First semester ended with exams, a record amount of snow, and with the Red Deer Kings being a perfect 8-0 without losing set. This seems like a great result but we aren’t just satisfied with rolling easy teams in three sets. We aim to improve every game and embrace it when teams challenge us. I have been working on running a faster more dynamic offense that creates more isolations and makes it really hard for the opposition to know what will be coming at them.
Once volleyball was done for the semester we had about 2 weeks down time to spend Christmas with family and friends. I spent Christmas with some friends on the team. They made it feel like a normal Christmas even though I wasn’t around my family. The only difference is that I had my second white Christmas, which was even cooler as we had a record amount of snow, probably about 3 to 4ft deep. Once Christmas was done we had a team trip to California which was an amazing experience and great to have some weather above 0 degrees. We were based an hour outside of LA and about 20 minutes from Anaheim, where the GMVA boys stayed. Our trip started with a training and game against the 2 time defending NCAA champions UC Irvine. They were very impressive super physical and seemed in great shape. We pushed them in all sets though it was just a few runs in all sets. We lost in 3 sets 25-21 25-23 25-20. After that game our coached challenged us to become more physical team like UCI. The next part of our trip was a game against the 15th ranked team in the NCAA Cal Baptist. This was a much more all round game from us and the scoreboard reflected with a 3-1 win. The rest of the trip consisted of a few training sessions (one of which I got to see GMVA), Disneyland, and the beach. It was a great trip it had a mix of volleyball and a vacation, I felt it set us up for a good second semester.
Some other news from the break is that I found a CIS school to go to next year. I have officially committed to Mount Royal and will finish my degree and my last three years of eligibility there as well. The whole process was new to me. But because I went to a college first I am able to change schools and move up a division to the CIS. Red Deer has been great to me and has taught me a lot and I have met lots of great people and had a lot of fun times, and we still have a great chance to defend our ACAC championship title and try and win a national title. But I decided that to progress in volleyball I need to play at a higher level more consistently, I began talking to the Mount Royal coach in December and committed in January, Mount Royal is a strong program which competes with the best CIS teams in the country. I very excited for the challenges that lay ahead of me.
After the break we went straight back into routine with games on Friday Saturday and practices Monday through Thursday. We played a total of 10 games in 5 weeks all against playoff teams we finished winning 9 and losing our last one against Grant MacEwan. This meant though we finished the regular season on top with a 17-1 record, and will go into conference championships as hosts and number 1 seeds. The championships will be held on the 21-23rd of Feb and will be elimination knockout. If anyone wants to watch at home you can watch it live here http://www.sportscanada.tv/acac/index.php/upcoming-live-broadcast-schedule/mens-volleyball.
Once volleyball was done for the semester we had about 2 weeks down time to spend Christmas with family and friends. I spent Christmas with some friends on the team. They made it feel like a normal Christmas even though I wasn’t around my family. The only difference is that I had my second white Christmas, which was even cooler as we had a record amount of snow, probably about 3 to 4ft deep. Once Christmas was done we had a team trip to California which was an amazing experience and great to have some weather above 0 degrees. We were based an hour outside of LA and about 20 minutes from Anaheim, where the GMVA boys stayed. Our trip started with a training and game against the 2 time defending NCAA champions UC Irvine. They were very impressive super physical and seemed in great shape. We pushed them in all sets though it was just a few runs in all sets. We lost in 3 sets 25-21 25-23 25-20. After that game our coached challenged us to become more physical team like UCI. The next part of our trip was a game against the 15th ranked team in the NCAA Cal Baptist. This was a much more all round game from us and the scoreboard reflected with a 3-1 win. The rest of the trip consisted of a few training sessions (one of which I got to see GMVA), Disneyland, and the beach. It was a great trip it had a mix of volleyball and a vacation, I felt it set us up for a good second semester.
Some other news from the break is that I found a CIS school to go to next year. I have officially committed to Mount Royal and will finish my degree and my last three years of eligibility there as well. The whole process was new to me. But because I went to a college first I am able to change schools and move up a division to the CIS. Red Deer has been great to me and has taught me a lot and I have met lots of great people and had a lot of fun times, and we still have a great chance to defend our ACAC championship title and try and win a national title. But I decided that to progress in volleyball I need to play at a higher level more consistently, I began talking to the Mount Royal coach in December and committed in January, Mount Royal is a strong program which competes with the best CIS teams in the country. I very excited for the challenges that lay ahead of me.
After the break we went straight back into routine with games on Friday Saturday and practices Monday through Thursday. We played a total of 10 games in 5 weeks all against playoff teams we finished winning 9 and losing our last one against Grant MacEwan. This meant though we finished the regular season on top with a 17-1 record, and will go into conference championships as hosts and number 1 seeds. The championships will be held on the 21-23rd of Feb and will be elimination knockout. If anyone wants to watch at home you can watch it live here http://www.sportscanada.tv/acac/index.php/upcoming-live-broadcast-schedule/mens-volleyball.
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