Introducing Jeff Ross > New women’s volleyball head coach Davie Wong Sports Editor I nearly volleyball season once again. In little more than a month, the gyms at Douglas College will be filled with fans and spectators, watching the Royals volleyball teams do battle. While the men have undergone some large changes, the women have been a little quieter this off-season. That’s been because the team has been going over some rather large internal changes. Gone are the flamboyant coaching stylings of Kyra lannone. Replacing her will be Jeff Ross. The Saskatchewan-born First Nations coach comes to the Royals with a unique swagger, and a coaching portfolio to back it up. Although not long, Ross’ portfolio is deep. As he tells us, his initial journey into coaching was something that just kind of happened. “I fell into coaching. I liked the sport. I was in my first year of college when the coach asked me to coach a club team, and I did, so that just kind of happened. I just progressed from there.” It just happened to be that Ross enjoyed coaching so much that after his second year of college, he took a break from schooling to focus on himself, and continued to coach while doing so. After figuring out what he wanted to do, Ross made the move out west, heading to UBC in pursuit ofa degree in kinesiology. While doing so, he took the opportunity to start playing again. He played for two years on the UBC squad while obtaining his undergraduate in kinesiology, with a minor in psychology. His time here in BC helped him establish himself as a volleyball player and coach. With no real opportunities to coach at a high level in his home province of Saskatchewan, Ross made his move to BC a permanent one. He didn’t take long to find his spot in the volleyball community of Vancouver. Picked up as the head coach for West Point Grey’s senior girls volleyball team, Ross has since made other advancements, while still holding on to that position. Along with coaching high school, Jeff coaches at ? S & £ wv a LZ 3° yu WW & a 5 ° 5 s > wo oD 6 E = the Thunder Volleyball Club in Vancouver. He is also a coach for Volleyball BC. All of this and now taking on the responsibilities as a coach for the Royals may seem a lot, but Ross believes he can handle it. “Balancing time isn’t hard as long as you have good time management. It isn’t crazy at all.” However, this is Ross’ first venture into the world of post- secondary coaching. As one might assume, coaching a post-secondary team is quite different than coaching a high school-level team, or even at a club. Ross sees it differently, though. “The only difference is some of the organization stuff like budgets, and the management of other things. Other than that, I’ve been head coaching at clubs and high schools for three or four years, and worked closely with the UBC head coach. Stepping into a post-secondary role is an easy transition for me, given how much I coach.” Nevertheless, Jeff has some fairly large shoes to fill. lannone spent the last five years building up the program her way, and her style. Last year, it all finally came together, and the team finished the highest in a long time. But for Ross, he believes that his hiring signaled a new start for the program, and that it’s now up to him to establish a new legacy. “I got hired into a new program, and I want to create my own pathway. | want to move forward with the program in the best way I see it going.” While many would give Jeff Ross a year or two to really dig his feet into the program and the PACWEST, he intends on getting a running start at his time here at Douglas, and has set his goals to match that. “I want to make Douglas one of the best Volleyball programs in the PACWEST and in Canada [...] We’ve instilled some new things in the program and whatnot, and we're trying to make it as competitive as we can this year.” He'll have some help there from a fairly veteran team returning to the court. Notable figures returning to the team are Juliana Penner, Autumn Davidson, Georgia Hurry, Claudia Corneil, and Lynnea Carr. Alongside them stand Women’s soccer preview: September 24-25 > Fishing or hunting? Why not both? Davie Wong Sports Editor Wee this week’s results in the bag, we look to next week’s scheduled action. The Royals continue their road trip next week with two away games—one game on Vancouver Islands followed by a game in the Fraser Valley. Their most notable game will be against the VIU Mariners. The last time these two teams played, they racked up 10 goals between them and split the game 5-5. While a gluttony of goals is not the expected result, fine offensive play from both teams should see an exciting game between the two at the very least. Interestingly enough, despite the Mariners’ firepower, the team has yet to win a game. However, they’ve also yet to lose a game. In every game they’ve held the lead, they’ve also lost it. Their defence can’t hold onto a game, or it’s become a team mentality and they simply cannot hold onto a lead. Either way, this is something the Royals will want to exploit during their game next week. It shouldn't be too hard either. The Royals’ striker, Mikayla Hamilton, has had increasingly better performances as the season goes deeper. While she continues to get into form, the Royals will be increasingly dangerous. Incidentally, her first goal of the season came against the VIU Mariners. While she didn’t score the game after against the Quest Kermodes, she had several looks. She came back against the Blues, putting away her team’s only goal and throwing out a celebration that will be remembered for quite some time. The team will hope that she will have even more reason to be jubilant against the Mariners. Perhaps she will pick up her first multi-goal game of the season. It would be quite foreseeable against the struggling Mariners. No matter how many goals she does end up putting in on Saturday, it’s imperative that she gets one to keep her streak rolling and get her in the scoring rhythm. Photo by Davie Wong Against the Quest Kermodes, the team will need to guard against complacency. Although the Kermodes have yet to pick up a win, they are not helpless. The last time the two teams played, the Royals barely held onto the one goal lead that gave them the win. While their pressure may be good, the Royals can relax a bit when they think about Quest’s conversion rates. Despite generating chances, they simply aren't good enough to finish. On the flip side, their defence is quite the wall. Last several newcomers who will be looking to earn their spot on the roster throughout the pre- season. However, not on the list of returning players is a rather significant name. Last year’s PACWEST Rookie of the Year and overall stellar player Darby Dunn will not be returning to the court for the Royals. Instead, she has transferred to Stetson University to pursue her passion in beach volleyball. Without her, the Royals are a fairly different team, but Ross believes that it’s unlikely her transfer will impact the team dynamic too heavily, as his roster is already solid, and can compete against any of the PACWEST teams that come at them this season. While he prepares for the upcoming challenges this year, Ross can at least be assured that he has the team’s confidence. Fifth-year player Juliana Penner spoke on behalf of her team regarding the hiring of Ross. “The team is excited to have him. Jeff has the volleyball knowledge and abilities to help us achieve something special this year. As a whole we are embracing the change, and looking forward to what he will add to this program.” week, they held the Mariners to a boring o-o draw with both teams cancelling each other out. The Royals themselves just barely got a ball into the net last time. However, the wall isn’t without its holes. The Kermodes team allowed Langara to convert four goals the day before that, but keep in mind that Langara is easily looking like one of the best teams in the PACWEST, and leads the standings having not been defeated. All in all, it’s going to a tough week to call for the Royals. While a defeat to the Mariners is not unlikely, I don’t think the Royals will be the one to give VIU their first win. If anything, it’s looking like a draw once again. Against the Kermodes, a win is not a stretch. A tie is a possibility, but losing looks out of the ordinary at the moment. I expect the team to finish next week having earned at least four points, which given the right circumstances could see them jump into first, or tie for second. Any less than that will be a bit of a let down given the team’s good form of late.