By Dan Plouffe
They both came one step short of gold, but for the underdog Ottawa Fusion 16-and-under boys and the Maverick 17U boys, getting the chance to play in the final game for a national title provided an unforgettable memory.
It was an opportunity very few of the record 10,000-odd participants got to experience at the largest Canadian volleyball championships ever on the May long weekend at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.
“For those guys to be that mentally strong, on the biggest stage with that many people watching, was outstanding,” says Fusion coach Colin Walker. “I was full of pride for them.”
There was even more added drama for Walker’s boys as they went to a third and deciding set against a big, physical Fraser Valley, B.C. club in the championship final. They wound up falling by the minimum, 15-13.
“We’re supposed to play every game like it’s just a practice, but it was definitely more stressful for me,” acknowledges setter Simon Smyth, a tournament all-star along with middle Ben Harper. “It was really a special experience.”
Despite a taxing schedule featuring nine matches in three days – seven of which went three sets – and the 6:15 a.m. shuttle bus departure in the mornings, the Fusion showed no ill effects in the final.
“I wasn’t tired at all,” says Harper, a Grade 10 Lisgar student whose father’s office at Parliament Hill overlooks his school. “I was just so excited to be able to play in the biggest game I’ve ever played in my life.”
It was tough to lose the final by two points, Harper adds, but the close team of “brothers” took pride in placing second, which provides some extra motivation for the future.
“Our ultimate goal is to peak at the 18U championships, so we seem to be on the right track,” echoes Walker, who preaches Long-Term Athlete Development at his SportsCan Academy. “We can go forward now and say we’ve progressed again. We’re really happy with that.”
Walker was just as impressed with the other team he coaches, the Maverick 15U girls – not only for winning Div. 2 gold with a 9-0 record, but for their gesture when his teams’ finals overlapped.
“The girls came to me after their semi-final match and said, ‘Colin, we realize this is Div. 2 and your guys are in Div. 1 – you should go coach them and don’t worry about us,’” recounts Walker, who wound up staying with his girls while veteran assistant Jeff Mooney took care of the boys. “That was pretty mature of those girls. There’s some good kids out there.”
Mavs silver equals redemption
Finishing second in Canada provided a large dose of satisfaction for the Mavericks. They were a strong team that won a large tournament at Penn State earlier this season, but since the Ontario Volleyball Association ran an event on the same weekend, the OVA docked them for missing it and kept the Mavs in second-tier tournaments all year prior to provincials.
“We were focused on proving that we were one of the top teams,” notes coach Karch MacLean. “Having not played in a single Tier 1 tournament all year and then finishing second at nationals is huge.”
Libero Thomas Marshall and middle Warren Taylor were national all-stars, while many players stepped up to fill the gaping hole left by leader Phil Piché, who couldn’t play due to a broken wrist.
“There was so much fight in them this tournament,” MacLean says. “The whole weekend was about the team – from start to finish, it was about what they owed each other and the work they put in all year.”