Joey Payeur
Sydney and Thunder White will be taking their volleyball family act to North Bay this fall.
The Fort Frances siblings and members of Whitefish Bay First Nation will join the Canadore College Panthers in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association to continue their competitive spike careers for the women’s and men’s teams, respectively.
“I never thought I’d ever play college volleyball because I thought I wasn’t good enough to play,” Sydney White admitted.
“I guess some people think I have good sportsmanship and skills.”
Her work at power for the Muskie senior girls’ team was a key part of the black-and-gold ending the Dryden Eagles’ 15-year run as NorWOSSA champs last season.
The black-and-gold then downed the Westgate Tigers (Thunder Bay) in the NWOSSAA final to qualify for the OFSAA championships in Belleville.
White’s performance at the all-Ontarios drew the attention of not only Canadore, but also St. Clair (Windsor), Loyalist (Belleville), and Cambrian (Sudbury).
“I didn’t even know any of the colleges were going to be there scouting,” she noted.
“I picked Canadore because they offered me a $1,000 scholarship, plus the team is going to Italy next summer as part of their training for the 2018-19 season and that will be a great experience,” she added.
White credited Muskie coach Amy Wilson-Hands for putting her in position to be worthy of consideration by post-secondary recruiters.
“Amy was really good and taught us a lot things that we could use later in life, and made us better players on and off the court,” she lauded.
White plans to major in recreation and leisure services at Canadore, with a future eye to becoming a recreation director on one of the reserves here in Rainy River District.
“I want to get more youth to be more active on reserves,” she reasoned.
Meanwhile, White’s older brother already had one shot at playing in college, but was miscast as a libero in tryouts for the Fanshawe College Falcons (London) last year and didn’t make the cut.
“That’s not my spot. Power is my normal spot,” noted Thunder White, who was part of the Muskie senior boys’ team two seasons ago that won Fort High’s first NorWOSSA crown in that division since 1999.
The squad also won NWOSSAA that year.
“But I didn’t let the disappointment of being cut stop me,” he stressed.
“I knew I had it in me to be a college player.”
When his sister told him the Canadore coach who called her said the male Panthers also were in need of players, Thunder decided to look into the situation.
“The men’s coach told me he thought I was a good player and that I brought good energy to the court,” he recalled.
Both siblings are anxious about the challenge ahead for different reasons.
“The only thing I’m nervous about is leaving home,” Sydney conceded.
“I don’t really go places for a long time,” she noted. “I’m going to miss my mom the most.”
“I’m a little nervous on how it’s going to go on the court,” said Thunder.
“I’ve still got a lot of training to do to make my legs stronger and faster, and to just become a better player.”
The fact they’ll have each other around is comforting to both, though.
“It’s going to be awesome having Sydney around,” Thunder said.
“It will make the transition to playing and living there easier, especially having someone there for my first year of college.”
“It’s not going to be as hard to get used to with my brother around,” echoed Sydney.
“I’m really excited for both of us,” she enthused. “I see big things coming for both of us.
“We’ve always been pretty close and supportive of each other.”
