The under-15 Lakeland Rhino's girls club volleyball team won the provincial championships in April, turning around an eventful season.
“It was amazing,” said 14 year-old Jill Dutchak. “We all worked so well together and we played really hard. Just to know that we had actually won. I was almost in tears when we got the winning point.”
The team, which consists of players from Bonnyville, Cold Lake, Elk Point and Clandonald, took the long way to becoming champions, struggling early on in the year.
To begin the year the Rhinos entered a Premier Two tournament and lost every match but one. Their poor play caused them to fall down a division to Premier Three.
In that tournament they went out and lost to a team their coach Troy Gratton described as an “extremely weak” opponent.
“We hit rock bottom,” said Gratton. “It made me question myself as a coach to say the least.”
The losses really confused the coaches. Gratton just couldn't figure out why his team was losing.
“Me and the other coaches, we couldn't understand why we practice a certain way but when we get to a tournament its like we freeze. It was very frustrating,” said Gratton.
The coaches approached the players and asked them what they did well in practice. The players talked about what they could improve on and then tried to implement it during games.
“We tried to stay positive and talk to each other, stay happy and have fun, but it was kind of difficult at times. We pulled through though,” said Dutchak.
The girls managed to place third in the Premier Three tournament allowing them to move up a division. They lost a “nail bitter” in the semi-finals blowing a 14-12 lead and losing by two points. According to their coach the close loss seemed to give the girls the confidence they needed.
“It seemed to light a match under them,” said Gratton. “They flicked a switch and we basically started winning all of our matches.”
Going into the provincials they were ranked in the bottom of their group and one of the lowest ranking of the 64 teams in the tournament. They had to play a high ranked team right from the start and because of their low ranking had a tough road ahead of them.
“I would often look at the other teams warm up and say ‘Looks like this might be the end of the road because they look fairly skilled,'” said Gratton. “But it's not how you play as an individual, it's how you play as a team and I think that was the difference maker in the end for us.”
Loaded with confidence the U15 girl's will head to Regina in two weeks to compete in Nationals. It's an open tournament that is not based on winning provincials.
“Winning is going to be a byproduct,” said Gratton. “My focus is to give these kids an experience. It's to get a chance to see what it is like in the bigger picture of volleyball. I put the emphasis not on winning, I put it on just playing the way you are capable of playing and the wins and loses will take care of themselves.”
Dutchak knows the tournament is going to be tough but feels the team has a lot of momentum going in.
“I expect there to be some extremely good teams (at Nationals) and that hopefully we just play our best and have fun. I think we will definitely win some games.”
Although the season has been tough on both the players and coaches its one that Dutchak will remember for a long time.
“It's by far the best volleyball season that I have ever played,” said Dutchak, who has been playing for seven years. “They're the best coaches I've had and the best teammates I have played with.”
