Mega-Volley has come and gone for another year in Maidstone.
The popular tournament is played on courts in the Maidstone arena, the high school and the elementary gyms. The first weekend is for senior play and the second is for junior.
This year the tournament celebrated its 30th anniversary and organizer, coach and teacher Dave Speirs, who has been involved with the event for 23 years said, "the teams know their deal" and that the event runs smoothly.
Mega-Volley involves 48 teams per weekend with over 500 athletes competing each weekend. Teams travel from as far away as Leader, Sturgis, Muenster, Englefeld, Outlook and Canwood and each weekend several teams spend the night in the school.
This year to celebrate the 30th anniversary students involved in the senior weekend were treated to a much bigger dance experience than usual with Night Owl Entertainment. The event was not without emotional challenges as young people from several communities were friends with young people involved in accidents over the weekend, but Speirs said play continued and it brought out a lot of empathy in the players.
He said one of the highlights of the tournament was a playoff game during the senior weekend between the boys' team from Neilburg and the team from Glaslyn.
The winner of the senior tournament was Leader on the boys' side and Cut Knife on the girls' side. Maidstone's senior girls' team lost in the final to Cut Knife and Speirs mentioned it was the 5th time they've made it that close to winning the tournament.
He also said the senior boys' team played well and are a younger team this year.
The winners of the junior weekend were the boys from Jonas Samson in Meadow Lake and the girls from Macklin.
The tournament is made possible because of the dedication of the staff, students, family and community members who put in hours and hours of volunteer time on the courts, behind the scenes and in food services.
Mega-Volley is a mega-undertaking and one of the reasons Maidstone High School shines in Saskatchewan.
