Cougars going to Japan
July 30, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
The University of Regina Cougars women's volleyball team is preparing for the mother of all road trips.
The Cougars are to leave Aug. 16 for Tokyo, where they're to spend about a week and a half training with teams from three Japanese schools -- the Japan Women's College of Physical Education, Aoyama Gakuin University and the University of Tokyo.
"When you think about it, 37 million people live in Tokyo and 33 million people live in Canada," says Cougars head coach Melanie Sanford, who has been to Japan numerous times through volleyball exchange programs -- including in 2004 with the Cougars.
"When you're asked to go there and experience a new country and culture, it kind of helps you expand your horizons. From a cultural perspective, it's going to be incredible. From a volleyball perspective, it gives us a little bit of a jump start on the season."
The trip is to cost around $30,000, which the Cougars covered through fundraising. The U of R contingent is to comprise 14 players and five staff members -- and they'll all be working.
"Since it's the beginning of our season, I'd probably say it'll be two-thirds volleyball and one-third everything else," Sanford says. "So two out of three days will be volleyball and one out of three will be sightseeing and shopping. We definitely want to experience the different culture."
And a different style of volleyball.
"They play very fast and their ball control and defence are unbelievable," Sanford says. "It's quite inspiring to see them play. It'll be a motivator for our team to see the game played at another level. It raises the bar again and again."
Sanford first experienced the trip when she was a player at the University of Saskatchewan. When she coached at Concordia University, she took the Stingers to Japan and then made the trek with the Cougars in '04.
She wanted to make the trip again two years ago, but the timing didn't work out. Now, it has.
"It's a good time for us to go," Sanford says. "We still have a relatively young group and we're bringing along some new recruits. It'll be a huge team-building opportunity for us."
Four recruits (Moose Jaw products Kylee Johner and Talayna Tremblay, Michelle Sweeting of Maryfield and Chelsea Ziolkowski of Weyburn) will join the Cougars' 10 returning veterans (Ali Fjeld, Tiffany Herman, Kaitlyn Hughes, Jaclyn Johnson, Solveig Nilson, Roxanne Olynyk, Meagan Onstad, Rebecca Rink, Megan Semeniuk and Teal Trehas) on the trip.
While the excursion will give the Cougars a headstart on their pre-season -- it normally wouldn't start until late August -- Sanford isn't sure how the journey will affect her squad.
"This year, we don't start our league until the first part of November," she says. "Where it's going to help us is we're going to have a couple of lineup changes (from last season). This is going to give a couple of younger players an opportunity to be on the court a little bit longer. How that translates to wins and losses during the season, I can't predict."
The trip to Japan will cap off a memorable summer for Sanford.
The U of R recently was awarded hosting privileges for (and an automatic berth as host team in) the 2014 CIS women's volleyball championship tournament. As well, it was announced in June that Sanford is to be inducted as an athlete into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in November.
A setter with the U of S Huskies team that won CIS titles in 1979, '80 and '81, Sanford was a two-time All-Canadian and a three-time Canada West first-team all-star. She played for Canada's senior team for three seasons and played three years professionally in Japan and Italy.
The U of S teams already are in the Hall. Sanford is to be the first member of those squads inducted as an athlete.