SPARTANS TO PLAY AT FIVB CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2011
CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS TO PLAY AT FIVB CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
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OTTAWA, Ontario – The Trinity Western University men’s volleyball team will represent Canada at the FIVB Club World Championships set for Oct. 8-14 in Doha, Qatar.

The reigning CIS champions, who won the gold medal on home court at the Langley Events Centre in March, were selected by NORCECA (North America, Central America and Caribbean) to represent the region at the annual eight-team tournament, which features the best club teams in the world including two-time defending champions Trentino from Italy and Russian champion Zenit Kazan.

“It’s essentially like our basketball team going to play the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics,” said men’s volleyball coach Ben Josephson. “We’re playing two or three of the best teams on the planet. The Trentino team basically has the volleyball equivalent of both Lebron (Juantorena Osmany) and Kobe (Matey Kaziyski) playing on it.

“It’s one of those opportunities where most of our guys or probably all of us will never get to play in an event like this again. Outside of the Olympics, there won’t be a bigger competition these guys will play in. Some national teams aren’t even as good as some of these teams.”

For the Spartans players it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to play against literally the best in the world.

“I know one of the guys in our pool is Reid Priddy who is on the Russian team (Zenit Kazan),” said Spartans setter Ben Ball (Abbotsford, B.C.). “I’ve watched him a lot. He’s on the US national team and they won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. It’s pretty crazy to play against a gold medal champion.”

As Josephson put it succinctly, “This is pretty big deal.”

Now the trick for Josephson and his Spartans will be preparation. Once September hits, it’s going to be go time.

“We need to be fully mid to end-season ready by Oct. 8 just to not get embarrassed,” Josephson said. “It’s one of those once in a lifetime experiences. These are the guys that my guys watch highlight videos of on the internet. We tune in when their games are on.

Ball added: “It’s something that we’ve never been close to doing. I’m just going to soak it all in. It’s kind of a dream to just watch these teams let alone play against them. I don’t really know what I’m going to do to prepare for that.”

While the tournament will no doubt be an enormous challenge just to stay competitive, a number of the Spartans are essentially preparing for such an event already via the national team program.

Trinity Western’s Rudy Verhoeff (Calgary, Alta.), who won the CIS national championship MVP, and Marc Howatson (Victoria, B.C.) are currently playing with Canada’s Senior B team that is preparing to compete in the FISU Games this August in China.

Meanwhile, Trinity Western’s Brad Kufske (Abbotsford, B.C.), Lucas Van Berkel (Edmonton, Alta.), Derek Thiessen (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Branden Schmidt (Winton, Alta.) are will Canada’s national junior team which won the silver medal at the Junior Pan Am Cup last week and will compete at the world junior championships later this summer in Brazil.

After the Club World Championship, the Spartans will return to Canada to begin their quest for a national championship repeat. The team’s first game of the Canada West regular season is Oct. 28 on the road against Saskatchewan.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2011-06-29
Author: Mark Janzen