End of the Semester

Saturday evening marked the end of the first semester for the Humber College men’s volleyball team in Windsor, Ontario. Boy can you really tell that most of the guys need a break. Their body language, demeanor on the court, lack of energy, and the tension starting to grow among each other are always signs that it’s time for a break. Even high-powered teams, which I believe Humber is, are entitled to a let down once in a while. If you were to solely base the result on scores you would think that the team rolled right through the St. Clair Saints in straight sets (25-18, 25-12, 25-20), but if you watched the match which I did, then you would agree with me that the team did not look as focused as a team looking to repeat should. Once again it was Terrel Bramwell doing most of the scoring and carrying the team, especially in the first set when the score was tight before reeling off 4 aces to separate the teams. You have to feel for Terrel because the team looks to him to carry most of the offensive load every game and you can see the frustration on his face when the team does not play well. It would be a lot different if the team had no talent but we’re talking about the defending OCAA champs, which have multiple players at every position that could start on every other team in the OCAA. You would expect players to step up and help shoulder the load but the mentality of the team right now is to rely on Terrel. Volleyball is very much a team game; you cannot win with just one player, two players, and three players doing all the work. It has to be a collective effort to win. It’s a beautiful thing when you watch a game, whether its basketball, football, soccer and you can see things clicking among teammates and everyone is playing well. Thank goodness it’s the end of the first semester for the Hawks as they can take this time to study up for exams, rest any injuries they may have and get themselves ready for a run at the OCAA championships and a CCAA Gold medal.

Bouncing Back From Defeat

On November 24^th, the Humber men’s volleyball team suffered it’s first loss of the season to the number two ranked Fanshawe Falcons in a close battle going five sets in London, Ontario. The Hawk’s were without All- Canadian Terrel Bramwell but were still very much in the game and had many of opportunities to win.  It’s always tough suffering your first loss of the season as well as losing the top spot in the province and falling in the national rankings in the process. Many of the players were upset with their individual performances feeling like they had let down the team. When your big gun or game changer is out (Terrel), it’s up to others to step up in his absence and cease the opportunity. This wasn’t the case and the result was Humber’s first loss. When you get knocked down, it’s all about getting back up and bouncing back from defeat. Humber’s next opponent was a home game against the Redeemer Royals from Ancaster, Ontario on November 30^th. The team was looking to get back on track having Terrel back in the lineup and looked very good in warm up and the beginning of the first set. However, unforced errors allowed Redeemer to get back in the set ultimately winning the first set forcing Humber again to regroup. Humber won the second and third set very easily with Terrel carrying the Hawks as he usually does. Redeemer not backing down from a challenge managed to take the fourth set forcing a 5^th and deciding set. Humber again regrouped and won the fifth set in deciding fashion 15-8 taking the match 3-2. Terrel Bramwell had the game of his career to date breaking the OCAA record for most points in a match with 40. Although not playing their best, the team managed to pull out a win bouncing back from a previous defeat. Here’s a link to read more. http://tinyurl.com/3x9vojt

Veterans

2009-2010 Vet's. (Left to Right) Myself
Steve Eichorn, Bobby Anderson,
Paul Kemboi.

Being a veteran or the ‘old guys’ on the team definitely has its perks. Not only have you built friendships and relationships with faculty and students around campus and but you know ins and outs of what it’s like being a varsity athlete. On this year’s team, Paul Kemboi and Bobby Anderson are the two most senior veterans on the team. Both are in their 5^th years of eligibility as it will be their final year as members of the volleyball team. As older veterans of the team, you are looked upon for wisdom and guidance for the younger players, almost as a big brother would play for his younger siblings. Veteran leadership is key for a team’s success. Preparation is a very important aspect of being successful when playing a varsity sport, especially considering how tough and long the season is. Every year is different but at some point in the season, players may be faced with injuries, getting sick, struggling with school or time management, so it’s up to the people who have been through it to teach the younger players how to cope with these issues.  The coaching staff really looks to the veterans to develop chemistry and solidify the relationships within the team. For example, every month starting in September right to the end of the season, a veteran is paired with a rookie to plan a team event that the team can partake in. A typical monthly event can range anywhere from going to the movies, to someone’s house, going bowling, or even going to paintball. The craziest idea that one of the veterans suggested we do was in my second year playing. He suggested we go skydiving as a team!! That would probably the craziest team bonding event ever in the history of Humber. Needless to say, there were a lot of players opposed to the idea, including myself so this event did not happen.

Rick Hansen Connection

The volleyball community in Ontario is fairly tiny considering the size of our province. Certain schools, clubs and areas are known for producing good volleyball players that are good enough to play post secondary athletics. The city of Mississauga is one of the areas that have become one of those places where numerous athletes are coming out of. Last years Championship team (2009-2010) had 9 out of the 16 guys on the roster including red-shirts who are products of Mississauga. Rick Hansen Secondary School is one of the powerhouses that constantly produce’s good volleyball players on a yearly basis. The big guy Andre Brown, our setter Derek Quinn, and myself all hail from Rick Hansen but graduating in different years. Both Andre and Derek played on a team with my younger brother who was the ‘superstar’ at the time. A few years before them, I played on a team full of athletes that would go on to play varsity volleyball, basketball, and baseball at the university level. The success of the program all stems from individuals in charge and that would be head of athletics Mike Russell, and Dave McAllister. Both were coaches at powerhouse McMaster University and are currently coaching our rivals at Sheridan College. Mac and Russell as we would call them, spent many hours in the gym, traveling, and coaching us so that we all could have the opportunity to play at the varsity level. They started a club team so that the athletes would have the chance to practice their skills in the high school off-season and get a chance to play against the best players around the province. Their dedication to helping and teaching us, the athletes, is the main reason for the success of the program. Thank you Mac and Russell!! Go Storm Go!

How Tough it is to Repeat

Winning a championship is tough. Repeating as champions is extremely tough. When you win a championship the following year you have the label as the ‘champs’, and every game you play the opposing team will be gunning for you. You essentially have a bull’s-eye on your back because every team will be trying to de-thrown you. The opposing team will bring their A-games as they get a chance to measure up to the champions. Humber volleyball has a reputation of always being a contender and if you can beat Humber, you will have a chance to compete for a provincial championship. Even without being the reigning provincial champions we would get a good game out of our opponents, but now having the reputation of Humber, being ranked number one in the province and the defending champions, teams will be gunning for you. Looking at OCAA record books, men’s volleyball has not had a repeat champion since the 2001-2002 season when the Loyalist Lancers of Belleville repeated. So far this season, the Humber Men’s team seems to be on track to repeat. They have successfully repeated as champions at the Durham Cup Volleyball tournament, and the Humber Cup Volleyball tournament. They are also ranked first in the province and fourth nationally. I guess its safe to say for now, that the Men’ Volleyball team is on pace to repeat.

Practice

One of the most important aspects that determine success throughout the course of the season is practice. For some it’s where you get to work out all the kinks, flaws, and rust that may have built up over the summer. But for others it’s a chance to get in shape and work on skill development and try to perfect certain aspects of your game. Volleyball is a game of skill/ repetition and the more time you practice working on the skills, the better and more comfortable you will become. It’s amazing how fast you loose those skills when you take off a few practices or are away from the game. Usually the first thing to go is your timing. Timing plays a huge role in volleyball; it determines whether you hit the ball in the bottom of the net or getting a point (a kill) for your team. It also affects your passing, blocking, defense and just your overall movement on the court. A moment to slow or too quick you don’t make the play, but if you’re in rhythm and on time good things tend to happen. A varsity practice tends to last roughly 2 hours and the men’s team usually practices following the women’s team. Start time depends on the day but usually starts at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. For my first 3 years on the volleyball team practice on most nights was at 8p.m. but many of us found this difficult because practice wouldn’t end until 10p.m. and depending on where you live, you might not get home until much later. Practice starts with a warm up, which usually lasts 20 minutes. We use many different warm up drills such as blocking practice, ball control drills, or depending on how coach feels, head soccer (a player favorite). After warm up coach will have us focus on one or two aspects that he feels we need to work on as a group. Most of the time it’s working on passing or our defensive skills and system. Most volleyball players at the varsity level are fairly developed when it comes to their offensive skill because most of us when we’re with our friends playing around all we want to do is hit balls or spike. At the end of every practice we usually have some type of game situation practice either scrimmaging, with starters against the bench or a mix of the two. Losers in the scrimmage almost always have some sort of punishment. Punishments can be running lines, sit ups, push-ups, jumping exercises or a mix of them all. Most athletes are very competitive so they never want to loose and have to do punishments, which is why our practices are so intense. Intense practices usually carry over to intensity in games, which is a key reason why our team has been successful.

The Life of a Rookie

Every season brings in new players, new faces, and new relationships. A Rookie by definition can be defined as ‘an athlete playing his or her first season as a member of a amateur or professional sports team’. Your first year playing varsity is a year that you will never, ever forget. Excitement, a sense of accomplishment and nervousness can explain the way you feel when stepping on the court for the first time in front of the Humber faithful. Some players take advantage of the big stage and can perform well under the bright lights, others take time to develop and need seasoning before they can perform. First year players are not only battling themselves but other first years for court time as well as seasoned veterans. Even certain coaches choose not to play rookies simply for the fact that they are rookies and they believe they need a season or two to be ready for the challenges that college volleyball withholds. The life of a rookie also brings many duties that they must fulfill during their first year. Every rookie before them has had to carry the ball bag off the bus or collect the balls (shag up) in volleyball terms after practice and take the balls to the locker room. Every veteran has a rookie buddy and is paired up at the beginning of the season. Although it’s the veterans job to teach and show the rookies the ropes, a rookie has many jobs to do for their veteran like getting him lunch, or filling his water bottle when its empty. These jobs or ‘tasks’ might sound tedious or even childish but they are traditions that have gone on for years. You’re only a rookie once and the life of a rookie is one that you will never forget.

Exhibition Game

Every year the men’s volleyball program starts in a similar way with scheduled exhibition games against a number of University (OUA) teams. It is very well known that University teams are typically better than college team for a number of reasons. A typical college team practices two to three times per week, where a university team practices four to five times per week. The extra touches from those practices makes them more ‘crisp’ as there games are usually sharper. University teams also usually get the prized recruits who want to attend University as apposed to a college. This is not always the case but from my experience is definitely what happens. Another reason as to why university teams are usually better is because of the competition that they usually face. In the OCAA, there are roughly twenty men’s teams but maybe the top three or four teams (depending on how strong a year it is in the OCAA) could compete in the OUA against university teams. So whenever a college team plays a university team, the college team definitely has something to prove and wants to play well. We played against York last season, and we had a lead in every set but failed to close out any of the games losing 3-0. We were disappointed in our result because we felt like we were the better team but just failed to finish strong. The practices following that game did we ever spend a lot of time doing drills trying to close out games. Needless to say it was a learning experience that we as a team grew from. Fast forward to this year, and the Humber guys are playing the York Lions and it’s always a good test to see where you stand compared to the OUA teams. You know if you can compete with a University team in Ontario, then you’ll have a good chance of winning and competing for the OCAA championship. This year’s game had a lot of hype with two young superstars, Terrel Bramwell and Ray Szeto facing off. Ray is one of Ontario’s top high school recruits who played for Team Ontario over the summer and will be looked upon to carry York this year. It will be interesting to see how Humber plays and to see if they can come out victorious.

The Beast aka Mr All Canadian aka Mr Team Canada

Last year not only did I have the opportunity to win the OCAA Championships and placing fourth at the CCAA Championships but I had the pleasure to play with Terrel Bramwell. I grew up in Mississauga and attended Rick Hansen Secondary School a few years ahead of Terrel, who attended a rival high school, Mississauga High Secondary. I can recall in my OAC/ Grade 13 year, hearing about this young athletic phenom down the road from our high school that could dunk a basketball and jump out of the gym. Playing REP basketball and playing volleyball I knew lots of athletes that could jump well and could dunk a basketball, but most were my age. Terrel at the time was only in GRADE 9! A few years past and I've just finished my third year playing at Humber College, the volleyball team is coming off an underachieving year where we failed to make the playoffs and I wasn't sure if I was going to play in the upcoming year. After speaking with the coaching staff, Wayne, Hank, Bart and Ellie, I decided I was going to play in my fourth year. During the many conversations over the summer they told me that we had an amazing rookie class coming into the season headlined but guess who, Terrel Bramwell. In my head I thought to myself, "OK, now I really get to see how good this guy is" and witness him live because we're on the same team. Well, not only was he good but he is the most amazing athlete I have ever played with or played against. Terrel is what you might call a 'athletic freak'. He's around 6'1-6'2 depending on who you talk to but he possesses a 45 inch (or more) vertical jump. Along with his physical tools, he has a competitive edge that only a teammate could love. His desire and drive to win is what makes Terrel such a special athlete. Not only did he carry our team all season but he is the the main reason why we won the Ontario Championship this past year and finished fourth in the country. This past summer, Terrel made Canada's National Volleyball Team in Ottawa, where he spent the majority of the summer training. If your bored one night and are looking for some entertainment go check out Terrel and the rest of the Humber Men's team at one of their home or away games. Here's a quick link to what you might expect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00JsGWxqdm0

A Typical Season

I want to first start out by stating that this is my first ever blog so if I'm terrible at it, I apologize in advance. Good thing I have all semester to get used to writing on here so with that being said on to my first blog.


September 2010, marked my first year at Humber College (I've been here since 2006) not playing on the Men's Volleyball team. I have one semester to finally finish my post secondary education and playing one semester doesn't really make a lot of sense. For the volleyball program, the year starts off in September and ends if your lucky in March when the Canadian College Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships take place. It's definitely a grind, not only physically but mentally to make it through the long season. If you've ever placed varsity sports, you know that the season is actually broken up into two seasons (or semesters). First semester starts off with training camp, exhibition games and tournaments, seven or eight league games and when we're not playing, practices three or four nights a week. Life of a varsity athlete is very time consuming to say the least and when you finally make it to Christmas, everyone is dying for a break. For some, Christmas break marks the end of the road for the players who have not focused in the classroom. Over my four year career at Humber, I'd say on average the team losses one player at Christmas due to grades. It's always an interesting practice walking into the gym and seeing Coach Wayne Wilkins with 'the white sheet' with all players grades on it. If he calls your name, you know you have some explaining to do. It's always a sad time saying goodbye to a teammate who you've spent countless hours with.
Second semester starts out usually with a trip to Quebec City to play in the Limoulu Tournament and maybe another exhibition tournament (Seneca Sting Invitational) before league games start. All the players usually seem more focused because playoffs and the OCAA Championship are within reach. Practices are taken up a notch and the games are all taken more seriously as your trying to secure not only a spot in the playoffs but a better seeding for the Ontario Championships. The OCAA Championships is bracket, seeding the top eight teams to play off for a gold medal. It's three games to gold matching 1 vs.8, 2 vs.7, 3 vs.6, and 4vs5, so it's crucial to go into OC's (as the players call it) on a roll. OC's is a fun tournament with a great atmosphere that in the end separates the great teams from the good teams, eventually crowning the Ontario College Champions. Last year, I had the privilege of being the captain and a member of the 2009-2010 Ontario Men's Volleyball Champs.