4 minute read
Saints Take Gold and Silver
Saints Take Gold and Silver
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
St. Mary’s Catholic High School had some action-packed fun days on October 27 and 28 when they held their Second Annual Pumpkin Smash Junior High Volleyball Tournament.
At this tournament, the St. Mary’s Jr. Boy Saints won gold medals and the St. Mary’s Jr. Girl Saints took home silver medals.
When asked, Coordinator and Jr. Girl Saints Coach Curtis Paulichuk said, “This is the second annual pumpkin smash volleyball tournament and we called it that because of the analogy of smashing a volleyball with a Halloween theme. The students loved the idea and did most of the decorating. We had teams as far away as Lloydminster, St. Paul, Myrnam, Two Hills, and Vegreville Composite High School (VCHS). This is a Jr. High tournament for Grades seven to nine and the popularity has grown as many schools wish to enter it, as being very competitive. It was a very competitive tournament on the girls’ side with all the teams being closely matched.”
Then Regular Coach for Jr. Boy Saints Mark Kobelsky explained, “The team is made up of 12 players with four boys in Grade Seven, three in Grade Eight, and five in Grade Nine.
At the tournament, the team did not lose a set all weekend. Friday’s games consisted of defeating VCHS and a young Two Hills team. Saturday the boys were victorious against Myrnam and Glen Avon from St. Paul to complete round-robin play.
The Saints defeated VCHS in the gold medal game by scores of 25-20 and 25-11.
I give credit to the entire team for winning the tournament. Volleyball is such a unique sport that requires all six guys on the court to be ready and able to make plays. Typically the ball touches the hands of three different players working together to get a point.
The highlight for me as the coach is the progress that they are making regarding their different positions; the boys have proven to be competent servers, which is a big deal in junior volleyball, and rotate to their positions during the serve receive.
The Saints have had a very successful season thus far. The boys finished in second place in the EIAA (Elk Island Athletics Association) league and are preparing for the playoffs after the fall break. A couple of weeks back, the boys who are new to volleyball participated in a single-day tournament in Vermilion. The focus was to improve upon your basic skills, gain confidence in your abilities, and learn to trust each other. That took our team to a new level and we are reaping the benefits of that experience.”
Then Substitute Coach for Jr. Boy Saints Stephen Hrabec commented that the boys played well all during the tournament. “The boys did not lose a set and they played really well as a team with the Grade Nine boys leading the way.”
After this, a parent, Deanna Miller mentioned, “My son, Joe was the libero on the team. It was his first year playing volleyball so we were so excited to be able to watch school team sports this year! One of my favorite parts was watching how the whole event was run with the wonderfully hard-working youth referees, and all the volunteers in the canteen, the dedicated coaches, and lines people. I loved the spirit of the event. I especially enjoyed watching how the boys supported each other; we have a good mix of experienced and new players and they work together well as a team. We watched every game and had so much fun!
It was also so cool to watch Vegreville Composite High School teams and St. Paul teams in the semi-finals where they played a very close game to make it to play in the finals!
My family as well are grateful to Heather Kokotyn who donated the huge pumpkins in the entrance and employed my daughter Claire to paint them.”
