Riversides girl’s volleyball program has always been a very competitive program; however, there have been some changes this year.
Mr. Gee, who has traditionally coached the senior team now coaches the grade 9 girls; Mr. Thies coaches the junior team, and Nicole Curran, is now coaching the senior team in place of Gee. Curran is a Coquitlam teacher who teaches at Hillcrest Middle School. She has been coaching for six years and has been playing since she was in grade six. She then started playing club volleyball for the Ducks in grade nine. She became involved with Riverside volleyball four years ago as an assistant coach with Mr. Gee for the senior team. “Riverside has always had competitive high school teams,” said Curran. “The athletic culture at the school is awesome, so I wanted to be a part of it. I also love the teamwork aspect, as well as the mental side of volleyball; knowledge is so important! Not just the skills.”
There are many standout players on the senior team according to Curran; “Lauren Poirier is coming back from injury, but is very dominant offensively. Hannah Menard is a strong leader and has proven she can play any position necessary to help the team. Alexa Durand’s outstanding defense has played a major role in all our wins.”
The Senior team is meeting between three to five days a week and they have six grade 12 players and seven grade 11’s; there are no grade 10’s on the team but they have had one grade 10 student play for them for two games due to an injury of one of the grade 12 players, Lauren Poirier.
The seniors participated in the Red Serge tournament which was hosted by Riverside on November 4 and 5. This was the seventeenth of the tournament. The Coquitlam RCMP officers open the tournament by marching into the gymnasium in their Red Serge. This is followed by a few guest speakers, then the tournament began. There were teams from all over BC; it is one of the most competitive tournaments of the year. The senior girls played hard but ended up coming up short in the tournament.
It is a busy time right now for all the teams. The junior team is having a very successful season; they are ranked in first place going into the Fraser Valley championships which is being held at Riverside staring Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
Thies, the head coach of the junior team, has played club volleyball, beach volleyball, and played competitively throughout high school and played beach after. He has also been coaching for 16 years and coaches beach volleyball in the summer. “They’re a really great group of kids and they work exceptionally hard,” said Thies. “They are a team through and through and it’s really a team sport, ask anybody who’s played volleyball and you realize how much you have to rely on each other.”
Since the tournament is being held at Riverside, the junior girls would appreciate the love and support from the people coming out to watch the games.
