BARRHEAD – The sky is the limit.
That is what local volleyball product Heidi Peters said upon her return from the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball World Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the team earned their first-ever podium finish, taking silver, narrowly losing out to Brazil in a hotly contested five-set match on Nov. 11.
"It took me a while for the disappointment of losing to dissipate, especially as one of the team's leaders," she said.
Peters, a Neerlandia native, is one of the veterans of Canada's Women's Sitting Volleyball Team. She joined the squad in 2013 after undergoing osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. As part of her treatment, her left leg was amputated. She was 16 at the time.
Since joining the team, Peters has competed in international events such as the 2015 and 2019 Parapan American Games; the 2016 Paralympic Games and 2016 Intercontinental Cup; the 2017 ParaVolley Pan Am Zonal Championship; the 2020 World ParaVolley; and the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics where she was the tournament's top scorer. For the World Championships, Peters received MVP honours.
"After a few days, I could see the larger picture. Obviously, we wanted to win the gold and the automatic entry into the (2024 Paris Paralympics), but earning silver is really huge for our program. It gives us more ranking points. Going into future tournaments, people now see us as one of the top teams," she said, adding the squad has made large strides in a relatively short period. At the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Canada finished seventh. At the 2018 World Championships in the Netherlands, Canada moved up a position, finishing sixth.
However, at the 2021 Toyko Paralympics, Canada raised a few eyebrows by improving on their sixth-place ranking, narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place finish.
To prepare for the world championships, the national team increased the number of centralized training sessions.
"Normally, we practice in our own cities two or three times a week and then get together every four to six weeks (in Edmonton) for a weekend of group training sessions," Peters said.
However, starting in August, she said, national team members would gather in Edmonton for two weeks of intensive, six-day-a-week group training sessions.
At the end of October, the squad left for Treviso, Italy, and trained with the Italian team for five days.
"That was a great help. Not only did it allow us to get over things like jetlag, but to be able to play in real matches against a world-class opponent, which is something you can't simulate," Peters said.
Following the mini-camp, Canada flew with the Italians to Sarajevo, arriving in the Bosnia and Herzegovina capital Nov. 1, giving themselves a lot of time to acclimatize themselves to their new surroundings.
Peters noted they did not explore too much outside their hotel/conference centre, which hosted the games, largely in part due to the poor air quality of the city. She added the air quality inside the conference centre was not much better due to the large volume of smokers lighting up.
"In the lobby and other common areas, people could and did smoke. And it permeated everything. You could even smell it on the court, even though smoking was prohibited there," Peters said. "It was a hard adjustment for us. It affected our throat and lungs, impacted our ability to sleep and cigarette smoke even suppresses your hunger a little bit, so we had to be mindful of maintaining a good eating schedule."
Canada's first matched up against Slovenia on Nov. 5, beating them in four sets, 25-18, 25-21, 19-25 and 25-22.
Unfortunately, in their next matchup against the U.S., they did not fare as well, narrowly losing a closely contested match in five sets. Canada took the first and third sets, 25-22 and 25-21, and lost the second, fourth and fifth sets, 25-22. 25-12 and 15-7, respectively.
Going into the tournament, the Americans were the top-ranked team in the world, while Canada was sixth.
Later the same day, Canada faced Iran, a team they had not played in six years.
"They were a bit of a wildcard, but typically they are a very emotional, high-energy team," she said, adding they did not disappoint, but the Canadians were able to dispatch them, three sets to one.
They then would face Hungary in what Peters described as a pre-quarterfinal round, defeating them handily in three sets, 25-8, 25-11, and 25-12.
In the quarter-finals, Canada faced a team they were very familiar with in their training partners, the Italians.
"We were pretty confident going into it. In our last two exhibition matches, we beat them in three sets each time, but we knew it would be a battle. They are a feisty team that plays really strong defensively," she said.
But in the end, as they did during their training session, Canada came out on top, but this time it took four sets, which set them up for the semi-finals and a return match against the Slovenians, whom they defeated in three sets, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-21.
"We played them much better the second time. We were much more comfortable, and we were able to gameplan against them," Peters said.
In the final, Canada faced Brazil who made their way into the championship by defeating the U.S. in three sets, 25-23, 25-18, and 25-17.
Going into the championship, Canada had only defeated Brazil once earlier this year in the Netherlands, in what Peters characterized as a recreational tournament.
Despite the lack of success against Brazil, in a tournament of note, Peters said they liked their chances.
"We had lots of video on them and were familiar with a lot of their athletes," she said, including two older players that came out of retirement from the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Canada got off to a strong start, narrowly losing in the first set 25-23, before taking the next two sets 25-18 and 25-21.
But in the fourth set, the momentum switched back to the Brazilians.
"We were down four or five points during most of the set, but in sitting volleyball, you can get a lot of points on the service line if you are aggressive, so I was confident that we would come back," Peters said.
They got away from their gameplan though and couldn’t close the gap, eventually falling 25-17. In the deciding set, Peters still had confidence they would be victorious, but ended up losing 15-6.
"Ultimately, it came down to our inability to score and our decision-making. I don't think mentally we bounced back and did not get back to our game plan. Skill-wise we were right there. We have the skills and ability to win gold at any tournament we are in," Peters said. "But we need to improve on the mental side and work on our decision-making and implementing game plans. Now that we've been in that high-pressure situation, it is something we can work on."
In May, Canada will get another chance to qualify for the Paris Paralympics at the Pan-Am Zonal qualifier in Edmonton at the Citadel.
To win the qualification spot, as Brazil has already earned their ticket to Paris, Peters said, it will likely come down to them or the U.S.
"Whoever comes up higher," she said.
But before then, in March, the team will be heading to Boston for a training session along with a series of exhibition matches against the U.S., followed by a trip to Brazil to train with their national team.
If for some reason, Canada doesn't qualify in Edmonton, there are other opportunities at other tournaments in the fall of 2023.
