“U16 Pulse Brings Home Club’s First Ever Banner from Nationals”

Another spectacularly fun year has come and gone as this year’s Apex Pulse team welcomed back 6 returning players and said hello to 6 brand new players and an assistant coach!

Before taking off for Calgary, the coaches had implemented a theme of 80′s retro for the trip! For warmup on one of the three days, the girls (and coaches) would dress up in their 80′s best. Girls were placed into 1 of 3 groups: The Bangles, The Go-Go’s, and Bananarama. Not only did they have to dress the part, but each group was also in charge of preparing one team lunch and one team dinner from scratch. The group that was best dressed, exhibited the most enthusiasm and prepared the best grub would win a prize!

Last year’s squad brought home a gold medal from Calgary in their tier and this year’s team went into the tournament not really knowing what to expect. After a tough day 1, the girls finished 3rd in their pool, placing them into Division 4. Maybe it was all the walking during their trip to the Calgary-famous Calgary Zoo that did them in on Day 1 but in any case, the girls knew they had to come out flying on Day 2 to place into the top tier in Div 4; and come out flying they did. In the first match on Day 2, Pulse faced Big Bear from Rivers, Manitoba, taking the match in straight sets 26-24, 25-20. Somehow we knew we’d see Big Bear down the road again…The second match saw the girls beat a very game Southwest Juniors team from Kilarney, Manitoba 2-1. That set up a showdown with Crush from Yellowknife with first place on the line. The girls did not disappoint disposing of Crush 2-0. The top of the division was now in sight heading into playoffs on Day 3…

Playoff day is always difficult at Nationals – win and you play on. Lose and you’re done like yesterday’s tacos. But to liven things up, remember the warmup 80′s dressup day? Well, it was saved for playoff Monday. Maybe it was the thought of spending 12 hours at the hotel doing nothing or maybe it was the desire of the girls to bring home the team’s second consecutive gold medal. In any case, the girls got by the Cold Lake Devils 2-0 and would finally face a BC team at Nationals: Coquitlam Ducks Kelli. After a tough loss 28-26 in the first set, Pulse rebounded to take set 2 handily 25-14. The third and deciding set saw the girls pull away at the end of the match 15-12 and it was off to the semi-finals! Oh, and might I add that even though the girls wore their 80′s best only during warmup of the first match, Tony wore his THE ENTIRE DAY. Could it be the lucky charm the girls needed?

In the semi-finals, Pulse faced Fog Force from Edmonton. In a game that went 3 sets, the score seemed to flatter Fog as Pulse dominated most of the game, scoring at will and frustrating their opponents mercilessly. It was during this match that Tony gave his most memorable speech of the season; the girls could have played their guts out to this point and could still leave with nothing but memories IF they didn’t continue to give it everything they had. The girls earned the victory in the third set 15-9. With that, the girls were assured of a medal but only one colour mattered.

In the finals, the girls faced, you guessed it, Big Bear one more time after Big Bear won an improbable match after losing the first set of their semi-final 25-5 against a team that Pulse had defeated on Day 1, the Ponoka Warriors from Alberta. The scouting report on the Bear indicated that they were a scrappy team that would go through a wall to save a ball and they certainly showed it throughout the championship final. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome barrage of offensive weapons displayed by Pulse as well as their much-improved defence. Pulse defeated Big Bear 2-0 to win their second consecutive GOLD MEDAL at Nationals but this year, gold also came with a Division Championship banner – the first and only such time an Apex team has ever done this!

Oh, if you were wondering who won the 80s contest…while Becca, Lindsey and Alexa aka The Bangles made a delicious chicken teriyaki and Liz, Ashley, Nikki and Kelly aka Bananarama made some fairly solid tacos sans tomatos, it was the combination of the Garlic prawns and out of this world costumes of Adrienne, Nicole, Eleanor and Natalie aka The Go-Go’s that stole the show! Their prizes? A gift card for each of them to Forever XXI, Aritzia, Sport Chek and Lululemon!! Great job by all of you…even those involved in Tomato-gate!

Just a few short days later, the girls were back on the court for their final tournament of the season: The Emerald City Classic in Seattle, Washington. Though many didn’t know, two different sports were played on this trip; volleyball, of course, but you may have heard of the other pasttime of teenaged girls: shopping. The girls were privileged to play against not one, but two teams from quite far away. The girls had the pleasure of playing against Impact from Hawaii (we still thank you for the wonderful Hawaiian gifts!) and Minas from Brazil. While the girls didn’t have too much success on the court, many deals were found at the malls and for that, the girls went 1-1 in the world of teenaged girls sports

Tony and Jessica would like to thank all the parents and chaperones for your time, energy, company, commitment and for making our jobs so much easier! We could not have done it without you!

To all of our girls: You make coaching an absolute pleasure. It was awesome seeing the improvement from each and every one of you and to see you girls grow as a team. I hope many of you choose to play beach this summer and that your high school senior season is a successful one! No one knows what next year will bring but I hope to see all of you again at tryouts for club season! Oh, and keep working on the vert….the net goes up to 2.24m!

Tony