It always takes a lot of fundraising to get there, but the work paid off for Inuvik athletes at this year’s Spike It! volleyball tournament in Yellowknife.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
The junior boys and senior girls both took silver finishes in the Tier 2 division, while the junior girls and senior boys got knocked out in semi-final play in Tier 1.
“Each team went beyond expectation,” said Colin Pybus, assistant coach of the senior boys.
“The senior boys ended up losing to the eventual champions (Fort Good Hope) and we gave them a pretty good run for their money. They’re an awesome team, but I think we played them harder than anybody else in the tournament. That’s something we can be proud of and those senior boys should be very proud of it.”
Paris Wainman captained the junior girls. Her highlight of the weekend was beating Behchoko.
“We went to the tournament with some of us not knowing how to serve, and at the end everyone was doing perfect,” said Wainman. “Last year was triple ball (a variant of volleyball), so it was a little different. This year we actually played volleyball. It was really good.”
Twyla Amos, her coach, said she was proud of her team, calling the win over Behchoko amazing.
“They did really good and they worked hard,” she said.
Jon Amos, who coached the junior boys, said everyone had fun at the tournament.
“The highlight of the whole weekend was when some of the kids got down on themselves, they just shoot it off and picked themselves right back up,” he said, adding that the team’s spikes were phenomenal.
“It was just a blast,” said Amos. “I wish I could coach these guys right up until the end of the school year.”