Storm reign at OFSAA
The Smithville Christian Storm won the OFSAA A volleyball championship. Photo by BRIN SCHAT.
The Smithville Christian Storm boys volleyball team celebrated the sixth anniversary of the school’s 2013 Ontario Federation of Secondary Schools Association A championship by winning again.
Competing in Chatham, the Storm defeated three-time defending champion Louis Riel 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) in the championship match.
In pool play, the Storm defeated Woodland Christian (25-18, 25-8), Maurice Lapointe (25-15, 25-19), Hillfield Strathallan (25-13, 25-10;) and Thistletown (25-6, 25-9) to advance to the quarter-finals where they defeated L’Horizon 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-10). Smithville Christian then moved on to the finals by defeating Toronto District Christian 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-9, 23-25, 15-9).
“It feels great, but it is a surreal feeling,” Storm co-captain Connor VanderKuip said Monday. “It lasts for a while and I am still feeling it from Saturday.”
Co-captain Jayden Talsma described winning OFSAA as a pretty good feeling.
“It’s the first time any team has won it during my four years of high school so it’s a big accomplishment,” the 17-year-old said.
He will long remember the winning point.
“We had a few points in a row and got the serve in and the guy missed his hit,” the Grade 12 student said. “It took a second to register and I turned and I saw the rest of my team running out on to the court and celebrating. It was ‘Oh man, that’s it. We just won’ and it was pretty surreal.”
VanderKuip felt the team was successful thanks to the way it came together.
“We started out the year a bit shaky but as the year went on, we slowly got better and better,” the 17-year-old said. “At the OCSSAA (Ontario Christian Secondary Schools Athletic Association) tournament, we really came together. They way we played together is what made our team special.”
The Storm won the OCSSAA tournament as well as the Georgian College and Port Colborne events.
Smithville Christian also managed to beat OFSAA AA champion Sir Winston Churchill in Zone 4 league play.
“That was a big one too and our two starting middles were injured for that game,” VanderKuip said.
Talsma pointed to his team’s victory over Hamilton Christian in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association semifinals as a key point in the season. Last season, the Storm lost the fifth and deciding game of the SOSSA final to Hamilton by two points.
“They have a pretty strong team and they are our rival at SOSSA,” he said. “We beat three straight and when I saw how well we did against them, I knew we had a chance of winning it all.”
VanderKuip feels Smithville’s volleyball program is successful because of its training.
“The coaches do a great job of getting the fundamentals down for the players,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier when you have the fundamentals down.”
The team had 18 practices during the season and that training resulted in an overall match record of 40 wins, three losses and three splits.
Talsma felt there were many things that helped the team become OFSAA champions.
“We had a good group of guys, we had a lot of talented players, we were coached and managed really well, we had a lot practices and training and then it all flowed together really well at the end.”
Coach Gina VandenDool said this year’s OFSAA championship squad has been on the school’s radar since they were in Grade 7.
“They had speed, energy, dedication to doing it right and we also noticed the friendships,” she said.
The squad’s chemistry developed over time.
“They figured out they could have fun and win at the same time,” VandenDool said. “The less stress they experienced, the better their performance and that just grew.”
She said there are a lot of similarities between the two OFSAA championship squads.
“They could all pass, they could all set and they could all hit,” VandenDool said. “If we had a rearrangement in our pass pattern, no worries. Someone else would get it and that made it so interesting and unpredictable for the other side.”
One difference between the two squads is that the 2019 version had much more size. The average height on the team was 6-foot-2.
Six of the 11-player roster will be lost to graduation, but VandenDool expects the team to be strong again in 2020. There is a strong junior team and every Wednesday in the summer, past and present players gather in the school’s gym to hone their volleyball skills.
“It is never a tryout. It is just fun,” she said. “The teaching and the mentoring that starts in July is pretty special.”
Other members of the team were Derick Breukelman, Gavin Elzinga, Cyril Fu, Brad Gilpin, Luke Huinink, Zion Hoekstra, Ryan Meinders, Jake Vanderwal and Isaac VanTuyl
The coaching staff is made up of head coach Tim DeVries, Rob Greenham, Gina VandenDool, Adam VandenDool (a member of the 2013 OFSAA championship squad) and manager Patrick Ghaly.
