OVA News

Whether it’s indoors or on the beach, Alex Elliott plays a lot of volleyball and can’t get enough of it.

“It’s just fun to play, and it’s competitive,” the 16-year-old from Cobourg said.

In high school play, Elliott has helped lead the Cobourg District Collegiate Institute East Comets to two straight Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics junior titles. The former Northumberland Breakers player also competes for the Durham Attack during the indoor club season.

Once the high school and club season ended, though, there was no rest for Elliott. He has played the beach season with partner Jordan Boucher and the pair placed ninth at the Ontario Volleyball Association provincial championships at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto.

Meanwhile, Elliott has also been kept busy playing and honing his skills for volleyball indoors this summer.

Elliott attended the OVA’s High Performance Centre as he attempted to crack the roster of the provincial boys under-18 team.

Possibly the youngest athlete vying for a spot on the club, Elliott held his own at the Humber College-based Performance Centre and earned an invite to the team as an alternate and practice player.

Ultimately, the U18 squad — which included Cobourg’s Callum Mireault — didn’t need an alternate for the National Team Challenge Cup so Elliott didn’t get to travel to Kelowna, B. C., but he said the experience of taking part at the training camp at the University of Toronto was beneficial just the same.

“You learn so much. It’s like compacting a whole season of learning things down into one month,” Elliott said. “(Competing with older athletes,) the calibre of play is a lot higher. All of the people at that (U18) age were so good.”

Standing in the six-foot-four height range, Elliott uses his size to his advantage. His ability to reach great heights likely benefited him in landing a spot at the team’s training camp.

Still, as a younger player, Elliott said he was a little nervous at first to be participating in the practices, calling himself “the unknown guy.” He quickly settled in.

“After the first day, you just get to know more people. Then, it’s just volleyball and it seems normal.”

Elliott will try out for a provincial team again next year; either a U17 if there is one or, if not, the U18 squad. There will be familiar faces right from the get-go.

In fact, the process for selecting next year’s team has already begun. Elliott recently participated in another camp. He tried out for a regional team (there are six regions in the province).

He stood out by winning awards by having the highest block and the highest spike. He was also successful in a skills competition by being the most accurate in setting and spiking competitions.

This week, Elliott was headed to Humber College again, this time to compete in a regional tournament. Then, after a short break, he will return to his club team in Durham in September and will eventually be preparing for another high school season as well.

Elliott enjoys the team aspect of volleyball.

“I’ve made a lot of friends, girls and guys, from volleyball,” he said. “You can’t have one star player on a team. The team needs to play together.”

Jeff Gard, Northumberland Today