Haleigh Kearns is in the process of making a massive leap in volleyball.
Kearns, a fresh graduate of D.P. Todd secondary school, is one of the newest members of the Lakehead University Thunderwolves women's team, which competes in U Sports, the highest level of post-secondary athletics in Canada. Currently, she's in Thunder Bay, Ont., participating in training camp with the club.
Kearns, an 18-year-old right-side hitter, had long been aiming for a spot in college or university volleyball. And, even though she's now mingling with some of the elite players in the country, she's feeling more comfortable every day she's on the court.
"Thinking about it, at first it made me a little nervous," Kearns said on Wednesday during a break from practice. "I was thinking, 'Am I at this level? Is it realistic for me?' But I'm very confident that I'll be able to improve a lot this year. I've already been here for about two-and-a-half weeks and I've improved by leaps and bounds - especially my mental game. Being confident and going up against girls who are older than me and more experienced than me has helped a lot.
"I'm up for the challenge, for sure. It's been one of my dreams since I was in Grade 8. It makes me a little more motivated."
While she was still in her Grade 12 year at D.P. Todd, the five-foot-10 Kearns started sending her player resume - including game footage - to various college and university programs. She sent "a bunch" to B.C. schools and then broadened her scope.
"I realized that there were more players my height going further east so I decided to send some to Dalhousie (in Halifax) and Memorial University (in St. John's, Nfld.) and then Lakehead because it was my dad's school."
Kearns's father, Tom, studied at Lakehead from the mid- to late-1980s and then returned there in the mid-1990s to obtain a masters degree. Kearns found the family link to Lakehead appealing, and when she got a response from volleyball head coach Chris Green, the wheels to Ontario were set in motion.
Kearns visited Lakehead in March and liked what she saw. While there, she practiced with the Thunderwolves and ultimately signed a letter of intent to attend the school and play volleyball.
Green sees a ton of potential in his new recruit.
"Haleigh brings a fresh and athletic passion to our team," he said on the Lakehead athletics website. "She has shown herself to be a skilled and passionate athlete who under our system will grow in leaps and bounds from the very strong starting point she is at now."
Green said Kearns is "very intuitive" on the court, a quality she also demonstrated throughout her local club volleyball career with the PGYVC Kodiaks. This past club season, she was a standout attacker and blocker for an 18-and-under team that finished 10th overall at the provincial championship tournament, held in Richmond in April.
The Thunderwolves will start their season with an Oct. 27 road match against the Toronto Varsity Blues and will take on the Ryerson Rams the next day. Kearns said the Lakehead lineup features nine or 10 new recruits for 2017-18 but also has "quite a few" veterans.
"I think we'll do pretty well - I hope we do," she said. "We've put in tons and tons of work. What I've heard is we're the only team in the OUA (Ontario University Athletics) who does a three-week training camp. So we put in lots of work and we're not just going to roll over and let teams just roll over us."
Kearns, who spent her first four years of high school at Cedars Christian, is also an excellent student. Thanks to her academic standing, she'll be on a full tuition scholarship at Lakehead and she also earned an Alumni Association Award in the amount of $10,000. In the classroom, she'll be working toward a bachelor of arts degree, with a focus on history and sociology.
"I'm not 100 per cent sure what I want to do past that but I'm thinking about going to law school or going into counseling or even teaching," she said.
Kearns is one of seven PGYVC products moving on to post-secondary volleyball this school year. Nick Hansen, Ben Shand and Kendra Potskin will all play for Douglas College of New Westminster, Graham Walkey will suit up for Columbia Bible College of Abbotsford, Lucas Mantel will be on the court for the University of the Fraser Valley, also of Abbotsford, and Evan Veldman will be in uniform with The King's University of Edmonton.
