"I've just had the most remarkable season of my 34-year coaching career," was Gord Pacholko's response when asked about his Glaslyn team's bronze medal finish in the 1A senior boys provincial championships in Allan Nov. 26 and 27.
After a scrappy and close three set match against Allan the boys from Glaslyn dispatched Frontier to win their pool. Their play, calm, sure and based on a solid, competent defence, resulted in them being seeded second overall and had a bye to the quarter-finals.
Good blocking and sound setting from Gary Burgess and a pounding offence founded on the stellar play of hitters Jordan Dnytryshyn and Aaron Allan saw them defeat Anaheim in two games 25-20 and 26-24.
In the semi final versus Kincaid, the boys came up against a good team, who handed them a loss and bumped them to the bonze medal match. After a 25-20 win they lost the next two sets. This knocked them into the bronze medal match against Allan, who had clawed their way through to the finals with a come from behind win over Avonlea. At this point there was a departure from the script, which read 'pumped up team ready to conquer all (Allan) defeats heartbroken dispirited opponent (Glaslyn).'
"Allan was up and I expected my boys to have a major challenge," said coach Palcholko. "But the assistant coach talked to them in my absence. I'm not sure what she said to them but they came out firing and they beat Allan in two straight."
The bronze medal was the culmination of an outstanding season beginning when the boys and the coach made a commitment to one another last March to stay together for one last season.
"I stayed out of retirement for one more year to coach these guys, and I had them altogether for three years as a group," explained Palcholko. "It was a very, very good year. They are fantastic gentlemen. They are salt of the earth and we got really, really close. Super kids, total commitment, total devotion, and they came with a very, very strong parent support group."
The numbers on Glaslyn's season look like this: 186 hours spent in on-court practices, 157 days of training, 99 games played, 89 games won, 27 inches, the height of the picnic table, which seven players could jump straight up and land on, and one great, final season making it all worth while.
