Specifically, the Vanier Spirits and Peacock Toilers.
Once things had shaken out, only one other team not from the Moose Jaw high school league was in the medals, with the Spirits claiming gold and the Toilers bronze.
Leading the way for Vanier were two members of the Thunder Creek Volleyball Club in provincial team member Paige Beausoleil and fellow Grade 12 Bryn Giddings. The duo's hard-hitting attack played havoc with opponents throughout the weekend and led to Vanier going undefeated on their way to provincial gold.
An interested observer of it all was Toilers coach Lorne Polupski, who also works with the TCVC and has coached the Vanier pair for years.
“Paige and Bryn have improved so much since Grade 9 it's unbelievable,” Polupski said. “If I could show you video of them in Grade 9 compared to now, you wouldn't think they were the same players, they've improved 110 per cent.”
There's little question that playing volleyball at a competitive level outside of an academic setting makes a difference, as is the case with every sport.
“Playing club is so important, you're developing your skills almost all year long,” Polupski said. “And now you look, Paige has signed with the U of S and is going to play for the Huskies, and Bryn could play university someplace. It's awesome to see that happening.”
The TCVC is currently gearing up for the new season, with their first set of try-outs set for Nov. 24 at Peacock. Given the number of players who have come out in the past, space might be at a premium.
“I think a couple of years ago we had 250 in the gym, but we don't have the coaches and the gym time to have that many teams... but it's great to see that many kids interested in playing a sport, any sport, in Moose Jaw,” Polupski said.
The TCVC plans to run tryouts for their development program as well as each of their club teams in the 14U girls, 15U girls, 16U girls and 17U girls.
The development program will run Sunday mornings from from Dec. 8 through the end of March and will feature instruction for players from Grade 6 to 11. The cost is $250.
For more information, check out www.tcvcmj.com.
