Men’s volleyball team ‘ecstatic’ after first-ever win

The Nunavut men’s volleyball team picked up its second win in five matches so far Friday at the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, N.L.

After their first win, a 3-1 victory over the Northwest Territories on Wednesday — the first time a Nunavut indoor volleyball team has ever won at the Summer Games — “they just erupted,” said John Legate, head coach for the men’s team, adding the players had a lot of pent-up energy.

“There is really no other word for it but ecstatic,” he said.

“I’ve been driving this message that we have a chance to do something special [at these games]. And that’s the bar we’re shooting for is we’re going to win one here.”

The win left them with a 1-3 record in preliminary-round action and out of medal contention.

But in their first of two consolation-round games, the Nunavut men once again faced the Northwest Territories on Friday. This time, they dispatched their opponents in three straight sets for the victory.

They’ll play one final match against Nova Scotia on Saturday afternoon for their second game of the consolation round.

Nunavut has only sent indoor volleyball teams to the Summer Games one other time, in 2022.

Legate noted that teams from the territories, unlike those from the provinces, face a unique set of challenges. The teams cannot just drive to the next town over to compete, for instance.

It can also be much more challenging to get players together for training when they live an expensive plane flight away from each other.

Competing at the Summer Games, many scores were very close, “we were really competitive,” Legate said.

But, he added, the Nunavut players don’t get enough training matches against other top teams by virtue of the territory’s small population.

“There isn’t enough matched play. You can put together a really competitive team, but you really need another competitive team to play against them to give them that competitive experience.

“That is the primary roadblock for volleyball in Nunavut.”

Legate said, “When you lose and you haven’t won a game before, it’s easy to fall into that trap of, you know, maybe we aren’t [that] good. I was drilling that message, that we’re every bit as good as any of these guys.

“We have obstacles that they don’t have, but that’s just going to make us stronger.”

Because of that, he noted, other teams might see the Nunavut men “as easy marks, an easy victory. And we are going to let them think that, and then come out and hit them hard right off the bat. I feel like we did that.”

The Nunavut’s women’s volleyball team was shut out at the games, losing their final match to the Northwest Territories on Friday and finishing with an 0-4 record.

Team Nunavut’s male wrestlers have had some small victories at the Summer Games, beating the Northwest Territories on Thursday to finish preliminary competition with a 1-5 record.

In a consolation match Friday afternoon, they defeated the Yukon to finish 11^th of the 12 teams competing.

Nunavut’s female wrestlers also had some strong individual showings, but ended their tournament with a record of 1-5. On Friday, they handily defeated the Yukon squad in consolation-round action to finish finishing 11th overall.

All competitions can be watched live online on the Canada Summer Games website. The two-week competion wraps up with a closing ceremony Saturday night.