Let’s take it back to December 2009, my grade 12 year: Unrecruited, rejected from a few Universities and not too confident about my future with volleyball moving forward. An article from The Province came out: a list of the 15 top volleyball recruits in ranked order. 

I was ranked 15th. 

For a split second, I was grateful to have made the list. A second later, I felt as though I was overlooked once again. Kept a copy of the list and kept the link on my phone a year later. More fuel to the fire. I still have a screenshot of that list on my phone.

September 2015: applied to our national team’s Full-Time Training Centre, waited all summer for the acceptance email that never came. 1 week before the training season started, I got an email at 2am telling me that I was accepted into the centre.

Once again, I was last on the list. 

It didn’t matter, I was grateful it came through and the choice was made to fly life across the country within a week’s notice to keep the Volley career going. 

December 2017: following a successful summer season with the Senior B Team, I failed to find a contract overseas. 9 months of being active on the market led to zero teams overseas interested in signing me. 3 months into the professional season, Chris Voth sends me a facebook message saying that his team was looking for a Libero. I played my first professional match a week later. 

In this case…I wasn’t even on the list for every team in Europe. 

Being at the bottom of the list gave me everything I could have ever asked for:

• the push to keep going until the end
• 3 seasons in the CCAA, 2 in CIS
• Bronze with the Senior B Team
• 3 Seasons in Finland, France and Germany

and that’s just covering the Volleyball side of things. I’ll definitely miss the game, and the countless other things that come with being a Volleyball player, but I couldn’t be more proud of the career I’ve put together. If you’re in it for the right reasons, you’ll know when the right time to move on is. 

Thanks for sticking around! Hope you’re at the bottom of the list at some point (I mean this in the most positive way possible!), and good luck with whatever you’re gunning for!

Wait!

I originally intended for this piece to be a goodbye/thank you letter to Volleyball, and it wouldn’t be right to end it without giving thanks to the following people:

• my Wife, whom I wouldn’t have met without Volleyball
• My parents who gave me every opportunity to become a Volleyball player growing up
• All the coaches I’ve ever had, who always took the time to help me grow as a player and mort importantly…human being.
• All the teammates I’ve had along this journey. Some are my closest friends to this day, but I also hope I cross paths with every single one of them at some point in the future

and

• Volleyball. Thanks for the last 9 years. It’s been a great run, you’ve given me more than I could ever ask for, but now it’s time to move on!

​
Thanks again for taking the time to read this!
See you on the court a long time from now,
Jordan

A lot of soul searching and asking big questions throughout my fourth year at McMaster, I eventually landed on coaching as my answer to the repetitive “What do you want to do after school?” inquiry by family and friends. It’s like a lightbulb went off in my head that screamed “DUH!” at me upon coming to this conclusion. But given my training and school schedule, how the heck was I going to start working toward my goals?! Sure, some of my classes could help me out later down the road as a coach, like knowing different sports injuries, how to create yearly training plans for strength and conditioning and understanding some sport psychology theories but these were almost all science related and coaching is an art that takes many years to develop and get good at. Like any athlete I know, I want to be the best and follow in the footsteps of the many amazing female head coaches ahead of me, so I found myself dedicating the rest of my summers during my undergrad to coaching and gaining as much art of coaching-related knowledge as I could. ​

But along the way, I’ve learned so much more than just coaching. I’ve learned so many things about myself as an athlete - what type of coaches and feedback do I best respond to, how I prefer to learn a new skill, what are the qualities I respect in my favourite coaches? I’ve also learned how to be a better teammate. From all of the books I’ve read and coaches I’ve worked with I’ve been able to learn how to work with a variety of personalities different than mine, how to find the best qualities in others and how to get my teammates to buy in to what I’m selling. Operating as a coaching student-athlete has allowed me to see the game through more than just the athlete lens and finally understand some coaching decisions made on the teams I’ve played with or coached for. I’ve truly learned the importance of statistics in decision making, how the double substitution is not the worst thing in the world when used tactically and just how confusing it can be to try to get the right matchups in the front row. 

​Although the pursuit of the dream was always the core motivator for sacrificing my summers off, coaching has made me a better person, athlete and teammate. If you haven’t already tried coaching a camp or two, I would highly recommend it. You just may learn a thing or two about a sport you’ve played your whole life!

​Beep! Beep! Beep!
Amidst a spirited dream, I am awoken by the incessant sound of my alarm blaring next to my ear. It is 6:30am and yet again, I am feeling both tired and unenthused, wishing for a few extra minutes of rest. Contrary to my desire for sleep, I decide to click my alarm off and thereby commit to my day as a NCAA volleyball player. I saunter out of bed, ensuring that I do not awaken my two roommates sleeping a few feet away from me. I change my clothes, brush my teeth and head out the door towards my first task of the day. Unlike most university students, I have to wake up at 6:30am, rather than go to sleep at this time. As one can imagine, my morning walk by the lounge features the sight of my friends face-planted in their caffeinated energy drinks or passed out on the keyboards of their laptops. A simple reminder of a Stanford students' arduous lifestyle. 
Due to this ungodly hour of awakening, breakfast is not yet open, so I consume the only available nourishment around – a cup of coffee and a lone banana. By 7am, I head to my bike to begin my trek towards the locker room. The bike ride takes about 10-12 minutes but is endured shortly as I am accompanied by the rising sun and Californian palm trees, which together, help cure my prolonged lassitude. By the time I enter the locker room, it is around 7:20am. I quickly change into my volleyball attire and walk over to the weight room. Inside this clinically bare room lies an amalgam of football players, wrestlers and swimmers who have already begun their morning workouts at 6:45am. I instead head to the corner to begin foam roll-out and activation warmup with my team. By 7:50am, we begin our weights workout. We complete the workout as a team and head back to the locker room by 9am. At this time, I quickly shower, grab a protein shake from the food stand and head to my first class. On a typical day, I have class beginning at 9:30am and ending at 3:20pm with a brief, hour long lunch break at 11:30am.
Once my last class is completed, I bike over to the locker room to prepare for practice. Often joined by a few teammates, I get changed into my volleyball gear and walk over to the practice gym to help set up the nets. Practice begins around 4:30pm and runs non-stop until 7:30pm. This may seem quite lofty, practicing 3 hours a day (especially to younger athletes), but trust me, once you get into the rhythm of it, the time seems to fly. After the nets are torn down, the team discussion is complete and the roll-out is finished, I walk back to the locker room to shower. Quickly after, I head back to my residence to eat dinner. I eat around 8pm alongside a few of my friends, or if I am alone, I skim through a few news articles to occupy the apparent loneliness.
Once my appetite is filled, I commence the student grind. If I have a lot of work, I will go to the campus library to ensure peace and quiet for my focused efforts. Otherwise, I will begin work in the residence lounge, taking infrequent breaks to talk to friends who are studying with me. I normally finish all the work I had planned to do by 1am – 1:30am. By now, I am completely exhausted and I immediately crash into my room to get as much sleep as possible. I fall asleep finally, only to be awaken by the sound of my alarm. Beep! Beep! Beep! And thus, the day is anew. 

As one can imagine from my day-in-the-life, being a student-athlete is as it says: A student and an athlete. Although I heard this ubiquitous phrase before, I had never quite grasped what it truly meant. Upon my arrival to university, I thought that I would have time to balance volleyball, school and social life fairly evenly. However, if you are like me, striving to conquer the athletic and academic fields alike, then the time devoted to volleyball and schoolwork increases while the time allocated for social experiences significantly decreases. My coach likes to say that “volleyball and schoolwork should occupy 80% of your time here. The other 20% is up to you”. This lack of social activity was a manageable concession for me, as I was willing to forfeit some social time in order to maintain my desired grades and volleyball quality. But I know for many of my teammates, this was a necessary sacrifice, despite the fact that many of them enjoy the social aspect of university.
Playing at Stanford has also exposed a new meaning on the title of ‘student-athlete’. Through my time here, I have learned that being a student-athlete for such a reputable school is not just a name afforded to those playing a sport while fulfilling an education. It instead represents a responsibility. It is a responsibility bestowed upon a small, but highly influential portion of the university community that emulate the best standards a university has to offer. This means that they are expected to strive in the classroom while on the court; they are expected to be active members of the community by helping and supporting all who seek it; and most importantly, student-athletes are expected to display qualities of respect, humility and kindness to ensure that the university is well-represented. Thus, being a student-athlete is not only a privilege that affects oneself, but it is an honor that reflects the university as a whole.

​Prior to my arrival at Stanford, I was frightened by the profound rumor about how NCAA coaches treat their athletes. I heard that coaches saw players as an athlete first and a student second, implying that coaches did not care about a student’s academic aspirations at all. With this, I believed that my coach would prevent me from enrolling in specific courses as the work load may not be compatible with his volleyball schedule. However, in these past months, I have seen that this is not true. My coach, in particular, encourages me in my academic ambitions as well as my athletic ones. He often asks how school is, what classes I am taking and what engineering discipline I am interested pursuing. He shows an immense amount of care in how I am doing academically and pushes me to take classes that I find intriguing. He not only is content with my academic schedule but is an advocate for the belief that the student comes first and the athlete second.
For me, I knew before attending Stanford that my coach held this position about athletics and academics. I was glad that this held true when I arrived here. However, for many other athletes that I have attended U.S. schools in the past, I know that they have not had the same experience. Thus, a simple reminder for younger athletes interested in playing volleyball in college, specifically in the states, is that I encourage you to get to know your potential coaches before deciding on a university. It may seem superfluous, but I can attest that it is highly necessary, given that you want to enjoy volleyball along while pursuing an education. Having a coach that shares similar ideals about school and volleyball not only makes the university experience more enjoyable, but it also sets up the trajectory for your future volleyball/academic goals.

1. THE COMPETITION WITHIN THE TEAM

On a typical university team, there are approximately 18-20 players. And yet, only 7 get to play. Unlike what most people experience on club teams where they immediately start, the university landscape is much different. One day you may find yourself playing on the starting lineup, when the next day you may not. This is the reality of a university team. Each player is desperately fighting for playing time and only those who can keep consistent play throughout the season are considered for a starting position.
What I have learned in my first quarter at Stanford is that no matter how I perform in a given practice, drill or game, I always have to come back the next day focused and prepared. The best thing one can do for themselves is to forget the past and prepare for the future. Believe me, there have been times where I have performed incredibly poorly. But at the same time, there are some instances where I have performed well, proving myself to be a formidable competitor at the collegiate level. Ultimately, I try to remember those better performances – remember how I felt and how others felt when they were playing with me. By focusing on these better performances, I approach practice with the mindset that I belong on the starting lineup. And during practice, I play as hard as I can to prove that I deserve to be there.

2. THE RIGOROUS ACADEMIC TRANSITION

Looking at my day-in-the-life, one can assume that the transition from high school to college is an enormous jump. And to be quite honest, it is. This transition not only marks the change from adolescence to adulthood, but it also marks the change from high school academics to university academics.
One adjustment that I quickly had to get used to, was the intensity of academics. The major difference I have found in continuing my education at Stanford versus that of my high school, is that university academics requires numerous amounts of time. In high school, it may be very easy to study the for a test the morning of or complete a paper the night before and still end up with a desirable grade. I can assure you, however, this is not the case for university. Early on, I learned that assignments, papers and study materials must be started early in order to finish in time, let alone get a solid grade. Thankfully, I found myself to be ahead of the game for most of my course work to ensure that completion was followed. However, I know that many of my friends made this illuminating discovery much later, thereby costing themselves their lower-than-preferred final grade. Ultimately, the best advice I can give to ensure that work is completed on time, all the while balancing volleyball and school, is to do as much as you can in as little time as possible. It is easy to look at a massive paper, project and test, and think that you can start it when you have enough time to complete it, but this is not the case. With all the volleyball practices, games and weight training going on, it is tough to ever find time to thoroughly complete something so difficult. So instead, complete a little each day, and when the due date is near, then devote more time into finishing the project/paper and the final product will be of much higher quality. In doing this, school will not only feel less stressful, but volleyball will as well. It will be much easier to focus in practice and games when the worries of school are kept to a minimum.

3. TO ENDURE THE CHALLENGE IS TO REFRAME IT

There is always that time when the combination of school, volleyball and so many other things begins to pile up causing anxiety and stress to rise. Classes can often be very demanding, taxing, and at times, suffocating. Volleyball can seem like a mindless pursuit, lifting weights and competing against teammates on less than 6 hours of sleep. Not to mention the other stresses that circulate one’s mind, whether it be homesickness, mental health, or several others. It is easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the world, and to say, “I give up”, when everything seems so bleak. Believe me, there has been many a day where I have felt this. But rather than wallowing in the difficultly of it all, I constantly remind myself to embrace the challenge.
In fact, we have a word on our team that reflects the embracing of challenges and allows us to look at these challenges in a constructive light. That word is ‘reframe’. The word ‘reframe’ reminds us to look at a situation that seems utterly dire and force ourselves to look at the positives. For example, and I don’t admit this easily, but on the first day of weights workout, we had to test our distance on this machine called VERSA. I won’t get into the details of operation, but after being tested on this machine, I immediately ran outside and vomited, all while my team and strength coaches were watching. It could have been easy for me to give up shamefully and make excuses for the rest of the workout, explaining that I felt sick and tired. But instead, guided by the ‘reframe’ method, I decided to walk back into that weight room, head held high and say “well, I guess it can only go up from here”. My team warmly embraced my optimistic attitude and I completed the workout dutifully. During my time here, there has been many times where I have struggled to tread, while others effortlessly float on by. And although giving up seems like a much simpler option, I choose to reframe. Rather than looking at challenges as shortcomings in one’s ability to excel, I instead embrace these challenges for what they offer – lessons. Lessons that have been products of the reframe method, have allowed me to develop as an athlete through physical and mental improvement. They have allowed me to grow as a person, by overcoming my discomforts and dealing with my adversities. And most importantly, these lessons have reminded me to be grateful for this unique opportunity I have been given and to never forget how lucky I am to be a Stanford student-athlete. 

​It was a few days after New Years in 2015, at the start of practice in Athens, with Panathinaikos Volleyball Club. Sport in Greece involves a ton of passion and usually an incredibly wild fan base. Panathinaikos had several elite sports and is still one of the largest sport clubs in Greece with over 1 million supporters. I had just returned from a fantastic trip north to Bulgaria, to visit the Queen’s University Men’s Volleyball Team - they were there training before a Bulgarian tournament. I returned ‘home’ to Athens on January 2nd to rejoin my club for practice the next day.
We were rested and ready to fight through the second half of the season. We had an exciting grudge match coming up on home court, against rival club Panachaiki. At the time, Panachaiki was the home of Canadians Steve Gotch and Steve Brinkman, and matches with them were always exciting (for a variety of reasons – the last match broke out into a fistfight between our supporters and theirs, a common practice in the Greek Volley League). Our new coach, Coach K, was just about to start his pre-practice meeting in Greek, which would be translated by a teammate for myself, Jared Moore (American roommate, fellow Middle Blocker), and Danijel Galic (Croatian international Outside Hitter). Just as coach was about to begin, members of our fan club arrived for an unannounced visit.
They came about 40 strong, many holding their motorcycle helmets, and walked right across our court to join our pre-practice meeting. Their ‘leader’ spoke to us as a group for about 3 minutes in Greek, and to this day I have not gotten a full translation of what he said. However, it was very serious, and all the Greek players and staff listened intently. When he was finished, the fan club departed, Coach K finished his meeting and we began practice. I asked our team captain “What was that all about?”, to which he said their message was simple: “We’ll be at this next game – Win… Or else.”

Strong words! However, with such a passionate club we had become used to a love/hate relationship from the fans. You see… we were 0-11. 11 straight losses to start the season, far and away the worst start for the club in it’s 105-year history. Our first coach had already resigned, one of our American teammates was let go to bring in Danny, our athletic therapist was let go and replaced, and an avalanche of negativity was crushing the athletes from all sides. Matches would finish with fans screaming and cursing us, and through the losing streak, our coach (before resignation) felt as though the only response was to push for longer, harder practices. We would practice from 9am-12pm, and then again from 4pm-7pm, every day. Two of those days per week, we also had workouts, and with an older team (I was one of the four youngest at 24 years old), we were breaking down on all fronts. After one poor morning serve/receive practice, our coach stormed out, calling us an “embarrassment to the sport”, and recommended we “try chess instead”.
An article was released in the Greek media that Panathinaikos was aggressively pursuing a Greek middle blocker, in order to free up a foreigner spot. Only 3 non-Greek players were allowed on the floor at a time, and with both Jared and I as internationals, the only way to add muscle with a high-scoring Opposite was to cut one of us and replace us with a Greek player. I had started the season well, however while fighting back from an ankle injury, I was under-performing and was certainly the one on the chopping block.

​Then, the most peculiar thing happened: We started winning. It started with a convincing 3-1 victory over Panachaiki, followed by a win on the road against Canadian setter Jared Krause’s Pamvochaikos, and by March, we were on a six-game winning streak, and a team that nobody wanted to play. Personally, I was rounded well into form, picking up a few match MVPs along the way, and long-forgotten were the dark days of our losing streak. We finished the season going 8-3 in the second half, achieved the team’s goal of staying in the A1 top league, and I departed Greece with amazing memories and invaluable lessons learned about myself as an athlete and as a person.
So many incredible anecdotes, stories and experiences have come from this season, but rather than turn this tale into a pure walk down memory lane, I’d like to focus on the depth of depths, in the deepest of athletic slumps. I look back on this time and grin, enjoying the resiliency and perseverance its lessons have taught me. Every day I knew that our morning practice might be my last. Every fibre in my body was screaming for a day of rest, but the last thing I could do was ease up and relax. At 24, I was seven time zones away from family and friends, and far removed from the last good performance. The media and many fans believed my release might be the solution - how does one possibly walk into practice and matches and stay professional? The answer is, because it’s your job, and this pressure is exactly what you signed up for.
Once you cross the threshold into the professional world for anything, you sign many contracts. Some are on paper, with legally-binding terms and constructs in place to protect and indemnify both sides. Some are verbal, with all those that have interests in your success (family, friends, past/present coaches). And some are without stamps or seals and are not legally binding, but commit you to living, giving and doing whatever will leave you proud when the job is done. I would say to myself “If you are going to fire me tomorrow, then today is still a day where I wake up a professional athlete. I owe it to myself above all to hold up my end of the bargain.” Pay for play, pay for performance – sometimes it’s a fun job, but professional volleyball is a job. Every job has its down days.

​Most athletes will focus on fixing technical and tactical issues in hopes of breaking the slump. Realistically, you will probably not make significant technical progress during a slump. To try new things technically, you need to be confident enough to try, fail and then try again. When you are slumping, confidence is at an all time low, and you need to build that back up first to get back to our even-keel level. Rebuild the base, then look to improve – you’re still growing from the experience and lessons learned, so this certainly not time wasted.
This list includes some of my tips to follow when trying to break out of a slump (many apply to other sports, school and the working world too!) :

1. Be patient - if you are doing everything you possibly can and still are not getting the results, relax. Slumps are impossible to completely avoid, you just want to break out of them as quickly as possible.
2. If you don’t like the result you are getting, change something. Sometimes it’s small, like shaving your beard or going to bed earlier. Remember what got you to where you are, and try the small shifts before re-inventing the wheel
3. Outside of practice/work/whatever is slumping, develop the other parts of your life. Go out with your friends, read books, write journals and do all the other things that you love to do. The better you are developed as a person (outside of sport), the less that slump will weigh you down!
4. Speak to your teammates. Sometimes, we’re so caught up in our own slump, that we fail to recognize that others are slumping too – sometimes, the whole team is down. If the team is down, then the team needs to be brought back up, and you are all stronger together.
5. Talk to your coaches. They might have insight that will help. They also might have nothing that will help, but by speaking to them, they’ll know that you are working through things and committed to breaking out!
6. Remind yourself why you play and what you love about the game. If all the areas you love is the area that is slumping, then it’s a good time to figure out what else you love – do you really ‘love’ your float serve and its technical execution? Or do you love the chaos your float serve can cause, and your ability to contribute to a team using that weapon to achieve an advantage?

Neither our highs nor lows in sport define who we are as people, athletes, friends & family members. Slumps are great opportunities to solve problems and learn new things about how you respond to adversity. Embrace it, welcome it, and look forward to that amazing feeling of breaking out. You’ll get there – until then, try chess instead.

​I knew that coming to live in a different province and leading a completely different
lifestyle was going to be a huge challenge, but it would be a challenge that has a giant payoff in
the long term. Most people go into their post-secondary career never having spent much time
away from home, and that statement is completely true for myself. I’ve always had the guidance
of my parents and I was excited to live on my own to see just how self-dependent I could be.
Living on my own requires me to get myself to practice on my own every day, prepare
nutritious meals for myself, keep my living space clean, and build new habits for myself that
enable me to live the lifestyle of a high performance athlete. Previously, my parents would do
most of this for me, and as nice as it seems in the moment, it made me too dependent upon
them. It has truly been an eye opening experience to live by myself and to do some of the things
on my own that I have taken for granted for so many years.
If I could offer my advice to young volleyball athletes, it would be to start being more
dependent on yourself at a younger age. By no means do you have to start cooking meals for
yourself every single day, you’re still a kid. I advise taking small steps that will ultimately have a
long term payoff. Prepare your own meals before a tournament, learn to cook from your parents,
maybe even start to do your own laundry if you don’t do so already. I suggest taking these small
steps so that when you do get to the point in your life where you are living on your own, you will
not feel the pressure of not knowing how to take care of yourself.
This has been an invaluable lesson to me, and it has helped me grow as a person
because I’m taking responsibility for my own high performance lifestyle.

​Warming up before practice was something I took very seriously during my years of club
volleyball. I made sure I was activated and ready to play at all times, and would show up extra
early to practice to ensure that I achieved this goal. However, I did not take the cool-down as
seriously. After practice I would put on my sweatpants and walk right out of the gym.
The combination of warming up and cooling down properly is what provides an athlete
with the longevity of their career. An athlete that does not warm up or cool down properly is at a
higher risk of getting injured and breaking down early on in their careers, which does not provide
a promising athletic career.
Every day, my teammates and I show up to the gym twenty minutes before practice
starts to do our ‘individual protocol’. This is very personalized and allows us to work on areas
that are extra sore, need more activation, or are weaker than others. My protocol consists of
foam rolling my legs, rolling my shoulders and back with a lacrosse ball, planks for core
activation, along with eccentric squats and band walks. This protocol works well for me, but it
may not work well for everyone. Luckily, younger volleyball athletes have wide access to
different strength coaches who are looking to help you improve. Having an effective protocol
that you are committed to will certainly prolong your career, so be sure to use the resources you
have available to you.

After our protocols, we warm up with various dynamic stretches and get into pepper for
about 10 minutes and then we start to train. At the end of practice, I take about 15-20 minutes to
effectively cool down by rolling out and stretching my shoulders and hips.
Playing volleyball gives me so much enjoyment, so I do everything in my power to be
fully prepared for each practice through my warm up and cool down. I would recommend that all
athletes take this much more seriously because this is the foundation of a long and injury-free
volleyball career. Instead of messing around on court before practice, take those extra 5-10
minutes and get activated. When you’re watching TV or Netflix, take out your foam roller and be
productive as you kick back for a bit.
I have been very fortunate to not have sustained any major injuries, and while it isn’t
always in our control, it is vital that we do our best to prevent injury as best we can to enjoy our
volleyball careers and to lead happy and healthy lifestyles after volleyball.

​One of the amazing things that I have learned at the NEP is the difference between
being a learner and being a performer. In order to be a high performance athlete, you need to
be able to do both, however, the timing is what needs to be taken note of.
In our morning trainings, we do a lot of skill work, whereas, in the afternoons we do a lot
of 6 on 6 gameplay. Our coach, Dan Lewis, constantly reminds us to be in learner mode in the
morning and to be in performer mode in the afternoon. Essentially, what this means is that when
we are doing our skill work in the morning, we should not be too focused about the results we
produce. Most times we are trying a brand new tactic or an adjustment to a skill that we want to
execute in game, so we are not expected to be perfect immediately. Being in learner mode
allows us to actively think about the skill we are executing by thinking about the small details
that our coach will point out. For example, if we are working on reception with our hands we
need to actively be thinking about attacking the ball, squaring up to the target, and getting low to
give the ball lift.
This is quite contrary to being in performer mode because performer mode is about
executing the skills we have developed through learner mode. It’s not about overthinking the
small details, but rather, being competitive with teammates and trusting that the skills we’ve
developed in learner mode will lead to our success.
Thus, there is a big emphasis on learner mode because it shapes the way you perform.
You can’t develop new skills and perform new tactics if you don’t train your mind to analyze
things in practice.
One common fault I find with people is that they mix the two modes up very frequently,
and I think it is an important lesson to learn. When we find ourselves in a practice situation, we
don’t want to make errors because we feel embarrassed by them. Therefore, when we train, we
focus too much on the results instead of focusing on getting better at executing on the skill at
hand. Also, when we find that things aren’t going well in a game situation, we look internally and
begin to break down all the skills during competition as if we’re in learner mode. The mind
cannot focus on that much at a time. When you compete, you need to compete and not focus
on the small skills you should have been focusing on in learner mode.
This has been one of the most important lessons I’ve learned at the NEP because in
club volleyball I did not distinguish between learning and competition. Only now do I realize the
importance of focusing your mind to the task at hand, be that learning or competing.

​We are lucky as a group to be able to work with an amazing mental performance coach
named Kyle Paquette. Every Tuesday morning we spend about an hour and a half in a group
discussion with Kyle about what makes a great performer and how to train our minds.
The material we learn is very relatable and it is enjoyable to partake in our group
discussions as we pursue the mastery of the mental side of the sport.
Two practices that I’ve started as a result of learning from Kyle and wanting to be a
better mental performer are journalling and meditation. These are two habits I’ve created here
that help me achieve my goals as a high performance athlete and will carry on as important
tools for the rest of my life.
Journalling is very open-ended in regards to what you want to write about, and that’s the
beauty of it. You can write about your practices, your food intake, a daily bite of knowledge… the
list goes on! I journal 2 times a day, one before the morning session to set my goals and one
before bed to reflect on how I went about my day. I think it is a very powerful tool that athletes
should start to use because if you start journaling now, it will be cool to look down the road in a
few short years to see how far you have come as an athlete, a student, and a person.
Meditating has a certain stereotype around it - legs crossed in an upright seated position
with the palms facing upwards while gently muttering, “Ohmmm”. Meditating is completely
different, and is has been widely researched over the past decade proving that it helps enhance
athletic performance. Meditating is nothing other than sitting up in your bed, being present with
your thoughts, and filtering thoughts as needed. I meditate after I journal every day (so twice a
day), and for guidance I use the Headspace app that can be found on your phone. It is such a
great guide through meditation because it tells you what to focus on and how you should be
feeling.
Any athlete that is ready to take their game to the next level needs to start journalling
and meditating. The mental side of the game is just as important as the physical side of the
game, so by starting to train the mind at a younger age, the payoff will be enormous in your
volleyball career.

Putting on a Team Canada jersey is something that I’ve dreamed of ever since I started
playing volleyball. This opportunity has been a dream come true for me because I get to play
the sport I love every day. When you find your passion, working hard for a goal doesn’t seem
like a job.
One thing I never realized is how lucky I was to wear my own club team jersey and I truly
hope that all athletes realize how blessed they are to be able to put that jersey on and compete.
Remember to be grateful for where you are currently, and never stop working towards
your goals because anything can be achieved with persistent hard work!

Looking back on the last decade of my life, I can’t help but get emotional.  In April, after my Polish volleyball season had ended, I announced that I would not return to playing.  When I made this public, I was full of excitement - I couldn’t wait to spend more time with family, coach all summer and after six years return to the classroom to pursue new goals.  I had always been aware of what a fortunate position I had as a working professional athlete, but I find looking back, that even being aware of my good fortune I had begun to take my life for granted.  Here are some of the things I wish I could experience one last time:

One of the most beautiful experiences I had overseas had nothing to do with volleyball.  With quite a bit of spare time I was still unable to leave my city due to limited time between games.  Because of this, I spent many days wandering strange streets alone.  When I live in Canada, I rarely walk to just walk.  Most of the time when we leave our homes, it is with a specific destination in mind that we usually jump into our cars to get to.  In Europe I spent more time wandering, purposefully getting lost in streets that were foreign to me. The beauty of wandering on foot is that the strange streets quickly become welcoming after a few weeks.  A strange place starts feeling like your home and sooner than expected you start referring to a new city as yours.  It is such a magical experience when a city on the other side of the ocean becomes a place of comfort.  If I could, I would like to experience the feeling of a foreign city becoming home one last time.

Nothing beats the feeling you get as an athlete when walking into a big game.  For me, my body felt lighter, my vision cleared, and my heart filled so much that I could feel it in my throat.  Volleyball was more than a hobby for me, as many others can attest to, it was a passion.  It was what made me tick and for those few hours that I went to battle against another team, nothing else mattered.  This feeling is something few people get the opportunity to experience. So, if you are still playing soak up every, single, last electrifying moment until you can’t stand it any more.

​Who am I kidding?  Everyone who has experienced a 13-hour bus trip knows how terrible it can be.  Cramped legs, 5am arrivals home and no cell reception on dark back roads.  But, if I could, I’d like one more chance to road trip with my teams.  There is something so magical about those late-night drives home after a game when everyone is playing cards or just talking about anything that comes to mind.  If I had the chance I wouldn’t sleep the whole way but sit awake soaking in the buzz of my teammates around me.  I’d wait until the whole bus settled into a comfortable silence with the glow of my coach’s laptop preparing for out next match.  There is so much beauty in being one of 30 people all sleeping uncomfortably on a bus.  It is an intimate experience learning that one teammate snores, one still sleeps with her childhood teddy bear and another needs to talk to her husband before falling asleep.  It is an intimacy that I will never know again, and I miss terribly.

I’ve never been a girl’s girl, but through volleyball I found so many sisters.  In a world where women tear others down because of perceived competition, it is a beautiful thing to work on a big team of like minded women. It’s something that simply doesn’t happen in the “real world.”  I was so fortunate to have connected with strong, confident women who have shaped who I am post volleyball.  I experienced women lifting me up, encouraging me, comforting me and most powerful of all losing with me.  In my time abroad, I didn’t win or lose alone.  I experienced what it felt like to play for the woman next to me or the teammate cheering from the bench.  If I pass this feeling and attitude onto teams I coach or future children, the world would be a much better place. If you’re still playing be a cheerer, lift up your teammates, and be the teammate that everyone can look to and know you are fighting with them.

​It is difficult to articulate what it felt like to play as a professional.  I was able to live “the dream” and while there are always painful moments, I would do it all over again.  The gift of living abroad, creating relationships with people you would never meet otherwise is such a blessing.  The above list is 4 things I’ll miss of the hundreds that I think about every day.  I am happy to have a new challenge, but my experiences on and off the court as a professional athlete are irreplaceable and have made me who I am today.

Hello Momentum world, Aleks Arsovic here! Former McMaster Marauder from Burlington, Ontario, in Switzerland for my first season abroad. I got lucky enough to sign my first professional contract in the most beautiful country on the planet - no bias, where I am playing for VBC Cheseaux in the NLA here in Switzerland. ​

​My road here has been pretty generic as a volleyball player in Canada, but has had some interesting twists and turns to it. I started playing volleyball when I was 11 years old, for the Halton Region Volleyball Club based out of my home town.
I made my way up the club volleyball ladder and finished my 18u year with an OVA championship gold with Lakeside Volleyball Club (shoutout to my Lakeside family who will literally be family for life). Throughout my high school years, I really focused a lot on beach volleyball, and thought that was my calling (Fun fact - in my 18u year I won both indoor and beach provincial titles). 

Thanks for taking the time to read my lengthly blurb, and good luck to everyone and their upcoming seasons! I would love to hear all about it. If you want to follow me throughout the year - keep up to date with VBC Cheseaux, I am #5! ​