Falcon's searching for right v-ball court combo

Two months into the season and the Fanshawe women's volleyball team is tied for fifth place in a tough West Division with eyes on earning an Ontario College's Athletic Association gold medal.

Fanshawe's Shawna Chadbourn is
helping the Falcons take flight in
OCAA compeition.“I have to give it to them, I want the whole world to know how hard and determined these girls are,” said head coach Lloyd Rumble. “They push themselves so hard in practice and then they work hard in the games as well.”

This point is taken full force as we have watched this group of women develop into a volleyball squad.

“We have made so many improvements since the beginning of the season,” said Rumble. “But as much improvements we have had, I still don't know the extent of talent we have. Most of the team is first year and so I am still reorganizing the team and trying out people in different places, and this works great for a team but not so much for a superstar.”

The squad is made up of 14 women, 10 of which are first year students. Despite the youth they have proven that they dedicated to winning. Getting to fourth has not been an easy task and neither will be continuing their drive to OCAA gold.

“I obviously am shooting for gold, but I also know that we need to work hard to get there,” said team captain Michelle Schinkel. “If we play to the best of our abilities then we will win games. If we win games we make it to the (OCAA's) and if we win there then nationals are up next. But for now we need to focus on getting better and winning the games at hand.”

The London native has shown extreme skill in volleyball both on the court and as a captain.

“I never played club volleyball, and volleyball wasn't my first choice. I wanted to do javelin but no schools in Canada do javelin,” said Schinkel. “When I went to Niagara College I played volleyball there for two years and then when I came to Fanshawe I was asked to come try-out when they saw that I had volleyball experience.”

The 5'8” blonde is a fireball of energy once game time comes, but in practice and off the court is as cool as ice.

“As captain I need to be energetic and loud on the court in order to keep the energy up, but the girls are all outgoing girls and so off the court we keep each other motivated as much as we can,” she said.

While Rumble figures out player positioning the girls try to pump out wins, but it doesn't always end up the way they want.

“Each game is different and we seem to have different problems each game. One game we could have great blocking, the next terrible blocking,” said Schinkel.

On November 25 the girls faced off head to head against the number two ranked Humber Hawks.

“I was not pleased with our performance,” said Rumble. “I said this to the girls but I don't see the proper results for the energy we are putting in. I don't know if people realize but we practice as a team three-four times a week, three weight training sessions a week as well as core workouts and one-two games a week. This is a full time job for these girls and so because they are putting so many hours into this they should be winning a lot. I know that in a few years once this team has really gelled and maybe more pieces get fit in, we will be a really tough squad to beat.”