TWO SPARTANS TO PLAY FOR CANADA’S MEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM AT FISU GAMES
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| Rudy Verhoeff, left, and Marc Howatson |
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2011
FISU GAMES TEAM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TWO SPARTANS TO PLAY FOR CANADA’S MEN’S VOLLEYBALL TEAM AT FISU GAMES
OTTAWA, Ontario – Trinity Western men’s volleyball stars Rudy Verhoeff (Calgary, Alta.) and Marc Howatson (Victoria, B.C.) will take their respective games to China this summer as, on Friday, they were named to the Canadian FISU Games team that will wear the maple leaf at the 26th Summer Universiade from Aug. 12-23 in Shenzhen.
2011 Summer Universiade website: http://www.sz2011.org/Universiade
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer
Just over two months after Trinity Western was crowned CIS champions on home court, Verhoeff, who was named the national championship tournament MVP, and Howatson, who had a team-leading 34 digs in the championship tournament’s semifinal and final, will join a number of their on-court rivals in representing the red and white in China. Of the 14 players named to the roster, 10 were in Langley, B.C. for the national championship.
Verhoeff and Howatson will also join Trinity Western coach Ben Josephson as the Spartans bench boss will serve as a Team Canada assistant under University of Winnipeg coach Larry McKay.
“It’s a pretty awesome opportunity that’s for sure,” said Verhoeff, who will revert back to middle after playing this past season with Trinity Western on the outside. “They had me playing a number of positions early in camp but then they moved me to middle full-time and I did feel more at home there because I’ve played there for a lot longer and things went well for the rest of the camp.”
Howatson, who will play off the left side, has come a long way in terms of recovery since dislocating his subtalar joint in his foot last September in a game in Russia while on a pre-season trip with Trinity Western. Although he was back playing with the Spartans in January and was a key component in Trinity Western’s championship run, Howatson is still not quite where he was before the injury. But, given the fact he was named to the team, it’s clear he’s not far off.
“It’s getting there,” Howatson said Friday. “I’m taking steps to getting back to where I used to be. At this camp, I played decently well. I think my passing defence was my strong suit throughout the camp so that was good. This is just such a great opportunity and such an honour to represent Canada.”
Both Howatson and Verhoeff played on Canada’s Senior “B” team last year in what was largely a preparatory summer for this year’s team. Eight of the players from the 2010 Senior “B” team made this year’s FISU side.
At the most recent Universiade, in 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia, the men’s volleyball team finished sixth overall.
Canada has twice come home with a silver medal, in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand and in 1983 in Edmonton, Alta.
TEAM CANADA ROSTER
Position Name Height (cm) University Hometown
Setter Jay Blankenau 194 Calgary Sherwood Park, Alta.
Setter Ciaran McGovern 183 Calgary Grande Prairie, Alta.
Right Side Joren Zeeman 203 Queen’s Cambridge, Ont.
Right Side Spencer Leiske 204 Alberta Lacombe, Alta.
Middle Graham Vigrass 205 Calgary Calgary, Alta.
Middle Tyler Santoni 203 McMaster Kingston, Ont.
Left Side Karl De Granpré 197 Laval Pierreville, Que.
Left Side Sander Ratsep 196 Dalhousie London, Ont.
Left Side Marc Howatson 202 Trinity Western Victoria, B.C.
Left Side Rudy Verhoeff 199 Trinity Western Calgary, Alta.
Left Side Chris Voth 196 Manitoba Winnipeg, Man.
Left Side Jacob Kilpatrick 207 UNB Saint John, N.B.
Libero Pierre-Alexis Lapointe 184 Laval La Malbaie, Que.
Libero Blair Bann 184 UBC Edmonton, Alta.
COACHING STAFF
Position Name University Hometown
Head coach Larry McKay Winnipeg Winnipeg, Man.
Assistant Ben Josephson Trinity Western Strathmore, Alta.
Assistant Steve Leknois RMC Kingston, Ont.
UNIVERSIADE POOLS:
The detailed schedule will be announced at a later date.
Pool A: China, CANADA, Switzerland, Australia, Norway
Pool B: Russia, Ukraine, Japan, South Africa, Iran, Oman
Pool C: Brazil, South Korea, Sweden, Hong Kong, Israel
Pool D: Czech Republic, Turkey, USA, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Thailand
About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
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. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
-CIS-
For more information:
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Off: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca
Francis Boyer
Men’s national team coordinator
Volleyball Canada
Off: (819) 246-1112
fboyer@volleyball.ca
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Last Updated: 2011-05-13
Email: Mark.Janzen@twu.ca