EDMONTON – Close to 300 men’s and women’s volleyball teams took over the University of Alberta’s Butterdome and Saville Sports Centre this weekend for the 2013 Canadian Open Volleyball Championships in the Under-17 and Under-18 divisions.
More than 3,000 players are in Edmonton for this national championship.
Basically, the event highlights the future of the sport in Canada.
“As you’ll see over at the at the gym this weekend, there’s lots of kids playing, and they need places to play in,” says Laurie Eisler, head coach of the Pandas Volleyball team.
“I’d much sooner see them playing in Canada than the alternative of going to the States.”
For coaches, the competition is like one-stop shopping for athletes.
Some of that talent will end up with MacEwan Univeristy in Edmonton – the newest school to join Canada West.
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The MacEwan Griffins will be part of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) ranks this fall. Four sports, including volleyball, will now take on teams like Thompson Rivers and the University of Alberta.
“It’s sad that many of them their careers end after 18-U,” shares Eisler.
“They have senior women’s, but it just doesn’t have the appeal, and that post-secondary competitive opportunity is something that is so special. I’m glad that there’s more kids going to have that chance.”
Some might be worried that such a move might thin out the talent pool in certain sports, but volleyball isn’t one of them.
Numbers are declining for some sports in Canada, but in volleyball, they’re growing, especially in the women’s game.
“There’s a lot of kids to go around,” says Lundgren. “This tournament just shows that there’s so many kids out east, and maybe we’ve just got to head out east for a tournament now and do some recruiting there instead of just staying in the west.”
The U-17 and U-18 Nationals isn’t just about showcasing up-and-coming talent. It’s also proving that these athletes are not the same kind of volleyball athletes we’ve seen in the past.
“They definitely seem to be bigger and faster,” admits Lundgren. “I don’t know if it’s just the information age, where they’re just exposed to a lot more material now, but they definitely seem very athletic.”
The competition runs until Sunday, May 12, 2013 at the Saville Centre and the University of Alberta Butterdome.
With files from Dean Millard
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