Fresh from recently hosting the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national volleyball championships, the Camosun Chargers are heading into the off-season. Although the Chargers may not have had the result they would have liked at the tournament, men’s volleyball head coach Charles Parkinson says that they’re trying to brush off those results and move forward.
“Our result was obviously not what we expected. We won our first match, which was great, and ended up in the semi-final, but we ended up losing in the fifth set in our match,” says Parkinson. “We ended up fourth overall in the whole country, which isn’t bad. When you get to these higher levels, though, the margins between winning and losing are so slim. It can come down to one misplay or one bad rotation to spell your loss. Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience for the athletes as much as anything else.”
Fourth year Sports Management student and team captain Doug Waterman echoes Parkinson’s thoughts and says that he’s proud of what the team has accomplished this season, despite the results at the nationals.
“The ultimate goal was to win the tournament. Obviously, coming up fourth was a disappointment, but I think we represented Camosun well, considering how far we’ve come as a team, even just in the locker room,” says Waterman. “We didn’t have the greatest season record going into playoffs but we were able to come through. Overall, it was kind of disappointing, but we did well.”
Parkinson says that one of his biggest jobs is helping the players reset between, after, or during a game so that they can get back to playing at their optimal skill level.
“You can use your losses as a teachable moment. We often use the moments to reflect and improve, because when you get to a competing level like this, it often does come down to the smallest of errors,” says Parkinson. “What we try to do is to highlight how important that small margin is so we can learn from them and get back out there with a fresh mindset.”
The season is now over for the Chargers and they’re going into their off-season, but the players aren’t done yet. School, training, and commitments to family are all on the table. Parkinson says that he tries to teach the players that family and school come first, before the sport.
“We took the week following the tournament off just to recover and to catch up with school. The reason we do this is because, to me, the reality of this is that volleyball is a moment in time in your life, whereas your education lasts forever,” says Parkinson. “We’ve started training again but on a reduced schedule. It’s also an opportunity for us to bring in some kids that may be interested in playing for us, and play with some of the guys from the team. It also gives me a chance to talk to them and let them know what Camosun is all about and to sort of scout out potential players in the future. After final exams, though, that’s when we call it a season. A lot of the players go home, work, or just take a vacation. As for some of the guys who are local, we’ll maybe meet occasionally to do some light training.”