Canadian captain Fred Winters of Victoria emerged as the soul of the national men鈥檚 volleyball team through his three previous failed Olympic cycles.
The 33-year-old knows he will never have a better chance than this week in the final-stage NORCECA North/Central American and Caribbean qualifier for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Being on homecourt at the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton is a huge factor as world No. 10 sa国际传媒 opens Friday against No. 24 Mexico before meeting No. 22 Puerto Rico on Saturday (12:30 PT on CBC) and closing out against No. 15 Cuba in the likely decider on Sunday. The winner of the round-robin tournament advances to the Rio Olympics.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely now or never for me,鈥� said Winters.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to be around [playing] for another four years. Hopefully, this ends on a positive note with Olympic qualification.鈥�
sa国际传媒 hasn鈥檛 been to the Olympics in men鈥檚 volleyball since 1992 at Barcelona. But the biggest regional obstacle, the U.S., has been removed this quadrennial because the Americans earned an automatic berth into the Rio Summer Games by winning the 2015 World Cup.
鈥淭he U.S. has already qualified, and so is not in the picture in this regional qualifier, and that is a big advantage for us,鈥� said Winters, who began playing at age 15 with the Victoria Volleyball Association before starring at Royal Oak Middle School, Claremont Secondary and Pepperdine of the NCAA.
鈥淥bviously, there is a lot of pressure on us to win. It鈥檚 the first time we have played a qualifier at home, which is definitely an advantage, even though this is a gym with which we are not familiar,鈥� said Winters, by phone from Edmonton.
鈥淲e know we have beaten all the teams here and that gives us confidence.
鈥淚t鈥檚 on us, and on our performance. We have to stay calm, play firm and be aggressive. If we play to our potential, we are going to Rio.鈥�
Winters and Oak Bay High grad Josh Howatson came within one game of getting to the 2012 London Olympics but sa国际传媒 lost that NORCECA qualifying final four years ago to the U.S. in Long Beach, California.
The veteran Winters, as captain, realizes he has a unique role to play on the suddenly wide-open road to Rio, especially with the dominating outside-hitter Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon out with injury.
鈥淚 lead by example,鈥� said Winters. 鈥淏ut this is a veteran group and everybody knows it鈥檚 business time.鈥�
Meanwhile, standout hitter Shanice Marcelle of Victoria and the world No. 17 Canadian women鈥檚 team has a more arduous path to Rio 2016 through its final-stage NORCECA Olympic qualifier at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. That鈥檚 largely because the world top-ranked U.S. failed to win the 2015 World Cup and must now go through the regular qualifying process.
Marcelle, the Germany pro club champion out of Spectrum Community School and the Victoria Titans program, will open against the Americans tonight on their home court with the eventual prize the lone regional spot into Rio. The Canadians play world No. 7 Dominican Republic on Friday and No. 16 Puerto Rico on Saturday.
The second- and third-place NORCECA finishers on the weekend will advance to at-large last-chance world Olympic qualifiers to be staged in May.
The men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 volleyballers are attempting to join the men鈥檚 field hockey players, women鈥檚 basketball squad and the Langford-based women鈥檚 rugby sevens as the Canadian programs that have so far qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in team sports.
The Langford-based Canadian men鈥檚 rugby sevens team has its last-chance at-large Olympic world qualifier June 18-19 in Monaco, while national-team GM Steve Nash鈥檚 so-called Golden Generation of Canadian NBA players will get their last-chance Rio qualifier July 5-10 at a venue to be announced Jan. 19.
