Barrhead senior girls volleyballers give a bump to Barrhead Cancer Centre

BARRHEAD - Sometimes, it is more than just the game.

That is the tact the Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) Senior Girls Gryphons Volleyball Team took during last week's annual senior tournament, where they raised over $1,000 for the Barrhead Cancer Centre.

At the two-day Oct.4-5 tournament, in between their matches, the team set up a donation table. The Girl Gyphons also asked teams coming to the tournament to dress in pink to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"They are such a good group of girls," community coach Jennifer Schuurman said. 

BCHS athletic director and long-time senior girls volleyball coach Kyle Becker asked Schuurman to assume the role last season. Before that, she was a club volleyball coach with the Barrhead Knights and helped coach the girls in the Neerlandia Public Christian School (NPCS) program.

Schuurman said the girls came up with the idea for the fundraiser two weeks prior at a tournament in Sherwood Park.

"The tournament encouraged teams to come in dressed in 70s and 80s-themed clothing," she said, adding the team won the award for best dressed. 

While the event was fun, Schuurman said, it made them think that they could use a similar concept to do something good for the community. They decided that it should be a fundraiser for the Barrhead Cancer Centre, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As for how the girl Gryphons have fared on the court this season, Schuurman said it has been a mixed bag. In the four tournaments they played in, they failed to make the playoff round, but they've come close on multiple occasions, including the BCHS tournament.

"Things have been going pretty well," she said. "We haven't made the playoffs yet, but we are right there, just missing out by a couple of points in those cross-over games."

But, she said the Gryphons had faced stiff competition, adding that the school has played in multiple 4A tournaments for high schools with an enrolment of more than 800 students. Usually, BCHS competes in the 3 A category against schools with populations between 300 and 799.

"This was our first 3A tournament," Schuurman said. "The girls are definitely getting better each week. The goal for us and every other team is to peak at zones [in about six weeks] in Whitecourt, and then hopefully, provincials [in Ponoka]."

Schuurman also noted the Gryphons are a young team with only two Grade 12s.

Boys Senior Gryphons

On the boys' side, the Gryphons finished eighth in the 12-team tournament.

Community coach Lucas Nanninga, an NPCS Neerlandia Eagle and BCHS Gryphon alumni who is in his first year of coaching the team, said they were slightly disappointed with the result.

"It was alright. We lost in the quarterfinals against [Westlock's R.F. Staples Thunderbirds]," he said, adding that following that matchup, the Gryphons could not seem to get any traction and dropped their remaining games.

However, Nanninga said there is still a lot of volleyball to be played, noting that they are currently at the halfway mark in the season. "We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic for the rest of the year."

Nanninga said that, like the girls' squad, the boys' squad faced tough competition in the first half of the season, playing in the same 4A tournaments.

"We had a really good result at the 'Old School' tournament hosted by Strathcona Christian Academy, finishing fourth, losing a tight game against St. Albert Catholic High School, one of the Top Three teams in the province," he said.

Nanninga added that the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association (ASAA) ranked the BCHS Gryphons tenth following the tournament.

"We will probably slip a bit in the rankings after coming out of our home tournament, but we are definitely near the Top 10 ranked 3A schools in the province and have a chance to contend in any tournament, including zones," he said.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com