Volleyball is a spectator sport, easily one of the most intense and most entertaining.
Last Thursday at Eric Hamber secondary school on Oak Street, a packed house of 150 people gasped, cheered and squealed, their reactions serving as play-by-play commentary.
"It's not over 'til it's over," said Liz Eisner, the teacher sponsor for the senior boys team at David Thompson. "The score can be 23-23 and you don't quit on any point until the last point when the ball hits the floor and the bodies are everywhere."
Eisner watched the city championship from courtside, admitting a bias for the Hamber Griffins, the coach of which she had previously coached herself.
Volleyball throughout Metro Vancouver is highly social and very interconnected. Phenomenally so, she said.
"You see it, big time, with the kids' involvement with club. You have an unbelievable connection between the athletes from school to school to school as they play with each other through club. They know each other and they respect each other. The kids all know who's who and who plays what and who's unbelievable and they give each other due credit."
Coaches as well as athletes cross over between the fall school volleyball season and club, which runs in the winter and spring. Club coaches also maintain connections with postsecondary programs.
Hamber, along with three East Side high schools were ranked in the boys AAA provincial top 10 or noted as an honourable mention this season; four competed this week at the provincial qualifier in Richmond. Van Tech was ranked No. 3 early in the season.
Club teams have a far-reaching positive influence.
Apex Volleyball club is the city's largest. Club president Ken Li was a well-respected coach at Van Tech, and Chanh Vuong, the club's vicepresident, coaches at Killarney. At the Vancouver Volleyball Club, Tim Tsui is an assistant coach at Douglas College, and Doug Reimer, the University of B.C. head coach for one of Canada's most successful women's varsity volleyball programs, is the technical director at Thunder Volleyball.
When Thunder formed in 2000, the founders were motivated to make volleyball competitive across Vancouver, not just on the East Side where volleyball programs were developing talent and supporting school teams.
"There was no club on the West Side. A lot of Vancouver schools, because they didn't have any volleyball club, struggle to compete," he said, noting the first driving factor to start Thunder. "The second was the connection we can have with UBC to try and have a positive influence on the growth and development in the community."
Reimer pointed to half a dozen former Thunder players who have or currently compete for the UBC Tbirds, a four-time consecutive national university champion team.
Thunder player Kenzie MacDonald graduates this year from Point Grey secondary and will commit to a varsity program by the end of December.
"When I was younger, those clubs weren't around. They've definitely improved the quality because before there weren't as many teams and not as many opportunities to develop," she said.
Thunder isn't deliberately set up as a feeder program for UBC, but Reimer said that's been one benefit of the club. Participation is growing so quickly, a majority of young players are turned away. Reimer said as many as 100 athletes will try out for a single age division. "That's the rub. We can only offer two or three teams in an age group. Only a quarter-like 20 or 30 or those kids-can we accommodate."
Back at Eric Hamber during the city final, Eisner spoke over competing school chants and a deafening rush of noise as the home team scored a hardfought point after a marathon rally.
"There is such an evenness of calibre in the top teams in the city right now that anyone could beat anyone on any given day."
And they do.
Twitter: @MHStewart
