Christmas Break Trip

Every Christmas break the Men’s Volleyball team has an annual trip to either Quebec City to play in the Limilou tournament or if lucky get to travel out west to play in a few tournaments against teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Luckily for the team, this year was one of the years and the team traveled to Fort McMurry, Alberta to play at the Keyano College Invitational and to Calgary to play in the Mount Royal Tournament. The team departed January 1^st (New Years Day) to Fort McMurry, Alberta where the daily temperature high’s were on average about minus -25C. It was very, very cold to say the least. This tournament was a tune up for the larger Mount Royal Tournament where 8 of the top 10 teams in the country would be participating. The team came out sluggish, which was to be expected coming off Christmas break with virtually no practice and stomachs still full of turkey, stuffing, and desserts. However, the team managed to finish second losing to the defending national champs Limilou 3-1. Then it was on to Calgary to play in the Mount Royal Tournament which is always fun because the facility is amazing! State of the art new gym with four volleyball courts, large track, state of the art gym, and Calgary in my opinion is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. We arrived in Calgary on New Years Eve and celebrated as a team, once at 10 pm MST and again at 12pm EST with the rest of our families. We then went out as a team to a local nightclub and danced the night away. The next day we traveled to Banff to head up the gondola and see the fantastic view of the Rocky Mountains. Its my second time being up the mountain in Banff and I don’t think I could ever get sick of that view, so beautiful. Back to the volleyball part of the trip. We played 4 pool play games and finished 3-1, forcing us to playoff against all the second place teams out of the four pools. We ended up winning the second place playoff bracket so 5^th overall out of 16 teams. The one loss cost us an opportunity to play for a medal but overall we had a great tournament finishing 6-1. The next day we came back home to Toronto, 11 days from the time we left. Great trip, great memories!

Losing a Star

The end of first semester and the first half of the season always brings some suspense as all varsity athletes are required to pass 6 credits (2 courses) if they wish to be eligible for the second semester. A pass is 60% at Humber College and if you attend classes regularly, study for exams, and complete your assignments it is a fairly easy average to achieve. For some, this is a challenge and a lot of athletes are on edge waiting for their final marks to be released. This year, the men’s team lost one athlete who happens to be our best player and all Canadian. Not only is he Ontario’s best college player, but also is one of the best volleyball players in Canada. When you lose someone with the skills and talent of this individual, it changes the dynamics of a team. Players, who were once role players and supported the play of the ‘go to’ player, now have to shoulder more of the load and take on the responsibility of scoring points and leading the team. This creates an opportunity for guys to step up and take on this new challenge as the team looks to defend its OCAA Championship second semester. The road will definitely be more challenging but the Humber Men’s Volleyball team is very talented and deep group at all positions. Somehow they will find a way to pull through. I hope!