Mavericks-home

Club News Story

OC' Round 1

2016 / 04 / 04

I have to admit scoreboard watching on iset.net I was a bit concerned with the ealy results and wished I could have been there to get a feel first hand. I could see that a lot of close losses were mounting and wanted to know what was going on but the worst thing would have been to call or text and query thus adding to distraction. So I waited and continued to check in with my best vibes going through the wires.

At the 17u level the Goldrush were so close on several occasions when they needed a big win but either tripped up or were just outplayed at the wrong time. Even after a disappointing first day the team rebounded on day two and won 3 of three matches and lost the third by a whisker. This removed them from Div1 Tier1 The goal of every coach it goes without saying so I knew it would be up to Coach Judy Mousseau to rally the girls in a tough situationl. Early Sunday they got up and at it with a vengence, this let me know we said the right things in helping the team recover. A tough 3 set semi-final loss meant the girls would finish just about the same place as they did last season. Not the goal but not a disaster either. Now as in a year ago they will play the waiting game for Nationals and a decision on their berth.

Also at 17u Div 2 were the 16u Wildcards of PAt Hendersons control. This group has chosen to play an overage provincials in preparation for their age group contest in three weeks time. Seems like a good idea and the Coach communicated all the right words in summing up the team's performance.

Seeded 14th in Division 2 we had to look at upsetting some teams as we were the fourth ranked team in our division on Day 1. After a tough loss to #3 Pakmen 16U (who are ranked 4th in 16U) we had a hard time bouncing back and finished the first day 0-3 with the other losses coming to #6 Georgetown Impact and #11 Chatham Ballhawks. We were in a tough division with all three of the teams making Tier 1 quarter finals on the third day!

The second day was much better and a great bounce back performance from the entire team. We started off with a three set win over Galaxy 16U followed by a straight set victory over Scarborough Titans Dynasty and finished the day falling in three to MVC 16U. That put us in a three way tie for first place and after the tie breakers we managed to come out on top for first in our pool and a spot in the Tier 2 quarter finals.

We came out hot and won the first set against Phoenix Heat but then were not able to keep that momentum going in the second or third sets and lost a heartbreaker in the quarter finals to finish our first Provincials weekend.

While the final win and loss results were not what we were looking for there were lots of positives that came out of the weekend both on and off the court and some lessons learned moving forward into our main Provincials at our own age group.

A fun weekend and we are looking forward to our next trip to Waterloo for the 16U Provincials on April 22nd-24th!

-Pat Henderson

Well said by a caring coach who undersatnds the challenges his charges were facing.

Not all challenges come in the form of tough competition or playing up an age group. Sometimes the challenge is knowing that you are making changes to the style of play that you use and learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable can bring with it some serious challenges. Our 14u pre-HP group had a great season on the books (both teams) but that was acheived by playing a slow paced safe style. In order to move to the big leagues the play had to become higher tempo and more aggressive. Coaches Krawchuk and McMullin through the dice and gambled that this needed sooner than later. As with all reward there is usually some risk involved. It turns out that maybe the players were a little nervous and uncertain of their new game plan and when you look at the results you see some matches that look like they got away.

Nothing but happy with how they played and handled themselves on and off the court. They showed commitment to our new style and system as well as a strong desire to work towards solutions as opposed to giving up and taking an easy road out. When we had success this season we were playing very poor volleyball and waiting for other teams to make the mistakes needed for us to win, this weekend I saw more real volleyball from this team than I had all season

-N. Krawchuk

For me I have received messages from both coaches and met with Master Coach Mohammed Shaheen. They all tell me that they are happy with the progress in how the teams played. The Outlaws had on the scoreboard a nightmare weekend but from the coaches they feel progress was made and things will improve faster and sooner now the OC's and the big stage are out of the way.

The Raiders had a better record on the win loss count however in the end they met their demise at the same point of the schedule. I remember this time well when I was coaching my daughter and it was painful to go through but in the end a top 4 finish in Canada was the result and we all forgot about those 14u provincials.

All in all it was a great experience, and we learned what we need to work on to compete against these top teams (serve/serve receive). We also walked away feeling that these teams really aren’t too far out of reach.

-R McMulllin

Also in Waterloo were the Desperados and the Banditas 14u girls comp level teams. Each team had successses on several levels. The Desperados of coach Misha Nedfedov posted identical 2-1 records on both day one and day two. Wins over the Breakers adn Halton Blue on day one were in straight sets while a a tough loss to the Scoprions ended their day. On the second a win over T West was followed by a loss to Halton Black but the girls rebounded to take the third match vs Scorpions Heat in an exciting 3rd set keeping them in the Tier three hunt.Sunday morning however the Thundercats ended their run with a straight set victory. A good showing which left the coaches feeling satisfied that their charges gave it a real go.

For the Banditas they came out of the gate like wildfire for coach Richard Paquette winning their first 2 matches by convincing margins over Markham and Georgetown but then lost a squeaker to BYYC in the last, still good enough tomove on. Saturday was more of a shock to the system in the top half of the draw the 'Ditas were unable to make things click and they lost all three to Peterborough, Niagara and Oakville. The girls could have easily folded the tent after a very trying day but to their credit they got off the mat and took their opening Sunday match vs Hamilton Smash. in the semis they came up against a Stratford team that just wouldn't break and our girls lost a thilling third set to end their weekend. Once again I am relieved to hear positive words of encourage ment from coach Paquette about the fortitude and determination his team showed after going through a tough day Saturday and he is looking forward to having home court advantage here for Nationals.

The last group to report on were our tiny Sindewinders 13u who ventured to the 14u provincials to prepare for their own provincials in a couple of weeks. Coach Andy Slutier has brough this group of novices who are 50% 12u so far this season and it really showed in how they managed the ball and rose to take several sets during what must have been a challenging task. Good work Sidewinders and good luck at you own Provincials, we'll be watching.

Inspiration

“ I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. ”

– Thomas Jefferson