Manitoba club volleyball provincials underway

Young volleyball players from across the province are in action for their provincial championships, as the club season comes to an end.

The 15U boys tournament was hosted in Steinbach/Mitchell April 19-20 with the 14U boys tournament going in Niverville.

Older age groups will be in action in the region May 3-4, with the 18U girls playing in Steinbach and Mitchell and the 16U boys in Niverville. Niverville is also listed as a partial host for the 16U girls alongside Dakota Community Centre.

The Junior Pilots club program, based out of Niverville and Steinbach’s Taika Volleyball have teams competing. The Junior Pilots boys 14U team finished second at provincials, with the boys 15U team finishing third.

Other age groups will be playing across Manitoba this weekend, including a potent Junior Pilots 17U Navy team, which recently finished third in a Best of the West tournament in Calgary. In four Manitoba tournaments the team has four wins and a second place finish and have even played up an age division to stay competitive.

“I would definitely say (the Junior Pilots are) growing, there’s age groups that are competing more and more locally and a few of them advancing stronger at the national level too,” assistant coach Dylan Zacharias said.

Dylan coaches the team alongside his wife, Kyla. The duo have been coaching this age group since they were 13-years-old.

Key to the team’s success this season has been continuity. The 17U Pilots have the exact same roster which won a provincial championship last year at the 16U level.

“It’s a rare opportunity where we were able to work off of them last year,” he said.

“Now it’s just pushing them to the next level. We’re starting to have conversations with college teams and university teams and kind of seeing what our girls are interested in after high school.”

Zacharias said the team’s theme this year is “no opportunity missed,” adding the 17U year is when scouting from post-secondary schools really picks up.

“As coaches we take on a fair bit of it, where we try and connect with universities, colleges,” he said.

“Either their recruitment staff or their coaching staff, sending video clips and things like that.”

The 17U girls provincial championships are in Winnipeg this year.