For the first time in more than 10 years, EMCS fielded a senior girls volleyball team, laying a foundation for the future of the sport at the local high school.
It was a year in the making.
Last year when Marie-Anne Seabrook’s daughter left Journey Middle School to Edward Milne Community School she discovered there wasn’t a girls volleyball program.
Seabrook, along with Julie Katz, decided to take matters into their own hands and became community coaches, and began to recruit girls for a junior team.
Amazingly, 16 girls tried out for the team, and got into the city finals.
This year when the call for tryouts went out, 26 girls showed up and two teams were formed: senior and junior.
Seabrook and Katz decided to stay with the junior team, while Darrell Rydell took on the seniors.
Seabrook is perplexed on why the program has suddenly taken off after years in dormancy.
“There are many very athletic young ladies at this high school who play volleyball, basketball, some play badminton … you’ve just got an athletic group,” says Seabrook, who played college volleyball in the U.S.
“I guess when they heard volleyball was coming back they all jumped on the bandwagon.”
The two teams have their eye on future playoff success with trips to both the Island and B.C. championships.
And there’s good reason to be optimistic. Five players from this year’s junior squad and four from the senior team will return next season.
“We definitely have a solid base for this program going forward,” Seabrook says.
“It’s one of those things where you have to start small, but I think if we get the feedback we’re getting from the girls, and we still have Journey Middle School support, it’s just going to grow.”
