WESTLOCK — Though his highschool volleyball days are over, doorways proceed to open for Westlock’s Noah Rigney, who lately signed with the Brandon College Bobcats.
Following a profitable 2022 season along with his Edmonton-based Northern Alberta Volleyball Membership (NAVC) and Workforce Alberta the place the 17-year-old gained two gold medals, one at youth nationals in Could and a second on the 2022 Canada Cup final July, Rigney is now getting ready to proceed his thriving volleyball profession with the Bobcats in Brandon, Man. after signing with them final September.
Rigney stated he first thought-about “wanting into blue-collar faculties” reminiscent of NAIT in Edmonton, a really aggressive Alberta Schools Athletic Convention (ACAC) group and visited a number of universities final fall. He had provides from virtually each post-secondary faculty he spoke with, together with the College of Alberta, Mount Royal College in Calgary, College of British Columbia and the College of Calgary.
Excessive-school aged gamers may be recruited and are permitted to signal (with a post-secondary membership) when the highschool volleyball season begins, he defined, noting in September he had visits to Fraser Valley in Abbotsford and the very subsequent week I went to Brandon for my go to there.”
“Brandon actually caught out to me. I am tremendous massive on small cities and I like the small city really feel,” stated Rigney. “The College may be very small (in Brandon) they usually actually haven’t got many sports activities applications. The one one which’s actually profitable is the lads’s volleyball due to head coach Grant Wilson. He principally began this system from the underside.”
Now in his ultimate yr at RF Staples Faculty, Rigney will likely be graduating this spring with the Class of 2023 earlier than shifting east. In keeping with the recruitment course of for college students in Grades 11 or below, Rigney was supplied with the Bobcats contact data by means of his present coach and stated, “I reached out and we have been speaking ever since,” he stated. “I had principally 4 choices that I used to be closely contemplating and I went out to Brandon and simply cherished him. The folks and the teaching employees are improbable.”
As a part of the supply with Brandon College, the place he’ll research enterprise within the fall, he has a five-year scholarship so long as he is with the group, he famous, including though most scholarships are 4 years, with college sports activities you have got 5 years of enjoying eligibility, so he determined to unfold his research out over that timespan to benefit from the complete five-year scholarship.
“The plan is to only sluggish it down a bit of and take 5 years and use all of my years of eligibility. Close to the tip of August might be once I’ll head down there,” he stated noting he’s already wanting ahead to becoming a member of the lads’s volleyball group at Brandon College, which is a member of U SPORTS, a premier league for Canadian college aged college students, and competes within the Canada West Universities Athletics Affiliation.
“It is an honor to have the ability to proceed my profession at such a excessive degree,” he stated. “The Bobcats are fairly according to the highest 10 within the nation and high 5 or 6 in Canada-West often, so that they all the time keep pretty aggressive and that is why I am honored to be there and revel in my time there,” he added, noting as soon as on the group he’s hoping to get a beginning position sooner or later.
Rigney’s success in volleyball at each the highschool and membership degree has ready him to take the subsequent step in his volleyball profession. He famous a lot help from family and friends through the years and stated he was “grateful that I’ve so many recollections to look again on,” including his introduction to the game at a younger age additionally had an influence on his success as a younger athlete .
“I’ve had some good coaches alongside the way in which — there’s a number of good folks right here in Westlock which have helped me exceed expectations and get to that degree,” he stated. “My Grade 4 trainer at (Eleanor Corridor) faculty in Clyde was Kyle Laughy. He was additionally my Grade 6 volleyball coach and really useful me to play membership volleyball in Westlock so he form of set me on my strategy to the place I’m immediately.”
Kristine Jean, TownandCountryToday.com