They'll be good this year.
But, watch out for the D.P. Todd Trojans next year. And the year after that.
The D.P. Todd senior boys volleyball team -- with just one Grade 12 player on its roster -- advanced all the way to the final of Saturday's PGYVC Kodiak Classic. The Trojans fell in two sets to the Duchess Park Condors (25-14, 25-16) but served notice that they'll be one of the top squads in the city this high school season.
"I would have been happy to be in the bronze-medal match, I wasn't expecting to be in the gold-medal at all," said Trojans coach Glenn Wong. "In the semifinal, we beat College Heights 17-15 in the third set and that told me that [the players] have mental toughness. I wasn't expecting this level of mental toughness at this stage of the game."
The lone Grade 12 member of the Trojans is Jordan Foot, a six-foot-five middle blocker/power hitter who played for Team B.C. in the summer. Foot's supporting cast with the Trojans has five Grade 11s and four Grade 10s. Experience being a teacher, the D.P. Todd boys will keep getting better as time marches on.
"They're a young team and they're going to improve," Duchess Park coach Keith Wood said of the Trojans. "I think they're kind of in the position we were last year -- a really young team gearing up for the end."
The Grade 11s for the Trojans are Sean Gaiesky, Pardeep Jaswal, Josh Rockwell, Cole Waldie and Tanner Williams. Grade 10s on the club are triplets Colby, Haydn and Joel Molcak, as well as Brylee Teschke. Assistant coaches are Dan Drezet and Brendan Norum.
The ultimate objective for the Trojans this season is to grab one of the two north central berths in the double-A provincial championship tournament, Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 in Kelowna. The Condors -- barring a complete collapse -- will take the top berth, which will likely leave the Trojans in a fight with College Heights for the second one.
This coming weekend, the Trojans will take another step in their development when they compete at the annual Big Red tournament in Grande Prairie, an event that always attracts elite 5-A schools from Alberta.
"It should be a lot of fun and a good experience," Wong said. "And when you have a team that is this young, you want to test them and see how they do. I'm impressed so far."
-- PETERS, Citizen staff
