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Trip of a lifetime for Minck |
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Written by JASON PETERS, Citizen staff
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Tuesday, 15 July 2008 |
Local volleyball star Hanna Minck is heading to Korea to play matches with B.C.’s 19-and-under women’s team. Minck, a right side hitter, is a graduate of College Heights secondary school. (David Mah photo)
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The local 18-year-old will be on a plane bound for Korea later this month. She’s a member of the 19-and-under version of Team B.C., which will be in the Far East nation to play a series of exhibition matches against Korean women’s squads.
Minck and the rest of the provincial all-stars are scheduled to leave Canada on July 21 and won’t return until Aug. 6.
Minck can’t wait to sample volleyball on the other side of the world.
“I’m really excited for it,” said Minck, a College Heights secondary school graduate who will be a rookie right side hitter for Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina University College) this coming season.
“I’ll get to bring my calibre up a bit to get ready for Malaspina so I won’t have to worry as much when I get there.”
Minck said Team B.C. will be based in Seoul but will travel around and play against four different Korean clubs.
“I know (Korean teams) are very, very fast,” she said. “Asian volleyball teams, they always seem to be very fast and they use that to their advantage because they’re not typically tall. But they’re extremely smart and they know where to place the ball.”
The trip will cost Minck $1,200. The rest of the expenses will be picked up by Volleyball B.C. and possibly by Volleyball Canada.
Minck is the only player from northern B.C. who made the team. She attended a camp last month in Vancouver and nailed down a roster spot despite the fact she hadn’t had much playing time leading up to the tryout. She knew a trip to Korea was on the line and used that as extra motivation.
“Most of the girls had been playing up until the tryouts and had been staying with it,” said the five-foot-10 Minck, one of the smaller players who made the final cut. “I went in there just hoping that I would perform, I guess. But volleyball comes fairly naturally to me. I started playing when I was in Grade 4, watching my cousin (former CNC star Courtney Almgren) and just always loving the game. So I went into (the tryout) knowing that I was capable and believing in myself and just wanting it so badly.”
Minck also made her age group’s provincial team two years ago but was sick during last year’s camp and was left off the roster.
Shortly after Minck returns to Prince George, she’ll head to Nanaimo, home base of the VIU Mariners. In 2007-08, the Mariners were a perfect 20-0 in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association regular season and playoffs and then went 3-0 at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship tournament. The defending national champions -- who also feature Prince George’s Leigh Dreher as a veteran power hitter -- should again be strong.
Despite the fact Minck will be a first-year player on a talent-laden team, she expects to get a fair shot at court time.
“(Head coach) Shane (Hyde), he doesn’t guarantee any positions -- it’s just (based on) who performs,” Minck said. “That’s the way he does it and it’s kind of nice to hear that. Some coaches are different, where they give fourth-year players the floor, and if you perform you still don’t really get a chance. Everyone gets a chance with this team so I’m excited.”
--- Prince George’s Spencer Reed, who will play for Thompson Rivers University of Kamloops this coming season, is the lone northern talent on B.C.’s 19-and-under men’s team. The club will compete at the National Team Challenge Cup, July 23-27 in Halifax. Reed and his teammates are currently training in New Westminster.
--- Two other local players, Sarah Loedel and Jordan Drezet, landed jobs with B.C.’s 16-and-under girls team. The club, which also features Quesnel’s Julie Herringshaw, is working out in Kelowna in preparation for the Western Elite Championships, July 24-27 in Winnipeg.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 July 2008 )
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