Joey Payeur
The Treaty #3 Titans brought plenty of “Fire ‘n’ Ice” with them to Sault Ste. Marie—and brought home plenty of memories.
The Titans boys’ team captured the gold medal at the Ontario Native Invitational Volleyball Tournament over the weekend while the girls’ squad earned the bronze medal in their division.
Both teams carried several district residents, including multiple coaches and players from the Fort Frances Fire ‘n’ Ice Volleyball Club, with Amy Wilson-Hands serving as head coach.
She got to play spectator while watching Fire ‘n’ Ice assistant coach Brandon Geyshick (Lac La Croix First Nation) joined by fellow district members Ben Smith (Northwest Bay), Keenan Copenace (Onigaming) and Jason Kelly (Onigaming), and Austin Jack (Big Grassy) in the Titans’ championship run.
“It is so exciting for us to have a piece of our Fire ‘N’ Ice coaching staff be a part of a gold medal-winning performance,” said Wilson-Hands.
“Brandon, without a doubt, will bring back what he learned out on that court to our club,” she added.
The Titans went 4-0 in round-robin play to get a bye to the final, where they beat Wikwemikong (scores unavailable).
“They communicated and played extremely well,” Wilson-Hands said of the reasons behind the Titans’ success.
“They went in hard on their hits, covered their hitters, put their serves in, and just all around played smart,” she noted.
“Brandon [Geyshick] can play any position on that court and he showed it this weekend when he was asked to play setter,” added Wilson-Hands.
“He took this opportunity and ran with it,” she continued. “Brandon was the quarterback and set up play after play, which resulted in kill after kill.
“He played smart and that is what any coach will ask of their players, but especially their setter,” she remarked.
“It can get stressful for them as they are part of every single play, but Brandon welcomed that and he proved that he is an overall excellent volleyball player.”
Wilson-Hands, meanwhile, patrolled the sideline for the girls’ team, which included locals Chelsea Kabatay and Tanisha Boshkaykin (Seine River), Alex Spuzak (Couchiching), Avery and Adyson Wilson-Hands (Manitou), and Felicity Kelly (Onigaming).
“I am exceptionally proud of how far we got,” she said.
“Many of these girls have never played together as a team before, so to have one practice and then compete, I think we did extremely well,” she added.
Wilson-Hands also heaped praise on assistant coach Henry Geyshick.
“Henry was a huge help this weekend,” she noted.
“I came with the coaching experience and Henry came with the “fresh off the court” experience as he just finished his high school career this past Muskie season.
“When we put those two strengths together, we made a pretty impressive coaching team,” Wilson-Hands reasoned.
“I am really proud of the coach Henry is becoming.”
The girls’ team went 5-0 in the preliminary round, but were upset 2-1 in the semi-finals by Whitefish Bay (24-26, 25-22, and 15-12).
But in a steely show of determination, the Titans pulled themselves out of the doldrums and swept Wikwemikong Sr. 2-0 (26-24/25-10) in the bronze-medal match.
“The key to winning any important game is communication, as well as cue-reading the other team,” noted Wilson-Hands.
“You want to find out where the weaknesses are and use them to your advantage.
“Henry and I did a lot of watching of the other teams,” she remarked. “We took notes, found out where their weaknesses were, and figured out a strategy for when we played them.
“We applied that strategy to our bronze-medal game and it worked for us.”
Wilson-Hands had kudos for each of the local area female players.
As for looking ahead, Wilson-Hands said all signs point to a prosperous future for the local Fire ‘n’ Ice program after recording such impressive accomplishments in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It says a lot about our club program that we are heading into the right direction,” she noted.
“And like I have said before, it is rippling onto our high school teams as well as our elementary teams.
“I am excited to see how many of these athletes make it on to Team Ontario for the North American Indigenous Games,” added Wilson-Hands.
“And you never know—maybe a coach will, too,” she chuckled.
