It has been a good year for Max Vriend.
At the start of 2015/2016 season, Vriend, a Barrhead Composite High graduate, earned a starting position on the MacEwan University Griffins Volleyball team as a middle blocker.
A few months later, in April, in a ceremony in Hamilton Ont., Vriend was named to the Interuniversity Sport (CIS) All-Rookie Team. Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-four members, 10,000 student athletes and 550 coaches vie for 19 national championships in 11 different sports.
Then in late June, Vriend continued his rise in the volleyball world when he made the National Junior Volleyball Men’s squad.
“It’s been a wonderful learning experience,” Vriend said about his time playing and training with the National team.
At the beginning of the year, Vriend made making the national team one of his goals and although he didn’t get to dress in any of the games (14 players made the Canadian contingent and only 12 can dress for a game) he said it was a privilege to represent his country.
The team recently won a bronze medal at the U21 NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Continental Championship) when they defeated Guatemala in three straight sets on July 9 in Gatineau, Que.
Before qualifying for the bronze medal match, they played in three round robin games against Guatemala, Trindad and Tobago, finishing with a 2-1 record.
In the quarterfinals Canada faced St. Vincent, winning in three-straight sets, 25-13, 25-14 and 25-10.
The win earned Canada entry into the semifinals where they faced the United States.
Unfortunately, the home team couldn’t match the U.S. firepower and went down to defeat 25-9, 26-24 and 25-21. In order to qualify for the Under 21 World Championships, Canada had to finish in the Top Two.
While disappointed about the loss head coach Gino Brousseau said in a release that the experience will only make his players better in the long run.
“For many of them, this is their first taste of competition at the international level,” he said. “They got to play the U.S. and Cuba. We told our players that this is just the beginning … (the U.S. semifinal) was a tough, loss. I am pleased our players put away our performance and kept going forward.”
Vriend agreed, saying although the team trained and played hard for the entire tournament, they just couldn’t match the experience level of the U.S. and Cuba.
“Especially Cuba, the players have a totally different mentality that comes from experience,” he said. “They start playing at this high level and compete internationally when they are 16 years old.”
As for what is next, Vriend said he will soon return to Edmonton, after spending a week in Barrhead, and go to work, before returning to MacEwan University to continue his studies and play volleyball with the Griffins.
