Sask. Huskies share culture with Japanese volleyball team in exchange for tune-up

The University of Saskatchewan Huskies (U of S) men’s volleyball team has welcomed a familiar but distant opponent for a unique exhibition series over the holiday break.

The Dogs hosted a team from Japan’s International Budo University to train in Saskatoon for just over a week in the second half of an overseas exchange program.

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Saskatchewan won both matches on Thursday and Friday at the Physical Activity Complex (PAC), but Budo helped the Huskies hone their skills like no other team in U Sports.

“They help us train with their defense. It’s something that with their lack of physical stature relative to our team that they need to enhance in order to be successful,” Huskies interim head coach Joel Dyck said.

“You really have to hit the ball hard to beat them and you have to be ready to hit it a couple of times over in a rally. They’re going to bring it back lots,” Huskies captain Tyler Epp said.

The Dogs are familiar with Budo’s quick pace of attack and strong back row defense after travelling overseas to face the team in September.

It was a major crowd pleaser at PAC was the visitors’ unique style of celebration which involves running in figure eights after they score a point.

“For some of them, it’s their first time coming to Canada and when they play against them, they feel kind of timid. So he’s telling them to ‘get pumped up like they do in Japan and feel the same way,’” Budo head coach Fumitoshi Tokunaga said through the use of a translator.

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Besides playing exhibition matches, the teams mixed rosters on Saturday for a fun team scrimmage.

The Huskies also took their Japanese visitors curling, skating and to a Saskatoon Blades game on Wednesday for some Western Hockey League (WHL) action.

“They really liked and were pretty amazed by the Zamboni and the idea of washing the ice to make it more slippery. It was pretty interesting,” Huskies setter Derek Epp said.

“It was nice that the Saskatoon Blades gave us a shout out on the jumbotron. They were all waving two hands, and they were loving it.”

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U of S resumes conference play on Jan. 6 against Trinity Western University in B.C.