What an amazing weeknd it was in Calgary for the 2009 Canadian West Open. With the benefit of hindsight, Velocity started the tournament in an extremely competitive pool with the eventual 1st and 3rd place finishers in Division 2 coming out of this pool. Admirable performances were put in by Elizabeth Yu, Alana Garcia, Karen Quan and Angela Do who stepped up their game for this big tournament. After going 0-3 after day 1, which included a tough loss to RUSH (Winnipeg), Velocity looked to rebound on day 2.

Things didn’t get a whole lot easier as Velocity was scheduled to face the Junior Bison White (Winnipeg), North49 Shock (Calgary), and their arch-rivals Kodiak Black (Prince George). After dropping their first two games of the day, Velocity knew they had to step it up against a Kodiak team that they had met and beaten twice before. Unfortunately, a little bit of complacency sank in and the girls weren’t able to do the things that had made them successful in the past against the Kodiaks.

The soul-searching was on with the conclusion of Day 2 and with Day 3′s playoffs looming the next day. Velocity would be playing in Division 2 Tier 4 on Playoff Monday; more importantly, they were looking to salvage a little pride. Things seemed a little tense as the group had not experienced a funk like this since the Season Opener. In the most spontaneous of ways, a “basketball” game broke out that saw Ninja take on not 1, 2, or even 3 …but 4 players! Nancy Tran, Diane Nguyen, Nicole Smith, and Adrienne Moopenn believed (and correctly so) that 4 of them equaled 1 Ninja. Ninja thought he had bought enough cheese for the girls’ lunches but apparently not – no problem, he made swiss cheese out of the girls, slicing and dicing his way through their so-called “defence” en route to 20 points. But not all was fun and games. The girls called an emergency team meeting later that evening where not only concerns were voiced, but suggestions on how to fix them as well. Needless to say, Ninja was quite impressed with the way the team handled the adversity but the girls still had to walk the walk…

In a twist of pure coincidence, Apex Velocity would face Fog Velocity (Edmonton) in the quarter-final matchup; one thing was for certain: one Velocity would be moving on to the semis while the other Velocity would be packing its bags. The team passed exceptionally well throughout the game led by their best passer all season long, Diane Nguyen. As the coach has emphasized all season long, good passing goes a long ways! Not only did they get some great passing, Angel Cheng smashed a back-row attack that got her teammates absolutely jacked for the rest of the day. Apex took the match in straight sets 25-22, 25-18. On to the semi-finals!

Next up were the RVC Cyclones (Regina). After a relatively easy 25-18 victory in the first set, Velocity had the Cyclones right where they wanted them. The Cyclones were clearly frustrated and had few answers for the smooth-passing and efficient hitting of Velocity. The second set was a completely different story as the Cyclones wrestled away momentum from Velocity with a 25-22 win, setting up a third and final set to 15. Now, if you’ve been following Velocity all season long, you would know that 3rd sets haven’t exactly been their forte. For whatever reason, Velocity seemed to disappear when it mattered the most and this 3rd set started off no differently. The Cyclones took a speedy lead and before Velocity knew what hit them, it was 9-4 for the club from Regina. Ninja knew, and had been telling his girls all season long: No risk, no reward. With a sideout and Arielle Rempel set to serve, Ninja substituted Nancy Tran in for the server. This move to put a cold arm in would pay off as Nancy served lights out the rest of the way through. Imagine the excitement and anticipation of being up 9-4 and thinking you’re about to win…only to watch the other team claw back point by point to get closer, to tie, and then to take the lead. A combination of great serving by Nancy and rattled nerves on the Cyclones led to the improbable and miraculous comeback by Velocity 15-9! The girls had re-written the idea that they couldn’t play in 3rd sets! Heading to the finals with a medal assured, Velocity was quite satisfied…

…But clearly there was more than just a gold medal on the line. The team that stood between them and gold was a team they had faced on day 1, and lost 2-0. RUSH came into the game with a lot of swagger and confidence, knowing they had beaten us soundly two days before. However, they failed to recognize the unbelievable momentum that Velocity had going on this third and final day of Nationals. Velocity came out guns-a-blazin’ in set 1 winning the set 25-21. RUSH trotted out an entirely different lineup for set 2 and it worked as they took it 25-22. A gold medal match pushed to the 3rd and final set – would there be a better way to determine a winner? Once again, the girls came out slow but managed to stay close enough to not let the game get out of reach. After the switching of sides at 8 points, the girls hit their second wind and put the game into overdrive. They knew what was at stake and they played their hearts out during each rally. On match point, it was a great pass that paved the way for a set to the middle, which Arielle Rempel crushed giving Velocity the win 15-10! The gold medal was there for the taking and in a season in which Ninja had told the girls to “earn their points”, they could not have earned one in a more meaningful situation than Championship Point.

With a season behind them and a gold medal that carries a lifetime of stories, the girls celebrated by indulging a little at Wendy’s. Hopefully the girls stick with the program handed out at the beginning of the year even during the off-season (so not too much bubble tea!!) Tony would like to thank all the parents and in particular Jo-Ann, Teresa, Alex, Deacon, Gwen and the Furey’s for their support and assistance over the course of the season and throughout Nationals. Without your encouragement and help, the season would not have been as successful as it was for the girls!

It was amazing to see how far you have all developed since that first practice. With a group that was quite new to competitive volleyball, things will only get better each year!
I look forward to seeing all of you at tryouts in December 2009/January 2010…until then, keep playing volleyball and look to get faster, stronger, and higher – the net only goes up!

Ninja