Spartans having successful summer

LANGLEY, B.C. - Members of the Trinity Western University's men's volleyball team have been enjoying a successful summer session participating with Canada's Provincial and National teams.

"I am really excited for the opportunities our Spartan Men's Volleyball Athletes have had this summer. Every single member of our team has had an opportunity to train with a different team, coaches and athletes," commented TWU men's volleyball coach Ben Josephson. "In order to truly become great one must commit themselves to their craft. I am so proud of the commitment these Spartan athletes have made to their craft sacrificing time, finances and their off-season to better themselves as players and in turn bettering our team. We really have a special bunch of guys on this team and their dedication is just another example."

Current Spartans Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (Langley, B.C.) and John Wiebe (Abbotsford, B.C.) and new recruit Brad Kufske (Abbotsford, B.C.) played for British Columbia against current Spartan Jarrod Offerings (Calgary) and new recruit Lucas Van Berkel (Edmonton) who played for Alberta in the U19 National Challenge Cup July 23-27, which Alberta won in four sets. Jansen Van Doorn was named to the tournament all-star team with the other five being named players of the match at some point during the tournament. For complete results http://www.volleyballbc.ca/index.asp?Page=898

TWU's Rudy Verhoeff (Calgary), who was named captain and Marc Howatson (Victoria) led Canada to a 12th place finish at the U20 FIVB World Championships in Prune, India July 31 to August 9. Canada was in the preliminary pool with Russia, Poland and Brazil. Canada finished the pool play in third place in their pool with four points with one win and two losses. They opened with a 3-2 win over Poland before falling 3-0 to Brazil and 3-1 to Russia. In their second round Canada finished with five points on two wins and one loss. Canada defeated Tunsia 3-1 and Greece 3-1 and lost to China 3-2. Canada finished with a 3-0 loss to Poland on August 8 and a 3-2 loss to China on August 9th.

Full results can be found at http://www.fivb.org/EN/Volleyball/Competitions/Junior/men/2009/

Seven Spartans will be in Charlottetown, PEI August 15-29 at the 2009 Canada Summer Games. Marc Howatson, Rudy Verhoeff, Josh Doornenbal (Edmonton) and Ben Ball (Abbotsford, B.C.) will represent Team BC Indoor, while Mikiah Schalk (Red Deer, Alta.) and Paul Lindemulder (Calgary) will represent Team Alberta Indoor. The Spartans Steve Marshal (Abbotsford, B.C.) will be playing for Team BC's Beach team.

Marshall, along with former Spartan Chaim Schalk (Red Deer, Alta.) will continue playing into the fall as he represents Canada in Blackpool, England at the U21 World Beach Championships September 16-20.

The Spartans will begin training for the upcoming season in early September. They open preseason play September 24-26 when they will travel through the Okanagan with matches against the University of Alberta and UBC-Okanagan. They open Canada West conference play October 30 and 31 when they will host UBC for the opening matches at the Langley Event Centre.

Source:

Scott Stewart MSS
Sports Information Director
Trinity Western University