Saints volleyball coach gets national assignment
St. Clair College Saints women’s head volleyball coach Jimmy ElTurk has been named an assistant coach to the women’s 18-and-under junior national program by Volleyball Canada.
“I’m very honoured to be able to represent our country,” El-Turk said. “It’s a dream come true. I was never talented enough, as a player, to be afforded the opportunity to play for Team Canada, but when I got into coaching, it was one of my long-term goals to be able to wear the Maple Leaf at some point down the road and for it to come so soon is surreal.”
The team will begin training at Brock University in St. Catharines on July 13 and travel to Tulsa, OK for the USAVB high performance championship, which is set for July 24-28.
“I’m excited to be an assistant coach and learn from the other coaches around me,” El-Turk said. “Any new experience is always a welcomed one and any chance to learn from the best coaches in the country and get better is an opportunity worth jumping at.
“I’m hoping to take in a lot during my time with the program, add some value and bring back what I’ve learned to St. Clair and to our club, SKY Volley, to further assist in athlete development.” El-Turk has spent the last three seasons with the Saints and guided the team to an OCAA bronze medal this past season, which was the first in 21 years for the program. He has also spent the past two summers working with the Ontario Volleyball Association coaching Team Ontario’s 16-and-under girls program.
LANCER COACHES GOING TO NACAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
University of Windsor Lancers associate head coach Brett Lumley and hurdles coach Kurt Downes have earned Athletics Canada coaching assignments for the 2018 NACAC senior championships, Aug. 10-12 in Toronto.
This is the seventh time Lumley has served on a coaching staff for Team Canada with his last being the Francophone Games in 2017. He will serve as Canada’s jumps coach in Toronto. Downes, on the Canadian staff in 2016 and 2017 at the IAAF world, will coach hurdles at the Francophone Games.
Two area players were named lacrosse all-stars by the U.S. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Belle River’s Craig Marentette, a junior at Keiser University in Florida, was named a first-team all-star for a second-straight season. He led the team with 30 goals and 53 points in 10 games, and was third in the country with an average of 5.3 points per game, fifth with 2.3 assists per game and seventh with 6.1 shots per game. Windsor’s Garett McKelvie, a junior at Missouri Baptist University, was named a second-team all-star. He led the team with 50 ground balls and caused 24 turnovers.
ALL-STAR SPITFIRES
Windsor Spitfires goalie Mikey DiPietro was named OHL firstteam all-star goalie on Thursday. Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski was named to the third team, and former Spitfires Aaron Luchuk was named a second-team all-star, while Gabriel Vilardi was named a third-team all-star.