If you're only sending a small contingent to a tournament, you'd better make it count.
Three schools did just that at the Lawrie Hobart Memorial Volleyball Tournament in Fort Smith, which wrapped up this past Sunday, as K'alemi Dene School, Sir John Franklin and St. Pat's all won a banner of some sort at the traditional warm-up for the Spike It! tournaments.
K'alemi Dene's banner came in the Grade 6/7 boys division as they beat out Joseph Burr Tyrrell School from the host community in straight sets and it was an exciting win for the school, said Meagan Wowk, the school's principal, who accompanied the team as a chaperone and part-time coach.
“We don't have a lot of banners at the school,” she said. “It was an exciting weekend.”
They did it in style, running the table in the win column and dropping a grand total of one set over the course of the tournament. Not bad for a mixed team of boys and girls.
The excitement was obvious once the final point was scored, said Wowk.
“It was such a big deal and there was such a sense of pride and accomplishment,” she said. “They really came together by about the third game and they're super proud of what they did.”
The school also has a team playing in the U15 boys division – a mixed outfit as well – and they ended up in fourth place.
Sir John Franklin sent just one team to the tournament, that being a U19 girls squad, and they showed they're the team to beat when Senior Spike It! rolls around thanks to a 3-1 win over Fort Smith's Paul W. Kaeser in that final.
Colleen Pura was the team's coach and said she thought her girls would win it in straight sets but their vanquished opponents put up a good fight.
“We got the first two sets but they jumped out quickly in the third set,” she said. “We got the momentum back in the fourth and played well to put it away.”
Like K'alemi Dene, Sir John Franklin went unbeaten all the way to victory and Pura said two players in particular helped direct the offensive attack.
“Jennifer Lalonde played excellent in the setter position,” she said. “She's our floor captain and keeps the energy up every time. Dylan Harker was the best mid-hitter of the tournament and played really strong.”
So strong was Harker that she was named the division's most valuable player.
St. Pat's sent two teams and came away with one banner, that being the U19 boys title thanks to a 3-1 win over Paul W. Kaeser in that decider.
Dianne Lafferty, who led the Irish operations in Fort Smith, said the boys won all of their matches but they were made to work for every single win.
“They won every match but not every set,” she said. “Every single match was close but they all played well and pulled through.”
The Irish U19 girls ended up in third place in their division, defeating Diamond Jenness Secondary School from Hay River for the bronze medal.
So why so few teams making the trip this year? One word – transportation.
There wasn't a coach bus to be had unless you were able to find a school bus to go. K'alemi Dene School owns its own bus and was able to use that while Sir John Franklin was able to borrow the bus owned by Mildred Hall School to go down and St. Pat's had to rent a transport van to get both of its teams to the tournament.
“That was a huge issue and it felt really empty because of so few teams,” said Pura. “Us and St. Pat's usually take four teams and Chief Jimmy Bruneau School from Behchoko usually takes at least two teams but transportation was the problem. Flying was too expensive and there's insurance issues with van travel.”
Lafferty said she hopes everything can be straightened out in short order.
“I hope it all clears up on their end down there so they're able to come up here and play in Senior Spike It!,” she said.