Video by Laura Dart
BY TYLER HEHN
Travelling with and documenting an OCAA team was an ambitious idea from the get-go. There wasn’t an easy way to go about it. Cambrian said they would be happy to take a few of us along for one of their volleyball team road trips. Cambrian is a team based in Sudbury whose road trip extended to Windsor, then to London, a trip nearing 1,500 km. Our trip was not as strenuous as Cambrian’s, so we were able to enjoy the sights and not have to focus.
St. Clair in Windsor was tucked away in a small residential neighbourhood just outside of downtown. With Detroit only a stone’s throw away, what we saw was unexpected. St Clair is a beautiful campus with a brand new, state of the art gymnasium. The volleyball games between the Cambrian Golden Shield and the St. Clair Saints were exciting and close. The five of us were able to capture the games from all angles – above from an indoor track, court level from the bleachers, balcony seating above the benches.
From Windsor we moved on to London, some with the team while others followed in an SUV. Once in London the team asked if we would like to go to dinner at a nearby Jack Astor’s with them. After dinner we were finally able to relax in the hotel room for the night, look over what we captured from Windsor and unwind.
At the crack of dawn the next morning we were all awoken by a startlingly loud alarm. There was a flood in the laundry room that triggered alarms and had the entire hotel residence standing in the rain. Everybody was very unimpressed.
Cambrian had games later that day despite the interruption they all had from the night before. The Golden Shield women put on an amazing display of teamwork to defeat the Fanshawe Falcons and earn a place in the OCAA playoffs. The men were in a tough spot against the eventual bronze medal winning Fanshawe men’s team.
After the Fanshawe games, we packed up and headed for home. One half drove in the SUV on a path straight home through a snow storm, and the other half with the team to Sudbury that was Sud-
buried in snow.
Stepping into class the following morning was when it truly sank in how great of an experience this was. Working, and living (for a short time) with the team of classmates that embarked on the trip created memories we all will value for years to come. We would all like to thank the players, coaching staff, and OCAA for giving us the opportunity to do this.