The Southeast Vipers girls volleyball program has been giving talented young female athletes a chance to compete and even thrive in the sport.
The Vipers practise out of Arcola School. An under-15 (15U) team meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the under-17 (17U) squad practises Mondays and Wednesdays.
“The Vipers volleyball club has been in existence for about eight years, and we have run pretty much exclusively women’s teams,” said coach Eugene Brown.
Brown is involved with both teams. He serves as the head coach of the 15U team and an assistant coach with the 17U team. He said both squads are coming off of strong seasons, and already enjoying success this season.
The 15U team just competed at an under-16 tournament in Oxbow, where they reached the semifinals, even though they were competing against teams a year older than them.
They are now getting ready for a 16U tournament in Yorkton.
“The reason that I’ve gone with the 16U tournaments with our younger team is they’re a high-quality team. They’re a very competitive team, with a lot of really good volleyball players on it,” said Brown.
Last year when they competed in under-14 tournaments against players their own age, they often won in lopsided fashion.
“We’ve decided to compete up every opportunity we get,” he said.
Their first Sask. Cup tournament, which is a qualifier for provincials, will be in a couple of weeks.
Last year they finished fourth in the province, losing in three sets in the semifinals to a team from Saskatoon that went on to win the provincial title. They hope to surpass the results from a year ago.
“We’re thinking that we’re probably a stronger team this year,” said Brown.
The U17 team competed at a Sask. Cup tournament in Saskatoon and Warman recently, and they wound up winning gold in Tier 3. They also won gold in Tier 3 at the provincial final last year.
“We actually lost a few key players from last year, so for them to defend that gold medal was a pretty solid performance,” he said.
It was also their first competition of the season.
“We will expect to get better as the season goes on.”
They believe they could be competing in Tier 2 this year.
The players for both teams are crazy for the sport, he said. Both teams can’t wait for practice and games, and Brown said they’re easy to motivate, regardless of the situation.
