From Friday, Nov. 23 to Saturday, Nov. 24, Arcola and Carlyle will be hosting the SHSAA 2A Boys Volleyball Provincial Championship. Beginning Friday at 1 p.m., members of the general public are invited to either the Arcola School or the Gordon F. Kells High School to watch some of the province's finest athletes compete against one another. Door admission is $4 for students and $6 for adults (Children admission is free).
For those interested in attending the provincial's opening ceremonies, they will be held on the Friday beginning at 11:45 a.m. in Arcola. The venue for the ceremony is Prairie Place Hall.
On the Saturday, beginning at 3:00 p.m., semi-finals will be taking place at both schools simultaneously. Subsequently, the bronze and gold medal games will be held at the Arcola School, which is the primary host of the tournament, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
After their recent victory over Lampman, Midale and Stoughton for the conference title, the Arcola Panthers senior boy's volleyball team advanced to regionals where they placed third overall.
The Panthers are now gearing-up to be the host team for the provincial championship. In addition to being highly competitive and entertaining, the championship is a great opportunity to showcase the southeast to the rest of the province, according to organizers.
Host facilities, publicity, accommodations, host committee, officials, and caliber of competition- all will be evaluated during the two-day event and have been planned for extensively. So far, the costs associated with the event have been quite high. The Arcola School is accepting donations to make up for some of these costs and any surplus dollars will be going towards refurbishing the school gymnasium floor, which is expected to cost approximately $60, 000.
The tournament is also an opportunity to display some of the off-the-court qualities the players have been developing over the season. Arcola Panthers coach Eugene Brown, or "Mr. B" as he's known to his students (both current and former), has been coaching volleyball for almost 20 years now. "It is more than just volleyball, it is about building young men of character," in his view.
In 1993, Arcola's senior boy's volleyball coach moved on and the team needed a new leader. Coach Brown had never played the sport before and knew little about it at the time, but he wasn't about to stand by and watch talent go to waste. Brown took coaching courses and studied some of the higher caliber teams in the area. Pages from Wawota's defence and Oxbow's offensive playbooks were among those he used to learn the game and concoct a winning strategy for his own team.
Coach Brown also credited one of his nephews, a former university volleyball player, with demonstrating how to effectively translate the theory behind the sport into practice. Brown considers his nephew to be the "grandfather of Arcola volleyball."
After speaking with Coach Brown about his team and the upcoming championship, it is clear that he is natural leader dedicated to bringing out the best qualities in his players, both on and off the court. For the coach, without integrity, things like athletic ability are meaningless it seems. It is refreshing to know that the young players under Coach Brown's wing are not only being trained to be top-notch competitors, but the leaders of tomorrow as well.
