No down time for Golden Shield during holidays
Women's volleyball team headed to Chicago to work on skills
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The Cambrian College Golden Shield women’s volleyball team is heading to Chicago.
Dale Beausoleil, the team’s long-time head coach, is planning a trip for the team to take part in a clinic at the Sports Performance Volleyball Club during the holiday break, for three days.
For this trip, the Golden Shield will not be playing against any other teams, but will be focusing on skill development.
“They’re such a young team, with so many rookies,” Beausoleil said. “They’re all in different places, all different levels, and the more touches these girls get, the better they’re going to get.
“Having the month off. We now no longer have the gym. For the girls, it’s important that we continue to touch the ball, or else everything that we’ve learned is going to go down the drain. I just feel the importance of touching the ball, and anything you can do with a young team, in terms of togetherness and forming cohesiveness, is really good because we still don’t know each other. The girls are learning so much about each other.
There are nine first-year players on the team.
“That’s really, really high,” Beausoleil said. “It’s the most I’ve ever had.”
And that’s the purpose of this trip – don’t let this young team regress in any way.
“We’re looking for growth,” Beausoleil said.
The Golden Shield are 2-7 on the season, having won one game in their last six contests.
“The team this year, we’re looking to get better every day. That’s our goal, to improve,” Beausoleil said. “And there’s time that we do it, and there’s times that we take a step back.”
One of the biggest issues the team has dealt with this season, Beausoleil said, is a lack of consistency.
“But in terms of what I see, is huge improvement from September to February,” Beausoleil said. “And I want to see huge gains.”
Beausoleil would like to see his charges also improve on their serve-receive and defence.
“Right now, Emily (Clark) is our only big hitter,” Beausoleil said. “We need that to change as well. We need someone to step up and become a bigger hitter, as well.”
That’s because the team is too one dimensional, too predictable.
“We know that’s what we are,” Beausoleil said. “The teams know the ball is going to Emily. We’ve got to become stronger.”
Beausoleil, who has seen plenty of success with the Golden Shield over the years, said he’s enjoying the process of working with a young and motivated team.
“It’s almost like a blank page with a lot of these girls,” Beausoleil said. “You get to mold them. The only thing is that it takes time and you have to have a lot of patience. A lot of our kids never ran a slide, they never ran a 31. We’re behind the eight-ball, as opposed to where we normally start. Other teams don’t have to worry about teaching them these types of things.”
But the future looks bright.
“For me, it’s kind of neat,” Beausoleil said. “If these girls can stick around for two, three, four years, I think they can be really good in the future.”
The Golden Shield are coming off a 3-1 win over College Boreal on Nov. 28. They have nine games remaining in the regular season.
They return to action on Jan. 12, hosting Redeemer, and on Jan. 13 the Golden Shield host Niagara. Both games are slated for 12 p.m. starts, and will be played at Cambrian College.
“Hopefully it improves our skill level,” Beausoleil said of the team’s trip to Chicago. “The second half (of the season) flies.”
Twitter: @keith_dempsey
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