Tritons return, undeterred by volleyball loss

Peter Mallett  
Staff Writer

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After a two-year pause on volleyball competition, men’s players from CFB Esquimalt and Comox stepped back on the Naden Athletic Centre court for a best-of-three tournament.

The end result wasn’t what the Esquimalt Tritons had hoped for though. After the blocks, bumps, and spikes were registered, the blue and gold were swept away 2-0 by their air force opponents from 19 Wing. The lop-sided result on the score sheet was a disappointing 25-13, 25-15, 25-20 in favour of Comox in Game 1, and 25-14, 25-11, 25-11 in Game 2.

But the end result isn’t a major concern, says team manager and outside hitter, S3 James Watt. Canadian Armed Forces sport competitions have been making a slow return in recent weeks following the lifting of COVID-19 health and safety measures, which gave the Tritons only two weeks practice prior to the series. The entire team is new, including S3 Watt who last played volleyball in high school.

“Hearing the referee’s whistle blow and signalling the team to serve certainly brought back a level of excitement I had definitely forgotten since high school,” he says. “The whole team had a lot of fun and loved the competition that we have been missing since COVID-19 happened, and we have high hopes we will be together again on the court later this year.”

On the other side of the net, one of their opponents, Maj Lewis Williams was also enthused to return to action. He says the competition in the series was important to give players on both teams a “mental break” from their jobs.

Maj Lewis has six years of experience in CAF volleyball play and noted his navy opponents are often hamstrung due to deployments.

“With navy teams, due to the nature of their jobs it’s often a case of hit or miss,” he says. “While today they just didn’t have the formidable play we have grown accustomed to with the Tritons, in another posting season they could be kicking our butts just as easily.” 

Despite the outcome, S3 Watt noted some great individual efforts from Tritons players including S3 Christopher Coombes, who proved his worth at the hitter or middle position, ASLt Liam Gilchrist an outstanding blocker, and S3 Enrico Esteban, also an outside hitter who had some powerful spikes in the series.

“Our opponents were very good and we knew it was going to be very difficult for our team to get into the groove,” says ASLt Gilchrist. “With more time I think our positioning, defence, and blocking are areas we will improve.”

S3 Watt agreed with ASLt Gilchrist and added that rotations, chemistry, and timing are other key areas the team needs to focus on going forward.

“We are confident that if we have more practise time, get to know each other, and even our names for that matter, the outcome of future series and competitions will be a lot different,” he says.

There are no competitive matches on the horizon for his team, with the next CAF volleyball series likely not coming until later this fall.