Welcome back everyone!
I hope you all had a stellar summer, I definitely did! I was home in PEI working and coaching beach volleyball…and eating some home style cooking of course. It’s crazy to think that almost 7 months has passed by since our season ended last March, but it feels great to be back in the swing of things. After a tough try out process, our 2012-2013 team has finally been selected and the good vibes are re-appearing in practices already. There are 8 new faces that will be showing up on the roster this season, along with a core group of returners.
I’m going to spend this post introducing you to our recruit class and a bit about their volleyball backgrounds. Starting off with the local boys…Corey Ross, is a 6’4 outside hitter from Fredericton who played with the 20U provincial team this past summer and competed at the National Team Challenge Cup (NTCC). The 2nd local is Matt Losier, a very skilled and talented 6’1 setter with tons of potential. He was also a member of the 20U provincial team this past summer that competed at the NTCC’s. Next up is another Maritimer, from Summerside PEI…Alec Parise, a 6’6 outside hitter who is a member of the 2013 PEI Canada games beach volleyball team. Alec’s a very athletic, solid kid with tons of upside in his future. Our last east coast pick up is Brad Joliffe, a libero transfer from Memorial University. Brad received AUS Libero of the year last season and brings maturity and depth to our back row. Moving across the country, our next recruit is a 3rd year middle blocker transfer from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Craig Toonders. Craig’s a big presence at the net, standing at 6’8 he hopes to try and fill the void of big 5th year graduate senior John Sheehan and earn some minutes on the court this season. Finally reaching the west coast of Canada, from beautiful British Columbia, we have Tristen Burridge, an athletic 6’4 outside hitter. Tristen was a member of Team BC’s NTCC team in 2011 and will be a noticeable force to reckon with as he develops his v-reds career. Leaving Canada and going down under, we picked up Sam Alves from Melbourne Australia. Sam’s a very explosive 6’6 middle blocker who along with Craig will be pushing for minutes this season. Sam is also member of the Australian Junior National Team. Rounding out our recruiting class is the Viking himself, Eivind Andersen from Norway. Eivind is a 6’4 rightside hitter with lots of skill and composure as a young player and has the ability to make an early impact with our squad. Eivind also competed for Norway at the 2011 FIVB World Junior’s Beach Volleyball Championships.
As the blog continues throughout the season, I’ll give you team updates, schedules and results and also one on one player interviews! Although it’s a few weeks off now, don’t forget to mark October 5th and 6th off on your calendars as we host the University of Manitoba Bison’s for pre-season action!
Cheers everyone, hope you all have a great weekend
Costa
