There's little question former Central Cyclones standout Dax Whitehead was a heck of a volleyball player back in his high school days – you don't play for the provincial team unless you have some skills to draw on.
But as good as he was then, Whitehead is that much better now.
Whitehead, in his fifth season with the Lethbridge College Kodiaks of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Association, has steadily set new marks in kills the last two seasons. First, it was the Lethbridge all-time school mark. Then, it was 1,000 kills, one of only four players to reach that number in Alberta Colleges Athletic Association history. And finally, on Jan. 27, it was the all-time ACAC and Canadian Colleges Athletic Association kills mark of 1,109.
That's the kind of career you can definitely hang your hat on. And interestingly enough, it's all as much an overall surprise for Whitehead as it is an honour.
“I thought I was going to be a one or two year guy in the program and then I'd start my work and career,” Whitehead said. “I was thinking to myself 'this is fun, I might as well do it.' Then after the third year there was a legitimate shot at becoming the college's all time kill leader, and after I got that, I realized I was getting close to 1,000. Then after I hit 1,000 I realized I'm getting close to the all-time and I had to keep going.”
Whitehead set the new mark just down the highway from where he grew up – during a 3-0 win over the Briercrest College Clippers. He passed Keyano College player Blazej Pellowski for both the ACAC and CCAA records.
It's all been a learning experience for Whitehead along the way, especially when it came to the transition from the high school game to college.
“In high school, I was figuring it out but was still able to play well. Then when I got to college, once I figured out what I needed to do and was able to do it, it was a matter of perfecting it and doing it over 1,000 times, so to speak,” Whitehead said.
His first experience at the ACAC level of play was most certainly eye-opening.
“Jumping to college, it was kind of unbelievable, because I was 17-18 years old going into my first year playing against guys who are 24, 25,” Whitehead said with a tone of disbelief. “And it's just like 'holy, this is a totally different game.' I remember my first game, we lost the first one and then realized that 'hey, this is a game we've played for a lot of years that we love, so lets go out and play' and we won our next game.
“So from then on it was not matter who you're going against, whether they're 10 feet tall or 27-years-old, you just have to keep playing.”
Whitehead's success had translated into Lethbridge success along the way. The Kodiaks are currently 20-2 on the season after starting out their ACAC campaign 20-0.
“Last year we had a college-best record 16-8, second in the South and it was the best we ever finished,” Whitehead explained. “So this year we're pushing for the first seed and then we start out and we're 2-0, then 4-0 and Christmas break comes and it's 'holy cow, we're kind of a good team this year, what's going on.'
“We never thought we were going to go 24-0 or whatever, we just wanted to get five of the first six, and then we got all six. And all of a sudden we're 20-0, we've clinched the first seed, we have the best record in the league... we've done all these things this year and we still have so much unfinished businiess. Goal number one is going to the playoffs and winning a gold medal.”
Whether or not that happens, Whitehead knows there will be life after volleyball. He holds a degree in geomatic engineering and will start as a land surveyor in the oilfield in April.
“It's nice to have this kind of legacy, but life moves on,” Whitehead said. “It'll be nice to finally put my degree to work and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.”
