Swan Song for vetS
Pandas duo in last tourney
Not every university athlete gets a send-off on a national stage.
And for a pair of fifth-year University of Alberta Pandas volleyball players, while this weekend’s national championships at the Saville Community Sports Centre marks the end of an era, it will be a much better ending than the ones they previously scripted.
Middle Jess Stroud and setter Mariah Walsh are the most veteran members on the roster. For both, it’s the first time playing in nationals on their home floor.
“I’m excited to play at home. We know the gym, I think we can pass better, serve better in this gym. We have the advantage over other teams like that and we’re going to have the crowd on our side too, which I’m really excited about,” Stroud said. “It’s always nice having your friends and family around. We’re going to have a lot of club athletes coming, there is also a Premier (tournament) at this facility. And then, having that noise around even when other teams are serving, I know that can play a lot into the mental game.”
Not that the Pandas are looking to get into the heads of the opposition, or hoping to be seen simply as seventh-seed hosts as opposed to a program coming off of backto-back national silver medals in this very tournament.
“I’m not too much into the psychology of other teams, but I still think we earned our spot here,” Walsh said. “The seeding’s the seeding and there was some weird stuff throughout the year with different wins and stuff that it ended up this way.
“But it’s really like Laurie (Eisler, Pandas coach) always says: ‘The faceless opponent.’ ”
Meaning the Pandas are more focused on what they do as opposed to what is happening on the other side of the court, beginning with the second-ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues on Friday (6:30 p.m., usports.live).
And whatever the end result this weekend brings, Stroud and Walsh were at least here to see it through.
“We both have different stories,” said Stroud, whose focus will soon shift from her days as a student-athlete to a career as a dietitian. “For me, I got injured ( back) right before my fourth year, so I had to sit out my fourth and fifth year. I was really lucky halfway through my sixth year, I joined back on the team. I was doing an internship for school, so I was an eligible student at the time, came back on the team and started playing again.
“It was going really well and I had the opportunity to come back this year and just kind of cap off my career. And I really felt like I had unfinished business. Ending a career on an injury is not the way anyone wants to go out, so to be able to overcome that and be able to play again and finish my career on the court is really exciting for me.”
While Stroud is giving it one last hurrah on the 9-metre by 18-metre surface this weekend, Walsh is looking to continue on to the next level once her university playing days are finished.
But that wasn’t always necessarily the case.
“I played four years, I had really good stats, I started the whole time and then I just reached the point of physical breakdown and I just couldn’t do it anymore,” she said. “I got really burnt out after my fourth, so I just stepped away for a year and it was really difficult at the time. And a huge process of growth and figuring out how to be a durable athlete, how to reconcile my love for volleyball with some of those feelings of not knowing if I could continue.
“Last January, I came back and started training with the team a little bit just for myself. And then wanted to come back this year and see if I can be as good as I can be when I graduate so I can go get a contract.”
For a duo that has already seen possible alternate endings to their time with the Pandas, you can bet they aren’t taking for granted the chance to rewrite their own final chapter.
“I think it kind of demystifies it a little bit, I know I have the confidence I can exist without playing, because even though I want to keep playing, you never know what’s going to happen. So many people have that story,” Walsh said. “We both came back knowing how much we appreciated this place as well as just sports. This program’s really special, so I will always miss this program, for sure. And that’s difficult, I think.
“I’m not thinking volleyball’s done, but I think it helps a little bit to be like, ‘I’m good with me, and volleyball’s a bonus.’ ”