The Reigns are in the midst of their third season as a registered volleyball club on the North Island, and their coach Justin Reusch is incredibly proud of all the hard work the team has put in this year to continue progressing their skills.
The Reigns travelled down island to Campbell River a few weeks ago to compete in a one day tournament, where they ended up placing third overall.
“It was a really nice trip for the girls,” said Reusch, noting the tournament was a round robin format, which usually only means three or four games, “but we played well and they got to play five games straight — the girls didn’t get a single break.”
Volleyball season opens in January and ends in mid-May, and Reusch has 10 girls on the roster this year, ranging from grade nine to grade 12.
Reusch pointed out the Reigns have always done pretty well during tournaments, stating while the team has had to take on some tough competition over the years, “They do a pretty darn good job of playing hard and are a lot of fun to watch — they really give the other teams a run for their money.”
Grade 10 student Ashley Cadwallader said her favourite thing about playing volleyball is “Just getting to hang out with everyone and having fun.”
The Reigns will be making their annual trip out to Abbotsford to compete in the BC Provincials during the last weekend of April. They placed sixth in their division back in 2016, and Reusch is confident the team will continue to grow and achieve more this year.
Once this season of volleyball is over, Reusch isn’t sure if he will be back to coach next year. “My daughter will be graduating this year and won’t be playing again,” he said, adding he has a new baby in the house and being a training officer for the Port Hardy Fire Department will be taking up a lot of his free time.
“If someone’s interested in taking over, I can always stop in and help out part-time — I’d love to see the program keep going after I’m finished here, it would be really nice to see it stick around after all this work building up the team.”
Reusch has two girls left from the original team and he wanted to say he is “incredibly proud of those two for sticking with it the entire way through, regardless of other commitments — they’ve been key players and I’m also proud of the support the team has given a couple of our new girls this year.”
