The boys’ volleyball team of Woodland Christian High School earned the gold medal in the championship volleyball game at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations). The Breslau, Ontario, school has often qualified for the provincial championships, but bronze was their best finish. Until this year. “The old cliché is that a coach wants his team to peak at just the right moment, and that is exactly what our boys did,” said head coach Wayne Harris.
Three weeks before the tournament, Woodland had faced Smithville Christian High School and Toronto District Christian High School in a different tournament and lost both. However, when they met them on the court in the OFSAA semi-finals, they beat each team 3-0. Christian schools in general had a good showing at the November tournament. Woodland, Toronto, Quinte, and Smithville Christian High Schools were the four final teams.
“Going in, we were pretty confident that we would be able to compete with the other top teams, but we also had the typical pre-tournament fears: were we going to run into a team that was suddenly incredibly hot? Were we going to lose our minds for 20 minutes at a crucial juncture? Were we going to be victimized by a bad call and lose our focus? So many different things can go wrong at a championship. Happily, none of them did,” said Harris. “The boys played with great focus all weekend long and came from behind to win the majority of the sets they [played] on Saturday.”
About the Author
Anita Brinkman is a freelance news correspondent for The Banner. She lives in Chatham, Ontario.
