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Canadian volleyball should be grateful that former Lakehill Little League player Fred Winters didn鈥檛 stick with baseball. The national team captain has had quite a journey in his chosen sport since joining the Victoria Volleyball Association at 15.
About the only thing missing on the 33-year-old former Claremont Secondary Spartan and NCAA Pepperdine star鈥檚 impressive resum茅 is the term Olympian. That will be the goal this year for Islanders Winters and Oak Bay High graduate and veteran national-team setter Josh Howatson after coming within one game of qualifying for London 2012. sa国际传媒 has not qualified for the Olympics in men鈥檚 volleyball since Barcelona in 1992.
Winters and Howatson took the first step toward the 2016 Rio Summer Games on Saturday as sa国际传媒 defeated Mexico 25-12, 25-20, 25-13 in the semifinals and then outlasted the host U.S. 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 25-21, 17-15 in the final of the NORCECA Champions Cup at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. World 14th-ranked sa国际传媒 and world fifth-ranked U.S took the top-two spots in the Champions Cup. With that goes advancement to the 2015 FIVB World Cup from Sept. 8-23 in Japan, the first qualifier for Rio.
鈥淭his is important for us. First, we haven鈥檛 qualified for the World Cup since 2003. Second, this is the first step to Rio,鈥� Canadian head coach Glenn Hoag said in a statement.
Winters has captained sa国际传媒 to impressive results over the past two years that have hinted at a breakthrough to Rio. sa国际传媒 made the six-team 2013 World League final and placed seventh last September in the 2014 FIVB world championships. But Saturday night was special for the Islander as he recorded 17 points to lead sa国际传媒. 鈥淚t means a lot as we don鈥檛 beat the USA very often,鈥� Winters said in a statement.
Howatson, meanwhile, has returned to the national team after taking last year off because of the birth of his first child in Victoria.
