The Charles Hays Senior Boys’ Volleyball team were in action over the weekend, hosting a one day tournament for the first time this season at the Charles Hays gym.
Other than the Rainmakers, the teams included were Centennial Christian School, Queen Charlotte Secondary, Caledonia, and Hazelton.
Given the stiff AA competition that the Rainmakers will be facing in the regular season, this was an excellent tune up for them moving forward. But Tyler Duffy, a two sport athlete, wasn’t too impressed with their performance,
“We could have done better, and have a lot to work on, but we still got the win and finished the tournament 4-0,” he said following the final game.
There are a lot of two sport athletes on the team. Justin McChesney is another one of these guys, competing on the basketball and volleyball teams.
“We had control of the games pretty much all the way through (the tournament),” he said.
The Rainmakers were able to fight through adversity in their last game, being down a couple points late, and finished strong with a victory to record the perfect 4-0 record in the tournament.
Centennial Christian School from Terrace offered the stiffest task for the Rainmakers in this competition. Although they are in a division lower, the rivalry between Terrace and Prince Rupert seems to bring the competition up a notch. The athletes play hard, and are extremely positive after every point, no matter which way the point goes.
The players’ positive attitudes and strong fundamental habits are reinforced from their coaching staff, inclyuding assistant coach Rampi Gill. Gill has some professional experience over-seas playing semi-professional basketball, and gives the kids some amazing insight into how hard you need to work to make the jump from high school to college, and then to the professional ranks. Having people of this quality involved with the team, gives each member the opportunity to understand what it takes to make that leap.
Coach Gill and the Rainmakers’ expectations in the season are to win zones and to compete for a Top 10 place in provincials.
