The power for the Holy Trinity Academy Knights was debating whether he should attend the school when it didn’t have a junior varsity boys volleyball team, but now he is glad he did.
Micah Brown is all smiles as he slams the ball for the Okotoks school’s Senior boys varsity team in the Foothills Athletic Council.
“No regrets at all,” Brown said after the Knights loss to the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) Spartans Oct. 17 at STS. “It’s a real good academic school and a great atmosphere.
“Every game we are improving and next year we should have almost the exact same team, so it will be awesome.”
The Knights, who won back-to-back Senior boys championships in 2009 and 2010, had a hiccup when the school didn’t field a junior varsity volleyball team in 2010.
As Grade 9 student at junior high power Red Deer Lake School Brown admitted he contemplated not going to HTA because its volleyball program was in flux.
Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) revived its JV team last year, of which Brown was the MVP. This year’s he is helping a youthful Senior team.
A team which only needs experience, Brown said.
“Individually, we aren’t the strongest team,” Brown said. “We need to work on our passing and some of our team skills and our communication. When we are down, we don’t really play together.”
The Knights have held their own in the FAC with a 3-2 record, despite the fact they have no Grade 12 players. It has first-year coach Brian Selders hopping with youthful enthusiasm.
“I am really happy with the way the team is developing and they are showing excellent desire,” Selders said. “We played in a tournament in Medicine Hat on the weekend — and they surprised me quite frankly — we played very well. I thought we really started to gel.”
He said they weren’t able to keep that momentum going against a talented STS Spartans on Oct. 17 at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School. They were swept 25-20, 25-14, 25-22 at STS.
However, he shares Brown’s enthusiasm for 2013.
“What I had tonight was eight Grade 11 and four Grade 10 players, when you consider that we are doing very well,” Selders said. “I think next year we can be very, very good. I think out of this group, we will have six guys playing club ball (in the offseason).”
It was a good test for the Knights going toe-to-toe with a strong Spartans team.
The Spartans are 4-1 this season and only trail the first-place Foothills Composite Falcons in the council standings.
Spartan captain Taylor Chase said he was pleased with how STS played against the Knights, adding they are peaking at the right time.
“I thought we played okay — we got the win,” Chase said. “We have a real good team dynamic and I think we are starting to peak, which will take us right to the (FAC) final.”
The Spartans were coming off a silver medal performance at a tournament at West Island College in Calgary on Oct. 13.
“We lost to Airdrie (St. Martin De Porres High School) but we beat WIC which is one of our rivals,” said Chase, the Spartan’s setter.
Chase is setting the table for the Spartans’ big hitters Tynan Stack, Justin Nadeau and Maclean Clark.
If they do make it to the finals, the Spartans will likely meet the undefeated Foothills Falcons who have so far, waltzed through the FAC schedule with a 5-0 record and have lost only one of 16 games.
The Falcons swept the Spartans in their previous match (25-17, 25-11, 25-20) on Sept. 26) and Chase would love the chance to meet them again.
“I feel the next time we play the Falcons we will be a stronger team — but they will be a stronger team too,” Chase said. “I think we will be up to the challenge.”
Spartans coach Dale Roth said his team needs more consistency as the playoffs and zone finals near.
“We have been all over the place,” Roth said. “We were really on it on the weekend, but we didn’t quite have it tonight (against HTA).”
The Knights ended he FAC regular season when they lost to the Foothills Falcons 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 on Oct. 22 at HTA.
The Spartans play their final game of the season tonight (Oct. 24) when they travel to Strathmore to take on the council’s other Spartans.
The quarterfinals will start on Monday Oct. 29, with the semifinals scheduled for Nov. 5 and the finals Nov. 7.
For more information go to www.foothillsathletics.ca
