VAN BERKEL SIGNS WITH SPARTANS

Men's Volleyball (Announcement)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Recruit Signing

-Photo Shaughn Butts Edmonton Journal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VAN BERKEL SIGNS WITH SPARTANS

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Trinity Western University men's volleyball coach Ben Josephson and the men's volleyball program are pleased to announce the signing of top prospect Lucas Van Berkel to the Spartan roster for the start of the 2009-2010 season.

"I couldn't be more excited about Lucas' choice to join us at TWU. He is a great young man that possesses the background, character and work ethic we espouse in Spartan Men's Volleyball. It truly will be a pleasure to coach Lucas these next five years," commented TWU's Josephson. "Lucas rounds out what may be our most physical recruiting class ever to come to campus. His size makes him a huge presence but unlike many big young athletes Lucas possesses a tremendous amount of athleticism. He is a multi sport athlete and that overall athletic ability will make him into an impressive player at the CIS level."

The 6'8" Edmonton Christian High School and Alberta Provincial team member has earned a number of individual and team awards in his young career. He was a member of the Team Alberta NTCC U19 championship team as a U17 athlete, was a tournament all-star with the Alberta U16 team in 2007, won Alberta Provincial Club Championship in 2008 (U17) and 2007 (U16), and was named a U16 all-star in 2007 with the Midge Elites and a U 17 all-star at the Alberta Club Provincials.

The Edmonton native, who will begin his career with TWU as a middle/rightside, commented on his choice to attend Trinity Western: "The reason why I chose TWU is because I want to be a part of the community I saw while I visited there. I want to grow more in my faith life and I believe TWU can offer me so much more than just schooling. I cannot wait to finally be a part of TWU. I think about next fall every single day and every time I think about it I get more anxious and more excited."

Van Berkel will join a stellar two year recruiting class by TWU coach Josephson. "With the addition of Lucas we have rounded out a great young cycle to follow the current players we have on the court this past year. The group of Lucas, Brad Kufske and Derek Thiessen (Class of 2009) along with Dan Jansen Van Doorn, Jarrod Offereins, Steve Marshall and John Wiebe (Class of 2008) makes our future look very bright for a long time."

The Spartans, who averaged 2.4 years of CIS experience, finished third in Canada West with a record of 11-7 after conference play. TWU fell to the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, who finished sixth at the CIS championship, 2-1 in the Canada West best of three conference quarter finals. The Spartans return five starters and lose only two to graduation from a team the improved by three wins, 8-10, and three positions over the previous season.

Trinity Western University, located in Langley, B.C., is a not-for-profit Christian liberal arts university enrolling over 4,000 students this year. With a broad based, liberal arts and sciences curriculum, the University offers undergraduate degrees in 41 major areas of study ranging from business, education and computer science to biology and nursing, and 17 other graduate degrees including counselling psychology, theology and administrative leadership. For more information, visit TWU's Official Athletics site at gospartans.ca.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. The CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, and 32 World University Championships. For further information, visit www.universitysport.ca.

-TW-

 

Last Updated: 2009-03-30
Author: Scott Stewart