Boy’s “AA” OFFSA Volleyball 2005

At this point in my life, I would say that my OFFSA experience in Ingersal Ontario was probably the memorable I’ve have. At the beginning of the season it seemed like we were so far away from achieving something so great, but as the season continued it seemed more a more reachable as our team grew better together as first players and now people. I’ll never forget our trip down to Ingersal, we flew from out of Winnipeg one way to London, about 15 minutes from Ingersal. We left Winnipeg at about 10am, November 24^th 2005, we were supposed to land in London at 1pm. Around 1pm we approached London airport and there was a big snow storm, so we were unable to land and they flew us into Toronto. When we landed in Toronto they told us we were gonna go back and try to land again, and if we couldn’t then we’d fly back to Winnipeg! There was no way we wanted to do after working so hard to make it to OFSAA, to just skip it. So first they made us sit in the Toronto airport for about an hour then get on a bus from the for a 2 hour ride to Ingersal. It was probably one of the longest traveling day’s I’ve spent. Once we arrived in Ingersal we were last team to arrive and late for dinner and the banquet. In some way’s I think it was made to happen that way though. We made a fashionable entrance, just in time as dinner started and now everyone knew who the Dryden Eagles were.

The next day the tournament started and we began playing a school called George S. Henry. We ended up beating them two straight sets and they seemed shocked. Before the tournament started we were ranked 10^th of 20 teams, and now we just beat the 2^nd best team in our pool. We continued our win streak too the end of that day we played I think the toughest game of the year against a Penetang. The were 2^nd ranked in the tournament. It such an amazing game, I can still imagine the second last point in my mind when Mike Hanson jumped up and had this huge block on this guy. With that win we were first in our pool. The very next day we started the playoff’s, we had tough battles against Stratford, and Ernestown but came out victorious in both matches being the better team. In the finals we faced a school called Essex. Even before the game I remember sitting in the hotel and thinking, wow we made in to the OFSAA finals, and I just couldn’t believe it, and I know we didn’t make it this far to lose. It was best of five sets and we got pounded the first set, we came back and won both the second and third set. But it wasn’t over yet. Essex won the fourth set so it went to the final 5^th first team to 15 points. I’ll never forget looking up at the scoreboard, 13-10 for us and it actually started to sink in, we might win OFFSA and be the best volleyball team in Ontario. After the last ball landed on their side of the court the whole gym just went crazy, it was like we were back home here in our home gym. Just the look on our player’s faces could explain how happy we were to win and how hard we had worked to get there. But the thing is, our team way was more diverse and had way more character than any other team there. Everyone brought something different to the team and without one person I think we would have been lost. The one person you can thank the most though is our coach Mr. Desautles, no one pushed us harder as season, mentally and physically to the full extent in which we could be. You can’t really explain our season much better than what our team shirts say “Building-Character, Success, Champions” That right there is our season in a nutshell. I’ll never forget my season as a 2005 Eagles Boy’s Volleyball Champion, our record of 18-0 can never be beaten, only tied. As Mr.Desautles always taught our team, this experience with OFFSA is just one accomplishment in our lives, life is measured in the number accomplishments throughout life, and winning this championship is just one small piece in my life that all adds up to making me a better person.

Erick Tanner