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It's been a very solid season for the U15 Lightning and their coach Cerrill Outhwaite couldn't be prouder of the group and hopes they end on a high note as they set out for a tournament in Regina.
Going back to the start, the team was put together in December and Outhwaite says they've surpassed expectations. "It was a great year, we had a lot of growth throughout the year. That would be the main thing of emphasis with this team, we were a young team and even though we were playing in the 15U category, most of our girls are only 13-years-old. So, we're playing at least one year above our age category and for some of our girls, it's two years what they're playing. We're playing against girls that had maybe a full season more than our girls had. Most of the team was coming out of grade 8 volleyball, which is kind of fair-play, non-positional, that sort of stuff. Once you're in 15U, you get positions and we up the level of play and competitiveness."
Putting the team together, Outhwaite says the group bonded together and pushed each other throughout the season. "This is a gifted group, they put a lot of time and energy into the season. With everyone kind of starting at the same level, with very little experience in club volleyball or competitive play, it was a learning situation for everybody. Everyone was able to feed off each other and grow. Some girls would go through spurts of high performance and high learning, then the other group would catch up. We had a nice balance of competitiveness in practice, which was special, as well."
Outhwaite couldn't be happier with how things went on the court but the coach is even happier with how the team gelled as friends off the court. "It's an important part of any team sport, those friendships you develop within the team. This is one of the first teams that I coached where, I'm predominantly a high school teacher, and this group is mainly middle-years players. I haven't had the opportunity to teach them in the classroom and kind of see the dynamic. But, I really enjoyed getting to know the girls, getting to know the parents, we had such great parent support, it's a strong group that will do anything for their girls. That really leads to success and it will going forward. We had great support from family and extended family, there were lots of times we'd travel to away tournaments and we'd have more fans, even than the home team. It really made it a special, memorable year."
Another point of pride for Outhwaite and the club was how they did at provincials recently. "Well we just finished this past weekend and it's kind of the culmination of the club season. This year, there were 38 teams participating from across the province, and being one of the younger teams going in, we were ranked 37th. We were able to really improve throughout that tournament and ended up in 28th place. We won a whole bunch of games and had success."
The team is not done yet as they're set to embark on a fun, end-of-year tournament. "This coming weekend, we're heading to Regina for an invitational tournament," Outhwaite explains. "Traditionally, teams would head out to nationals in Edmonton, but with our team being so young, we thought we'd do the big cost event next year, when we've developed another year. We can play in 15U again, so we decided to stay a little closer and end with a fun tournament where we can play against some different teams."
Looking into the future, Outhwaite says it's quite an exciting time for all involved. "These girls will be graduating out of middle-years, eight of the girls will be moving into the high school, so they'll be junior varsity volleyball. The other three girls on the team will beable to paly on the team as well, because they're young enough. We also have a half dozen girls playing on other club teams, whether it's Brandon or the Westman team, so we have a really healthy group of 14 and 15 year old girls coming up next year. We'll start up in September and finish in November. Then the club season kicks back in and we'll run another team out of the Killarney area again."
Great things are ahead for Outhwaite and his KVC U15 Lightning team.