Amber’s Insight

Posted by admin on Mar 10, 2011 in Sports | 0 comments

Nationals:
Bonjour. Not going to lie, every time I pronounce that word people cover their ears and politely speak to me in English. I am from Alberta where learning a second language is scarce, however I did engage in a healthy appetite for Poutine (a staple food in Quebec) after every tournament growing up.

On March 1st at 4 a.m. our team departed for the Vancouver airport to catch our flight to Quebec. A surprisingly jolly ride was cut short when West Jet confirmed our flight was supposed to leave from the Abby airport at 6 am. Stranded at the Vancouver International airport there was nothing left to do but to accept our fate and start praying to the good Lord. God heard our prayers and showed us extreme compassion by allowing the West Jet Staff to change our flight free of charge.
We made it to Quebec, where we were welcomed by over a foot of snow. We had three days before the tournament which were filled with practices, videos, a trip to Old Quebec, and of course the Banquet where our captain Kara Jansen Van Doorn received CIS first team All Star.

Game Time:
We were seeded second coming into Nationals so our first match brought us up against Western Ontario Mustangs. We came out with the win after five grueling sets moving us to the semifinals against the home team Laval. Saturday at 8 p.m. we took the floor against the Red and Gold home team after the most inspirational speech by our coach Ryan Hofer. With the deafening crowd against us we stood our ground. Although we gave all we had, Laval played the game of their lives and we came up just short of a victory. Totally devastated from not making the finals to challenge our arch rival the UBC Thunderbirds we rallied together to make TWU Women’s Volleyball history: the first ever national medal. We captured the bronze after beating the University of Alberta Pandas soundly in four sets.
After a great celebration dinner, we all crowded into one room to watch our boys win the National Championship. Congratulations boys we are so proud of you!
“Qui veut changer trouvera toujours une bonne raison pour changer.” – Andre Maurois
English translation: “Those who wish to change will always find a good reason to”
If watching the gold medal match from the stands is not a good enough reason to change then I don’t know what is. We are a great team and we certainly won’t have to change much but we most definitely will change the outcome at the 2012 National Championships.
Good Job “Sparties!” It was an unreal season. I am proud to be called a Spartan.