Pursuit is a sports feature series highlighting athletes, coaches, and staff and significant sporting events from North Bay and the surrounding area.
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Three quarters of the facility is covered in artificial turf, divided into three soccer fields. Players and coaches sprawled out among the fake grass, creating a scene more reminiscent of a summer concert than a volleyball tournament. Some snoozed between games, others chatted with teammates or scolled through their phones. Nearby, teams preparing for their matches volleyed the ball back and forth.
As a ball get hits low and crashes into the turf, a player from an out-of-town school lets it go by her, saying “I’m not diving on here, it’s worse than rug burn!” she yells to her teammate, noting how unforgiving the artificial turf can be.
Just beyond them, the faint sound of skin smacking leather can be heard as four teams compete on two volleyball courts at the far end of the facility – vying for the title of Christmas Classic champions.
Originally called the Wildcats Christmas Classic, the Christmas Classic volleyball tournament takes place every year on the last Thursday before the holiday break. For the past 14 years, junior and senior girls high school volleyball teams from around the province have come to North Bay to participate in this high-level competition. But for the first time in the tournament's history, games were being held inside the Canadore Dome.
“I never thought we’d see volleyball in a dome in North Bay,” says Kyle McDiarmid, a former Wildcat and Canadore Panthers volleyball player, who was officiating the games.
“It’s something that I wish I had the opportunity to do when I was playing because when you play at the club level, you travel to places that have this kind of a set up and it can take some getting used to. This is a great opportunity for athletes to play in this environment and Canadore gets to show off their new facility to potential recruits.”
That’s something Mark Hopper, head coach of the mens volleyball team at Canadore, and tournament builder reiterates.
“To be able to bring young athletes to North Bay, who are starting to look at their post-secondary options is huge for us. A lot of the time you can talk to athletes but they aren’t sure about coming north for whatever reason, the fact that we can get them here and show off what we have to offer, that just becomes so beneficial to the programs we are trying to build.”
Hopper says the tournament has been so successful since its inception in 2010 that they have had to cap the number of teams who are entering.
One team that made the cut, and were playing in the tournament for the first time were the Timmins High Blues.
“We always make an attempt to get out of Timmins at least two or three times a year and with this young group of kids we have, they are really ambitious about volleyball, so we wanted to get them out of town as much as possible.” says long time Blues head coach Kris Koskela.
Koskela says he has five-grade tens playing on the Blues senior team, but adds, “They are all doing great playing at this level for the first time and they are having a blast being down here. Volleyball in North Bay and Sudbury has always been competitive and it’s one of the main reasons we like to travel to these areas and not have to go further south because over the last 5-10 years, both Sudbury and North Bay teams have been producing OFSAA medalists, so it’s great competition for our players.”
Koskela adds, “We have artificial turf in Timmins but to have a dome with volleyball courts inside it’s unreal and Canadore has done a fantastic job setting this up.”
During a round robin game, Chippewa holds a 24-22 lead over Algonquin. The Ravens had just won a big point and they had a chance to serve for the win. Libero Molly Robertson looks over at the bench and starts to slow clap, then yells “are we going to make any noise?” just as the ball is served. Chippewa made a great play at the net to win the point and the set – the cheers of the girls just audible enough to reach the first soccer field, which also served as the spectator's area.
It was one of the themes of the learning curve of playing in a dome according to senior Ravens player Sydney Bruner. “It’s a new environment for me. I’ve never played in a dome and it’s hard to be loud in there,” she says.
Bruner, a 12th grade student, talked about how much communication plays a part of any game. “It’s key in volleyball, not just from what you're hearing on the floor but also the noise coming from your bench, trying to give you that energy,” she says. “When you’re playing in a gym and everything is echoing, it’s really easy to get loud, but in here the noise just rises and evaporates so we have to try harder to keep that energy up.”
The Ravens energy was unmatched up until the final game of the tournament, as they lost in three sets to the St. Joseph Scollard Hall Bears. The Bears were also a co-host team as a couple of games were played at their gym, and junior games were being held at Chippewa.
Hopper says that just shows the commitment from everyone involved to pull off a tournament that has truly grown over the last 14 years. “We’re grateful to Canadore for being tremendous community partners for us in allowing us to use their facility. We also can’t say enough thanks to the staff at Scollard and Chippewa for letting us use their gym, and to the administration for allowing the teachers who coach, to have that time to commit to their teams. It takes a lot of effort to pull off a one-day tournament like this.”
McDiarmid says it's a way for former players like himself to give back, “Volleyball was huge part of my life in high school and college and it’s great to see that the sport is still popular and still growing at this stage and it’s very rewarding to give back in this way and I’m really happy to still be a part of it.”
Hopper says, “If we didn’t have the varsity players or former varsity players helping out, we would be strapped for volunteers and officials – because some of them go home for the break. I feel very lucky that I have been able to use students from Canadore and Nipissing that stick around and give their time to us.”
The tournament was a concept that started as a pitch for a business class from former Widdifield student Brittany Coughlin.
“We sat down and talked about the details; when would be the best time to host a tournament, how do you get the word out, who do you invite and we centered it all around the theme of Christmas and having a good segue into the holidays,” says Hopper.
He adds choosing the Thursday before the holidays has worked out well as it doesn't conflict with schedules for club volleyball teams. He says it also allows all the local teams to compete under one roof in the same day.
Bruner says there’s nothing quite like the thrill of having a home-town tournament. “We get a lot of family and supporters coming out to watch us play which is always something we look forward to.”
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