OLDS — Three guys who played for the École Olds High School senior boys volleyball team have cracked the roster of the Central Alberta Kings Volleyball Club U18 and U17 teams.
Grayson MacDonald and Liam Hartt have made the U18 team and Hayden Sept has cracked the U17 squad.
All three are 17 years old. Each made the team after tryouts in early December and see it as a potential launching pad to volleyball at the post-secondary level. They’re hoping to obtain sponsorship.
Hartt is an outside hitter and has played left and right side.
“He is very versatile in his hitting game,” says his coach (and mom) Kristy Hartt.
MacDonald has played left side in club volleyball and the right side in high school.
“He is an excellent passer so could be used as a utility player in my opinion,” Kristy wrote in an email.
Sept has played middle quite a bit during high school as well as in club volleyball.
“He is hoping to transition to left side this year as he loves to play defence and pass,” Kristy wrote.
“I really like left side and middle, which is what I’ve normally played in my years,” MacDonald said.
“Middle’s a lot of jumping up and down. It’s not as much passing as you would as a left side or a right side, but it’s a lot of blocking and hitting.”
All three were asked what it means to make the Kings.
“I mean you get to expand your horizons,” MacDonald said. “Club volleyball is pretty high-end volleyball so if you do want to play post-secondary, you have a pretty good shot at playing if you do choose the club route because it’s a lot more advanced than high school volleyball and stuff.”
All three players are multi-sport athletes.
Hartt plays baseball, basketball, does cross country running and snowboarding. He also plays soccer when the opportunity is there.
MacDonald plays basketball as well and might play soccer this spring if ÉOHS fields a team, Kristy says.
Sept has played baseball.
Hartt said although he likes playing basketball, he gravitates more to volleyball.
“I’ve played volleyball the longest. I’ve played it since I was in Grade 6,” he said.
“It’s just been my favourite sport for the longest time, especially now with club and stuff where you can play for a long, extended amount of time. It’s just become my favourite thing to do. I love watching it, I love playing it.”
Sept has played baseball for the last eight or nine years and volleyball for the past three years.
“I like both, but with volleyball I have more of a chance to go to post-secondary. Baseball’s kind of hard, considering where we live,” he said.
“There is opportunity if you’re good enough, but it’s definitely more difficult to find that opportunity.”
All three players were asked why they like volleyball so much.
Sept said he likes the team aspect of it.
"I like how everybody has to succeed for your whole team to succeed,” he said.
“It’s not like just a one-man's game. It starts with the pass and the setter dishes it up to the hitter and then the hitter puts it away.”
Hartt and MacDonald also like the team aspect of the game.
“Think about hockey or basketball,” Hartt said. “Yeah, having a good team helps, but a lot of the time you do have that one star player and he can kind of carry you along the way.
“In volleyball, it’s a very team-oriented sport. You can only touch the ball once before someone else has to touch it. So you have to rely on your teammates and they have to be able to lift each other up.”
MacDonald agreed.
“I just love the energy,” he said. “Like they said, it’s a team sport, you have to rely on everyone. And so when you do, like you made a big play and everyone’s all high because you know that everyone was a part of it.
“Just seeing how everyone reacts. Like when you get a big hit or a big save, it’s awesome.”
Coach Kristy Hartt is pleased to see all three make the Red Deer squads.
“As their coach, I definitely have a sense of pride when I see my athletes gain opportunities to further themselves as athletes,” she wrote in an email.
“I am simply the facilitator though, because in the end they are the ones who have to work hard in their training, stay disciplined and set goals for what they want to accomplish, so they deserve the majority of the credit for getting to the next phase of their athletics. It is exciting to see what they accomplish.”
