18U Girls display great teamwork in Gatineau(PHOTOS) By Paul Edwards
September 28, 2008 — The newly-minted 2008-2009 CAPS 18U Girls team (all 13 of them!) got together over the weekend to participate in the 3-day Invitation des Griffons at the Cégep de l'Outaouais in Gatineau. Five teams from schools and colleges from across Quebec came together along with the CAPS to hone their skills in a non-medal event designed to give all teams maximum court time (minimum 4 sets with 5th set tie-break, when necessary). All the CAPS experienced lots of action, with new 18U Coach Jeremy Hannay imploring his new charges to implement and excel at the defensive skills to which they had been dedicating themselves over the past few weeks.
There was only one victory of any value at this event – the victory that comes when you work together as a team towards a common goal. According to Assistant Coach Chris MacLennan, “As a team, we had a goal this weekend; not to play good, but to play GREAT team defence. Our athletes have undergone several weeks of tough defensive training and we coaches could not be more impressed with the results. This weekend, both the athletes and the parents began to see the fruits of the long hard hours of training that have been put forth in the CAPS gym since the beginning of the season – and to think ‘we’ve only just begun’. Keep up the hard work girls!”
Assistant Coach Michelle Prentice added, “As the girls learned to critically analyze game footage this weekend, the benefits of playing disciplined defense became visible and obvious. While there is always more to learn, the MANY glimpses of greatness seen at the tournament left them thirsty for more. At the rate they are learning, don’t be surprised to see them playing university-level volleyball within the next few months!”
Thanks to the girls for all their hard work this weekend, and thanks to Coach Jeremy and the team’s quite collegiate coaching entourage for their wonderful work with the girls so far. A great start to what promises to be a very exciting season!
