Joey Payeur
They dazzled in Dryden, crushed it in Kenora, were fantastic in Fort Frances, and terrific in Thunder Bay.
Now they’ll shoot to be marvelous in Mississauga.
The Fort duo of Adyson Wilson-Hands and Alex Spuzak, along with Emo’s Pasquel Shortreed, will be the Rainy River District reps on the Region 1 girls’ volleyball team participating in the 2016 Ontario Summer Games on Aug. 11-14.
Close to 40 players vied to qualify for the 12-member team (plus four alternates), which will feature Fort resident Amy Wilson-Hands as head coach.
So about that same last name with one of the selections, along with the fact Spuzak is the coach’s niece?
“The information on how all the players performed in their skills evaluations was accumulated by the coaching staff [which included Bob Kowal and Terry McMahon] and then put into a computer program established by the Ontario Volleyball Association,” explained Amy Wilson-Hands, who wanted to nip any charges of nepotism in having two of her family members on the squad.
“That program spits out who the top 12 are from that information and that’s the list we go with,” she noted.
Wilson-Hands had plenty of plaudits for all three locals who made the cut.
“Pasquel never gives up . . . you think the ball is out of reach and somehow Pasquel gets the ball back into a playable position,” she lauded.
“She [also] shows great sportsmanship and encourages her teammates.”
“Alex is another one who doesn’t give up,” added Wilson-Hands.
“She dives for everything and always has a smile on her face, keeps her teammates’ spirits up, and is a beautiful passer.”
As for her daughter?
“Adyson had a tremendous jump float serve that she has been working hard on the last couple of months, and is very strong when it comes to killing the ball at the net,” Wilson-Hands noted.
“I see great things ahead for all three in their volleyball careers.”
Wilson-Hands has the maximum six over-age players allowed (born between Jan.1-Aug. 31, 2001), to go along with the 10 others in the normal U14 birthdate parameters designated by the Games (Sept. 1, 2001-Dec. 31, 2002).
“Our region is encouraged to fill out that part of the roster because we are so spread out geographically,” she noted.
“We are definitely at a disadvantage in that way and it puts us behind the eight-ball by about a month-and-a-half.”
Wilson-Hands said versatility will be a signature aspect of the Region 1 squad.
“There’s no specialization when it comes to positioning in the Games,” she noted.
“They’re going back to the grassroots by mandating that everybody rotates into the next spot on the floor.
“So whomever ends up in the No. 2 spot is going to be the setter for that point, and however many points in a row from the same servers in that sequence,” she explained.
The Region 1 team started training Saturday with the first of what will be weekly seven-hour sessions that will include court time, dryland training led by McMahon, team-building exercises, and mental strengthening conditioning.
Those sessions will run until Aug. 6, with the team then training four-straight days here before leaving for Thunder Bay to fly to Mississauga.
It will be a tough challenge for the Region 1 squad, which has not fared well historically at the Ontario Summer Games.
As such, Wilson-Hands was keeping expectations to a minimum.
“Region 1 has never won a game when competing so that is our goal as a team—to win one game,” she remarked.
“If anything else happens, even better, but that is our focus at this point.
“We will go down there to do our best, work hard, have fun, and improve as players while enjoying the experience of being at the Games,” she said.
