South Shore athletes considered for Canada Games volleyball teams

via: Kathy Johnson, South Shore Breaker, Chronicle Herald

Link: http://bit.ly/2j1X2NK

Five South Shore athletes are being considered for the Nova Scotia volleyball teams that will compete at the Canada Games in Winnipeg in August.

Derek d'Eon and Alec Cottreau, both from the Fusion Volleyball Club in Yarmouth, are in the core group of athletes identified for the boys’ team, while Olivia Bell, LeHave, Hannah Wilkie, Bridgewater and Renee Cleveland, Meteghan River are being gauged for the girls’ squad.

The five were on the courts with their teammates representing Nova Scotia at Coupe de l’Est du Canada 2017 in Quebec City on Jan. 6 to 8, where they advanced to quarter-finals and semi-finals against the country’s best young volleyball talent.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance of these athletes,” says Megan Conroy, assistant coach for the girls’ team and Technical Director at Volleyball Nova Scotia. “They competed against kids several years their senior and showed their skill. This was an excellent opportunity for all core team athletes to prepare for Canada Games, in a best-of-five match format, which is the same competition format for the 2017 Canada Games in Winnipeg. For the girls to come away with a bronze says something about what Volleyball Nova Scotia is doing. Volleyball is starting to get on the right track in Nova Scotia.”

In total, Nova Scotia was represented by two division 1 girl’s teams, one division 1 boys team and one division 2 boys team at the tournament. In girls’ action both division 1 teams advanced to the semi-finals with convincing quarterfinal victories on Saturday, before falling in semi-final matches — Team NS Black to Cégep Garneau and Team NS Blue to University of Quebec Trois-Rivières. The division 2 boys advanced to the quarterfinals before being defeated by Cégep de Jonquière. The division 1 boys team played four matches in a very competitive division finishing with a 1-3 record.

“The weekend in Quebec was a great experience,” said Lisa DePaoli, Head Coach of the boys’ team. “We played against really good competition and were competitive and played well. We need to continue to compete against good teams in order to be better prepared for Canada Games competition.”

The Coupe de l’Est was part of the overall evaluation process and a major competition for both the male and female core teams, said Conroy. Each team has 22 athletes. Only 11 will make each provincial Canada Games team. Final selection is in May.

As for the South Shore’s three female core team contenders, Olivia Bell, Hannah Wilkie and Renee Cleveland, Conroy said all three of the girls were at the National Team Challenge Cup (NTCC) last summer, with Cleveland selected to stay another week to participate in Volleyball Canada’s Youth National Program. “That’s a big accomplishment,” she said.

Conroy said all three girls contribute greatly to the team. “Hannah is a leader consistently looked to by other players. Olivia at the net is a great middle blocker and a strong player who contributes to team and Renee provides rock solid defence for the team.”

Cleveland has been playing volleyball for about five years, and has been playing on provincial teams for the last three years, in addition to high school and Southwest Fusion Club play. She said she is really enjoying her time on the Canada Games provincial core team with lots of great opportunities such as advanced training.

Bell has been playing volleyball since junior high, and is now in her second season of club volleyball. She has also attended the National Team Challenge Camp in B.C. for the past two years. Bell said being part of the Canada Games team selection process is a good opportunity to improve her skills.

“It’s nice be able to play with the best athletes in the province. We compete with and against each other.”

Wilkie has been on the volleyball court since Grade 6, playing throughout high school at the school level as well as with the Bridgewater Chill Volleyball Club. Wilkie now suits up for the Dalhousie Tigers UA team. Wilkie has also been playing at the provincial level for the past five years and has been team captain for Team Nova Scotia for four years. Being on the core team is a good experience, said Wilkie.

“Everybody gets equal training opportunity and we all have an equal chance of making the team.”

As for the boys, Alec Cottreau, 15, has been playing volleyball for about two and a-half years, making provincial teams in 2015 and 2016 at the U15 and U17 levels. “In 2016 at the Eastern Elite tournament in Newfoundland we won first place and I received the All-Star award at a U17 level as a 15-year-old,” he said.

“I’ve also won the All-Star awards at a U14 provincial club tournament and a U18 provincial club tournament.”

Cottreau has been the captain on several different teams including Southwest Fusion Club teams, junior high and les jeux de l’acadie volleyball. “As a 15 year old trying out at a U18 level, I have to work a lot harder to compete and stand out, compared to guys two or three years older than me, and show the coaches my skills,” said Cottreau. “So far my experiences with the Canada Games core team have been great. I enjoy the coaches and playing with a great group of athletes.”

This isn’t the first time Cottreau has been teammates with Derek d’Eon, also from Yarmouth County. D’Eon began playing volleyball in grade 8 for his junior high team at Ecole Secondaire de Par-en-Bas and has been on the court ever since. D’Eon and his school teammates were instrumental in a boys club team being started in the Southwest Fusion Club.

“I ended up getting tournament Allstar the first two club seasons at provincials,” he said. “In the spring of Grade 11, I saw this opportunity to try out for the provincial team knowing that making this team could give me a better chance at making the Canada Games team this year.” D’Eon made the team, competing at the NTC’s that summer. “The following school season, my Grade 12 season, was definitely the best because I was playing with guys that I’ve played with throughout all of high school and we won the B division title at Volleyfest in Newfoundland, Regionals and Division 3 Provincials.”

D’Eon said he trains about one weekend per month as a part of the Canada Games team selection process. The Canada Games team selection process is great because even if I don’t make the Canada Games team, I still learn so much from great coaches and trainers.”