Young volleyball athletes got into the Halloween spirit last weekend during the St. Augustine Catholic School junior girls’ Spooktacular tournament.
Two St. Augustine teams battled it out with eight other teams Friday Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 in a friendly tournament with each team getting dressed in Halloween costumes. The junior A team and the junior B team of the St. Augustine Catholic School played against each other to start the tournament.
The Spooktacular tourney has been running for many years now says coach of the A team Kelci Aberle.
Lindset Schamber, B team coach, says this is the first year her athletes have played the game. “Almost everyone can get their serves over, so that’s a big success for us,” she said of her team’s performance.
With Schamber’s team, getting play time at the tournament was an opportunity to learn some fundamental volleyball lessons. All the teams in the tournament, besides Schamber’s team, had players with more experience but that did not dissuade her from encouraging her players to learn. They ended up winning the prize for best costume.
“I am so happy and proud of the way that my girls played this weekend. They did their best and worked hard to make good passes and serve well. They had a great attitude throughout the entire tournament, cheering each other on and having fun,” she explained.
For Aberle, playing in the tournament was a great opportunity to host games at their home court. The season has been a challenge for her team as many of their Grade 9 players moved up to support the junior varsity volleyball team.
“I think the girls are just having a great time,” said Aberle.
“This is the first year I’ve never had any Grade 9s. It’s all Grade 7s and 8s,” she added.
As for the tournament results; Duffield and Clive fought for first place. “We had another successful Spooktacular weekend at St. Augustine School. Duffield and Clive had an extremely close final, with Duffield winning in the third set 16-14,” Aberle said.
Father Lacombe earned third place and Rimbey took fourth.
“My girls played hard and although they are such a young team, they gained a great deal of experience setting them up to be a competitive team for next year,” concluded Aberle.