Sweeting commits to Cougars
Apr. 5, 2010 - Moosomin World-Spectator
By Chris Jaster
After being courted by the University of Winnipeg, Brandon University, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina, Maryfield’s Michelle Sweeting elected to join the Cougars women’s volleyball team.
And Melanie Sanford, the Cougars’ head coach, is happy to have Sweeting committed to play for her next season.
“I’m going to Regina partially because it is closer to home,” said Sweeting, who was excited to receive offers from so many universities. “The others hadn’t contacted me quite as soon and I had already committed to Regina (by the time they did).”
Sanford first spotted Sweeting’s talents at the provincial club volleyball championship last season. She was impressed with how athletic Sweeting was and how she could play different roles on the team, even though she is normally a middle.
After meeting Sweeting and getting to know her and her family background, Sanford realized Sweeting would be very coachable and really loves volleyball. She also made an impact on Sanford with one remark after watching the Cougars play.
“She just said how good our defence is and commented on the level of effort. I think that’s something about her and her game that she feels she excels in,” said Sanford, who coached the Cougars to a fifth-place finish at nationals in the 2009-10 season. “Usually middle blockers don’t comment on back-court defence. They are all about the front row—blocking and hitting.
“Her experience with her club and in high school is that her game is a little more developed and it includes the back court and serve receive and defence. So it’s just kind of an interesting combination.”
Part of the reason for this is playing on a small team. Sweeting started playing volleyball as a junior at Maryfield School. She joined the senior girls’ volleyball team, which was in a co-op with Manor School, in her Grade 9 year and learned a lot about volleyball from the team’s coach, Mickey Adams, who she credits as having the biggest effect on her game.
“I wouldn’t be the player (I am) today if it wasn’t for him,” said Sweeting, who will study kinesiology during her first year at the U of R. “He’s an amazing coach. He knows the game and he trained me hard.”
Sweeting was recruited by Cathy Johnston to play club volleyball with the Rocanville Brash early in her high school career, but she turned Johnston down. Last season, however, Sweeting agreed to join the Brash and was named Saskatchewan’s 17-and-under player of the year.
Sweeting then went on to help lead Maryfield School, which was competing by itself in 2009, to a 1A Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association silver medal. Now, Sweeting is one of the co-captains on the Brash and is trying to lead them to a provincial championship. And her play continues to draw the attention of other players and coaches.
“I had a coach come up to me the other day in Saskatoon and say ‘I haven’t seen a player like that in years,’ ” said Johnston, whose team won the Asics Cup in Yorkton in the second division earlier this season, and finished second at Asics Cup 3 in Division 1 on March 28. “So she’s a rare person out there to have the athletic ability she has and the size.”
Part of Sweeting’s athletic ability that really stands out is her ability to jump. When jumping, most blockers don’t even get their elbows above the net. Sweeting, who is six-feet tall, gets her entire arms up to her armpits above the net.
As athletic as Sweeting is, Johnston is even more impressed with Sweeting’s attitude. Despite having offers to play on some university club teams, Sweeting elected to stay with the Brash and she never quits when she’s on the court.
“She’s loyal and a team player and she plays to win all the time,” said Johnston. “If we’re down, she’s still playing to win, whereas some of the other players can get down. That’s a maturity thing of young kids. I have only two Grade 12 players and we’re playing 18-and-under, so I have 15-year-olds playing against 18-year-olds. It can be tough sledding, but they hold up well and they play together well for a young team.”
Sanford is also glad she’s playing in Rocanville this season. “I have no problem with her playing in Rocanville. I think if she’s playing, it’s great,” she said. “I think Cathy will do a great job with her.”
Despite everything Sweeting has learned in high school and club volleyball, it will take her some time to adjust to university volleyball. The attacks come faster at the university level and there will be more of a variety of attacks, not to mention better hitters who make fewer unforced errors. Sweeting may also have to learn new offensive and defensive systems, but that comes with being a first-year student-athlete on a university team.
“There are some issues we address with the first-year kids that are pretty common and all first-year players coming in will experience them,” said Sanford. “It’s really up to them, with our support, how to make those adaptations.”
There will, however, be a lot of support for new players, as Sanford works hard to develop new talent while keeping the team competitive on the court. That is how she has coached the Cougars to eight consecutive playoff appearances in her eight years as head coach in the most difficult conference in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
Since the Cougars build a strong team while putting one on the court, it’s not a certainty that Sweeting will be starting when next season starts.
“I’ll talk to the first-year student-athletes coming in and I will discuss with them what the role of a first-year student-athlete is,” said Sanford. “Part of the thing is that the transition is so important and all of these players are coming from programs where they’ve started—where they’ve been the star—and it’s important to understand when you go up to the next level, that may not be the case in your first year. You have to be pretty outstanding to be on the court a lot in your first year, especially in our league.”
And that’s exactly how Sweeting is looking at the situation and how she is setting her goals for her volleyball career at the University of Regina.
“My first year could be pretty relaxed and I may not play as much, but I have to get trained and get worked up for that level,” said Sweeting. “I hope to be a starter on the team and I hope one day I can make it onto the national team, but we’ll see.”