The excitement around volleyball at Chemainus Secondary School hit the stratosphere in 2023 and the sky’s the limit for the future.
Jill Astren, the architect of the program, not only coached the senior girls but also worked extensively with the senior boys and junior girls teams to bring volleyball into the mainstream.
This season’s senior girls are at the core of the progression. Following is Astren’s assessment of the players’ contributions:
Loana Pohensky – was to sub in for middles, she joined us from Germany on a student exchange and was starting from square one at the beginning of the season. She has learned so much and is a lot of fun. We will have a hard time saying goodbye this winter.
Terra Tuplin – had some great hits and really shined as a key player in our offense with consistent serves. Terra also only joined the team at the beginning of the season and has done a remarkable job at learning everything. Sadly, we will not have Terra next year as she is graduating.
Sydney Brownlow – is a key piece of our team with her unwavering leadership and positive attitude. She has been leading the girls in understanding our system for the last three years and does so with authority but grace so that she is not talking down to her teammates. She played every single game this season and being it’s her last season I think that’s fitting. Another grad, we are going to miss her so much next year but also have the legacy of everything we’ve been working on to keep going and keep improving.
Emily Wong – has been a utility player within the team for the last three years. She worked hard as a power but it was evident this year that her strength was in passing. She is able to predict the play and was making digs as a power that I decided mid-season to introduce her to the libero position and she just ran with it. It was integral to our team to have a libero and she did an amazing job with the limited training she had in the role. Another grad, we will also miss Emily so much and her calm, cool demeanour on the court.
Marley Ollett, Olivia Laidlaw, Ruby DuMez – have all been working away for the last three years joining forces with Sydney and Emily last year as juniors playing up with the senior team. The immense improvement that happened this year with already having the familiarity and prior learning going into this season is really exciting for next year having this power, middle, setter (Marley, Olivia, Ruby) returning. They are extremely motivated, positive and coachable. I am really looking forward to having another year with them.
Kennedy Constable – joined the group last season as a junior, playing up at senior level. She learned so much and put it into action this year. She’s a very hard worker and we’re lucky that she also started training as the libero. Next year, it’ll be a role we need her to take on and I think she’ll really excel in it.
Reagan Wright – was subbing in for powers and was able to transfer that knowledge to right side and use her skills for some right side offense. Reagan also only joined the team at the beginning of the season and has done a remarkable job at learning everything. She has one more season with us.
Nadine Sport-Edwards – also only joined the team at the beginning of the season and has done a remarkable job at learning everything. She is a very determined athlete, you can see her focus in practice and the way she takes feedback and puts it into her game immediately is appreciated from a coaching perspective. I can’t wait to see where her game goes next year, happy to have one more year with her on the team.
Astren noted the team will be setting its sights on going to more tournaments next year.
“The experience these events provide is what this team is missing when it comes down to it. We’ll be out in the community in the spring looking for sponsorship to help with costs to be able to play in tournaments. The kids are excited and I know they’re in such a great community, it’ll be exciting to see what they can do if that opportunity of sponsorship does come to support them going to tournaments.”