Mt. Boucherie Bears middle blocker Adam Kern will keep his court talents at home next season as a member of the UBC Okanagan men’s volleyball program.
Head coach Greg Poitras secured Kern’s commitment, as the Heat look to make it back to the Canada West playoffs in 2014-15, their fourth in the CIS.
A 6-foot-6 middle blocker, Kern brings a lot of length and athleticism to a team in need of some shoring up on the defensive front.
When visiting the UBC Okanagan gymnasium he broke the previous Heat block touch record and narrowly missed the highest jump ever recorded in the gym.
“Adam is one of the top middle blockers in his age group,” said Heat coach Greg Poitras, “He is a lean jumping machine. He has the ability to attack the ball at angles teams don’t normally have defense in place for.”
Kern already holds championship hardware in his trophy cabinet with a gold medal at the U17 Mid-Western elites with Team B.C.
He also recently came off a championship run with his 18U team, the Kelowna K’Pow, at the B.C. Club Championships.
Kern is ecstatic to be able to attend a high-quality institution so close to home.
“I’m choosing UBCO because of its great potential for future years in the CIS, its great campus, and that it offers all the courses that I need in order to get to where I want to be in life,” Kern said. “It also helps that I’m able to live at home and not have to deal with another stressor on my post-secondary career.”
Kern’s coach from Mount Boucherie, John McParland, thinks that he is more than ready for this next step, eschewing his abilities both on the court and in the classroom. “He had a fantastic senior year and is very deserving of the chance to play at the CIS level,” McParland said. “I believe that UBCO is the right fit for him to develop.”
At the B.C. High School Boys Volleyball Championship this past December in Kelowna, Kern’s Mount Boucherie squad finished with the bronze medal. Adam’s heroics at the provincials earned him a spot on the first all-star team and placed him as the 11th ranked player coming out of a strong B.C. high school class.
As a hardworking student earning straight A’s and work ethic distinctions in high school, Kern will pursue a degree in Science at UBC’s Okanagan campus and try to balance academics and athletics as well as he did in high school throughout his university career.
