Joey Payeur
Having never coached before this season, Kirsten Talsma is experiencing life at the other end of the spectrum.
She likely will be the busiest sideline boss in the building this Friday when she takes on the challenge of leading both the Muskie senior and junior boys’ volleyball teams into action at the NorWOSSA playoffs in Kenora.
Her main gig has been with the senior squad but she’s also been filling in for junior boys’ coach Jocelyn White when necessary to run practices and coach the team.
With White unavailable for Friday, that will be the case again as Talsma will board the early-morning bus to accompany the juniors (4-4) for their semi-final showdown with the host Broncos (0-7).
She’ll then await the arrival later in the day of the senior team, which clinched first place with a 7-1 mark and meets the winner of the semi-final clash between Kenora (0-7) and the Dryden Eagles (5-2).
“Splitting my time between two teams hasn’t made it any more difficult to get my points across,” said Talsma, who orchestrated a remarkable turnaround for the seniors, who went 1-7 last season before losing in the semi-final.
That includes an impressive 3-1 mark against Dryden, the defending provincial bronze-medalists and this year’s OFSAA host, which has owned NorWOSSA in recent years.
If they can conquer the Eagles on Friday, it sets up an opportunity to face the Thunder Bay league champs for the right to go to OFSAA.
“I’m feeling good about
Friday . . . the guys know their opponents,” said Talsma.
“They know what’s at stake,” she added.
“They just have to keep in control of their nerves and execute what we have to do.”
Talsma is comfortable with her team’s float-serve competency, which she considers the toughest type of serve for the opposition to make a good first pass consistently.
“Henry [Geyshick] has got a good serve with some spin on it, but we stay with the float serve for the most part,” she noted.
And Talsma isn’t going to fool around with what’s been working on offence.
“We tried guys in different positions when we played Kenora last week, but the guys are comfortable in the positions they’re in,” she remarked.
Talsma also has taken note of the increased defensive intensity by her team in recent weeks.
“We’re strong at the net and we’ve come a long way with our blocking,” she observed.
One of the big factors for the team already in the NorWOSSA final is being able to shake the rust off come game time against the one which already will have warmed up via its semi-final test.
“The extra rest we get could be an advantage or disadvantage,” conceded Talsma, who expects to have her full squad at her disposal with the anticipated return of Dane Blais from a broken finger.
“It’ll save us a lot of energy having only to play once, but we’ve got to get into the right mindset and get all that sitting we do to get there out of our system,” she stressed.
Muskie veteran Connor Bujold said the team is ready to handle the role of favourite, and credited Talsma for the squad’s turnaround.
“From the starters to the bench guys, every role played by each guy is a really good fit for the team, with a good mix of experience and skill,” he remarked.
“[Talsma] has definitely steered us in the right direction and she’s putting into the guys as much as we’re putting into her.”
The junior Muskies’ season, meanwhile, has been easy to define—domination of the Broncos (4-0) and devastation at the hands of the defending NorWOSSA champion Dryden Eagles (0-4).
“I think that any mental block that the boys have [with Dryden] can be overcome by Friday’s game,” said Talsma.
“We have all seen time and time again the underdog team come back and win,” she added.
“The boys just have to focus on the basics of volleyball and execute them accordingly.”
Talsma said the juniors’ key weapon is their consistent serving. Their serve reception, on the other hand, is their Achilles heel.
“Without the pass, you cannot execute anything else,” she stressed.
“The boys need to have good serve receive on Friday if they want to win.”
Talsma also said overconfidence shouldn’t come into play in the semi-final against the host Broncos.
“There is not much concern regarding Kenora,” she remarked.
“The boys know how both Kenora and Dryden play, so they can adjust themselves for the match.”
In her maiden coaching voyage, Talsma said she is pleased with the connection she’s formed with the players.
“I put a lot of trust into my guys and I have a pretty good rapport with them,” she noted.
“I wasn’t coming in with an attitude of, ‘This is how it’s going to be,’” she added.
“I think it was just a matter of seeing how they responded to me and going from there.”
