RAISING THE BAR
Halen Sky has gone from playing the sport for fun to suiting up for her country this fall
Halen Sky will be playing for Canada this fall and competing against the best dodgeball players in the world.
Sky recently found out she had made the national women’s team for the World Dodgeball Federation World Championships that will be held in Markham, Ont. Sky is the only new edition to the eight-woman roster from the silver-medal winning team in 2016.
“It’s a huge privilege to be able to come onto this roster with a lot of girls who have been playing with each other for a couple of years,” Sky said Tuesday. “I’m so excited to play with these people because I have spent so many hours watching them and studying the way they play and just admiring the athleticism they have.”
Sky, a 22-year-old Charlottetown native, played rugby and dodgeball and was a wrestler while attending Colonel Gray High School. When she was looking for an activity to get more exercise and have fun after graduating from high school, a friend suggested the dodgeball league on Sunday nights.
It was a bit of a learning curve, she admitted.
“I was really, really bad, but the community was super, super friendly,” Sky recalled of the first few sessions about four years ago. “Everyone was really funny and kind.”
She quickly got better and was part of the Avonlea Armada, a women’s team from Prince Edward Island that competed at the Dodgeball Canada national championships in Halifax in April.
“My focus was making sure the P.E.I. girls team did as well as we could and we had fun,” Sky said.
The team finished seventh in the 14-team field, made the playoffs and beat or tied some of the top squads.
It was during the tournament that the national selection committee identified Sky, who later received a call from head coach Victor Gravili.
“I, in no way, shape or form, expected to make the team,” Sky said.
Matthew Lawrence has been playing the sport for more than 10 years and became president of Dodgeball P.E.I. a year ago. He said Sky is a great team player with an upbeat personality and positive attitude.
“Halen is a very quick player, a very smart player and she understands ball control,” he said.
Her inclusion on Team Canada, he said, is a boost to the sport across the province.
“I think having Islanders representing the Island, as well as Canada, at worlds is really going to show a lot of people here that dodgeball does take a lot of athletic capability and takes a lot of strategy,” Lawrence said. “I’m glad we can actually show our community here that there is a different side of dodgeball and it doesn’t just have to be intramural. There is a competitive level to it.”
Sky will get a chance to meet her new teammates this weekend at the National Dodgeball Festival in Barrie, Ont. Prince Edward Island is sending eight teams, including a women’s team, a couple of men’s squads and a few coed groups, to the event.
“I, in no way, shape or form, expected to make the team.” Halen Sky