Falcons set to host and play in OCAA Championships
Both men's and women's teams to play on home court this weekend
Just six years removed from having re-started Fanshawe's volleyball program, the college is not only hosting the provincial championships, but is being represented by both the men's and women's teams on the court.
In London, a volleyball hotbed, it made sense for the college to restart the program, which had previously been cut due to budgetary restrictions, to continue drawing students from local schools to the college. And only a few years back into the program and the school has had a lot to be proud of from its volleyball players.
“We built up our program and we've been to pretty much every single championship since we started from day one,” said Mike Lindsay, Fanshawe's manager of athletics. “And it's only because of our facilities, or the way we deliver student programs, but moreover southwestern Ontario and the London area are one of the hottest areas for high school volleyball.”
The men's team qualified for the tournament despite having suffered player losses for a variety of reasons, including injury, but managed to pull together and fill in the holes left in their starting roster.
“They've endured some amazing hardships that I doubt any other team in the conference could withstand,” explained Vaughan Peckham, the volleyball program coordinator as well as the women's assistant coach. “There's no school in Ontario that you could take three of your top players off of the roster and still remain competitive and essentially that's what the men have had to do.
“We've lost three of our top players and still managed to finish first in the west, and that kind of shows you the depth of our team and our program.”
And despite the hits to the roster, or perhaps because of them, the team captain, Jonathan Hillis, believes that it's the clubs closeness that's helping them win games.
“I think one of our team strengths would be the ability to come together and be a team considering the circumstances we've been put under,” said Hillis. “The last couple games we've gone into really prepared and I'd have to say that the Redeemer match we were really prepared and I think that set the stage for what we have to do to reach our goals.”
The women's team wasn't faced with the same hurdles as the men's but instead watched a young team, one with three key rookies, consistently improve to the point where since the holidays have only lost a single match, and that coming against Humber College, the number one ranked team in the province.
“We're building momentum to these championships,” said Peckham. “The girls are playing with a lot of confidence right now and I'm very pleased because they're confident and we're ready.”
But that momentum doesn't mean that the team, or Peckham, think they're going to roll over the competition.
“We're going to need, quite frankly, a superior performance on the weekend to win a gold medal,” Peckham stressed. “Obviously every team would have to play superior to win the medal, but if we play certainly not over our heads, but to our potential, we can still win a medal of some colour.”
And despite the obvious advantage of having the home crowd on their side, the men's team doesn't believe it would make a difference where the championships were happening.
“This year we haven't performed very well at home, “ Hillis explained. “But I think we've learned that we don't have to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get a win, we just have to play our game and not worry about who's in the stands and watching.”
The tournament, which takes place on February 22-23, will span two courts and host 16 teams between the men and women throughout both days, with the finals being held on the Saturday at 6 p.m. for the women and 8:30 p.m. for the men. Tickets to the games, as well as schedule information, can be found at the Athletics Offices in J building.
Just six years removed from having re-started Fanshawe's volleyball program, the college is not only hosting the provincial championships, but is being represented by both the men's and women's teams on the court.
In London, a volleyball hotbed, it made sense for the college to restart the program, which had previously been cut due to budgetary restrictions, to continue drawing students from local schools to the college. And only a few years back into the program and the school has had a lot to be proud of from its volleyball players.
“We built up our program and we've been to pretty much every single championship since we started from day one,” said Mike Lindsay, Fanshawe's manager of athletics. “And it's only because of our facilities, or the way we deliver student programs, but moreover southwestern Ontario and the London area are one of the hottest areas for high school volleyball.”
The men's team qualified for the tournament despite having suffered player losses for a variety of reasons, including injury, but managed to pull together and fill in the holes left in their starting roster.
“They've endured some amazing hardships that I doubt any other team in the conference could withstand,” explained Vaughan Peckham, the volleyball program coordinator as well as the women's assistant coach. “There's no school in Ontario that you could take three of your top players off of the roster and still remain competitive and essentially that's what the men have had to do.
“We've lost three of our top players and still managed to finish first in the west, and that kind of shows you the depth of our team and our program.”
And despite the hits to the roster, or perhaps because of them, the team captain, Jonathan Hillis, believes that it's the clubs closeness that's helping them win games.
“I think one of our team strengths would be the ability to come together and be a team considering the circumstances we've been put under,” said Hillis. “The last couple games we've gone into really prepared and I'd have to say that the Redeemer match we were really prepared and I think that set the stage for what we have to do to reach our goals.”
The women's team wasn't faced with the same hurdles as the men's but instead watched a young team, one with three key rookies, consistently improve to the point where since the holidays have only lost a single match, and that coming against Humber College, the number one ranked team in the province.
“We're building momentum to these championships,” said Peckham. “The girls are playing with a lot of confidence right now and I'm very pleased because they're confident and we're ready.”
But that momentum doesn't mean that the team, or Peckham, think they're going to roll over the competition.
“We're going to need, quite frankly, a superior performance on the weekend to win a gold medal,” Peckham stressed. “Obviously every team would have to play superior to win the medal, but if we play certainly not over our heads, but to our potential, we can still win a medal of some colour.”
And despite the obvious advantage of having the home crowd on their side, the men's team doesn't believe it would make a difference where the championships were happening.
“This year we haven't performed very well at home, “ Hillis explained. “But I think we've learned that we don't have to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get a win, we just have to play our game and not worry about who's in the stands and watching.”
The tournament, which takes place on February 22-23, will span two courts and host 16 teams between the men and women throughout both days, with the finals being held on the Saturday at 6 p.m. for the women and 8:30 p.m. for the men. Tickets to the games, as well as schedule information, can be found at the Athletics Offices in J building.
