nervy hour of our lives. Then volleyball made things comfortable. Then the realization that these inmates were men just like us, broken, vulnerable, hurting and needing God. By the time we had left we had made friends and had seen that people are people everywhere, all they need is a chance to show it.
After leaving the jail we went with a group of former prisoners who run the prison ministry that set up our visit. They took us to a forest area underneath a bridge over the river. One fella built a grill on the ground from bricks and a few garbage bags of pork that had been in cut onions all night emerged from, it seemed, thin air. Watching how they grilled the pork was very interesting, but eating the pork was far more amazing. This BBQ pork was by far our best meal in Russia. As we sat beside a dirty river, eating pork cooked on the ground, under a bridge with a bunch of former inmates beside us and the memory of our new inmate friends still fresh in our minds we had peace.
We had to cut our peaceful meal short as we had to race back to the Agriculture University we played at the day before for a practice session. After we had such a good time talking with them we had decided to set up a practice together. We ran our friends through a few of our favourite drills and then we divided the teams up and scrimmaged together. The teams were half Russians and half Spartans so it was very hard for the guys to communicate. It was very interesting to watch the two teams communicate without words. Another example how sport brings people together. Though neither could understand the words the other was saying they could still get their message across and find a way to work together. It was a very enjoyable time to play together and then share some time together after.
Finally it was back to the hotel after a really long day and what is to be a short night to come. The 4am departure for the hotel will be tough but the reuniting of the team will be exciting. It has been weird being split up, but the family will all be back together again soon.
Go Spartans!!!
Well today was one of the stuff of legend. The day started early with a 6am wake up call followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride to a prison. Nothing wakes you up in the morning like going to prison. The plan was to put on a clinic or skills demonstration for the inmates and then have a match against the guards. That sounded like a lot of fun and fairly unobtrusive. As seems to be the case the plan was not what happened.
When we first arrived to the prison it took a while for us to get organized and the screening process was lengthy. The first pioneers on the team were on the inside for about 15 minutes before the whole team got through. 15 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but when you have ten huge Russian inmates hanging out of their windows yelling at you 15 minutes, that may be your last, is an eternity.
Once the whole team was in we moved down the secure area towards what we thought was going to be a gym…nope…there was a sand/gravel court in the middle of the “grounds” with a net strung across it. We were looking at each other as if to say, “Are we really going in THERE?” Yep…we entered the common grounds with all of the prisoners and surprisingly very few guards. Nick summed it up best when I asked if he is nervous. He said, “Ya, a little…and by little I mean extremely.” So bunch of nervy athletes from Canada and at least 20 times as many curious Russians congregated on the football pitch (gravel rectangular space) and did what they all new best. The athletes began to play pepper and the inmates moved in clumps surrounding the athletes peppering them with questions…in Russian. Thankfully a few inmates were able to translate a portion of the conversation so we were able to communicate a bit. After a few minutes almost the entire prison had surrounded the volleyball court and a game with the inmates seemed inevitable.
Six very big, very strong Russian men emerged on the court in a scene right out of the Longest Yard. Six very skinny, by comparison, and very scared Canadians stood and awaited the Russians. Just before the game began the team decided that they did not want to show the inmates up by not trying but it became clear quickly that the inmates were not the best at volleyball. The Spartans laid off the gas a bit and there were some extended rallies. The mood in the “yard” was improving as there was more laughter as the heckling between the inmates and the taunts of the Canadians picked up, all in good humour…it seemed. The two teams played three sets total and after the Spartans got to 20 in the third set Victor the Russian told the boys to play the last few points hard. They obliged and almost ended three Russians’ sentences early. That may not have been a good idea but in the end it turned out great as there were a few good laughs and the inmates got a good block right at the end.
Those first few minutes when the inmates were gathering around us while we were on the pitch were the scariest moments we have ever had. Two to three hundred inmates surrounding you speaking a language you don’t understand. In a foreign country with only a few people knowing where we were. Eleven of us tried to stay together but we were easily separated from each other. Those moments were high stress and high anxiety times. As the volleyball match went on the stress level and anxiety reduced. The power of sport once again bringing people of all walks together.
After the volleyball match we moved to a courtyard area and had a short program prepared. Brad Kufske and Jordan Geransky gave their stories to the inmates and DJ gave the evangelism talk. After we had time for a question and answer period. There were some interesting questions. Have we ever been in a prison, what do we think about the prison, were we scared to come into the prison…etc. There were also some odd requests, one being could we sing a song. We obliged with the singing of O Canada. I remember right around ‘true north strong and free’ thinking this is a very strange sight. Ten Canadians singing O Canada to two hundred Russian inmates in a dungy prison in the middle of Russia. There were a lot of strange things that we expected to experience in Russia but this most assuredly was not one of them.
After the program a few of the inmate believers invited us to their chapel. Once there we had a time of prayer and sharing. A number of the inmates shared their stories of how they came to Christ and a few even shared how they came to be in the prison. One inmate’s route to prison was very interesting, or at least the telling of it. He was a gangster for an oil company, we can only imagine what he did as he didn’t specify. He came to Christ shortly after being incarcerated and said that he felt it was God that brought him to prison. An interesting comment to be sure. He went on to say that had he not come to prison he would now be dead and his daughter wouldn’t have a daddy. After coming to Christ he vowed that his daughter, who was having her 10th birthday while we were there, would never see him drunk again. His exact words were, “my daughter will never see her daddy drunk.” Powerful stuff as this huge gangster man, with tears in his eyes and Christ’s love in his heart poured it out for our team to see in a tiny makeshift chapel in a Russian country prison.
Our time in the prison was a strange one. The first hour was the scariest and most nervy hour of our lives. Then volleyball made things comfortable. Then the realization that these inmates were men just like us, broken, vulnerable, hurting and needing God. By the time we had left we had made friends and had seen that people are people everywhere, all they need is a chance to show it.
After leaving the jail we went with a group of former prisoners who run the prison ministry that set up our visit. They took us to a forest area underneath a bridge over the river. One fella built a grill on the ground from bricks and a few garbage bags of pork that had been in cut onions all night emerged from, it seemed, thin air. Watching how they grilled the pork was very interesting, but eating the pork was far more amazing. This BBQ pork was by far our best meal in Russia. As we sat beside a dirty river, eating pork cooked on the ground, under a bridge with a bunch of former inmates beside us and the memory of our new inmate friends still fresh in our minds we had peace.
We had to cut our peaceful meal short as we had to race back to the Agriculture University we played at the day before for a practice session. After we had such a good time talking with them we had decided to set up a practice together. We ran our friends through a few of our favourite drills and then we divided the teams up and scrimmaged together. The teams were half Russians and half Spartans so it was very hard for the guys to communicate. It was very interesting to watch the two teams communicate without words. Another example how sport brings people together. Though neither could understand the words the other was saying they could still get their message across and find a way to work together. It was a very enjoyable time to play together and then share some time together after.
Finally it was back to the hotel after a really long day and what is to be a short night to come. The 4am departure for the hotel will be tough but the reuniting of the team will be exciting. It has been weird being split up, but the family will all be back together again soon.
Go Spartans!!!
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