Watson headed south to join Mavericks
Maple Creek’s Sarah Watson will be headed to the Empire State to continue her education and volleyball career.
The grade 12 student has signed with Mercy College, a Division II program located in New York State.
Watson said her club coach Bill Fong helped her, in a round about fashion, end up at Mercy College.
“My volleyball coach, he’s in charge of the recruiting process in Canada kind of. He told me and mom back in October that there was a school in New York interested in me. Me and my mom looked up the wrong school, which was Mercy College and we got super interested in it. Later on it kind of happened that she [coach Georgia Efthalitsides] was interested in me and contacted me, so it all kind of fell together.”
Watson made a visit to Mercy over the Easter break.
“I sat in on one of my classes and really enjoyed it. I met the volleyball team and they all kind of welcomed me in right away. I felt like I knew all of them after my two-hour tour of the school,” she explained.
Watson will study exercise science while at Mercy.
“I was originally going in to be a vet tech and they were the only NCAA school that offered it that seemed good, that has one of the best programs. Once she messaged me it kind of just all fell together. But now I am not even going in for vet tech anymore,” she laughed.
Watson began playing volleyball in grade six. The 5’10’’ power hitter previously played for the Junior Sundogs club team in Swift Current and is currently playing with the Assiniboia Renegades.
The Mercy College Mavericks compete in the East Coast Conference and finished with a 7-25 record overall last season.
“I don’t really know yet,” she said of her expectations with the Mavericks. “I am kind of just happy to be signed and we will see what happens.”
Watson said the team usually reports to Dobbs Ferry, NY at the start of August, but the school is building a new gym, so she doesn’t have to be there until after the midway point of the month when the gym is completed.
“I have to train a lot. They told me that every two weeks they do fitness testing. Every day they have to go to the gym and work out with the personal trainer. So I have to start working out and be in shape so I am ready for that,” she said.