Riverview boys volleyball team #1 in region

Ken Johnston
Editor

It was a moment that they have been waiting for since late November.
The Grade 8 boys volleyball team at Riverview Elementary School in Rainy River received their trophy last week from the Region 1 Bantam Tournament.
The team won the Marlene Comeau Memorial Award in Fort Frances. The trophy has been in existence since 1983 and has become the “Stanley Cup”, so to speak, of grade school volleyball throughout the region.
Coach Greg Wilson said that next year the trophy will only be competed for by teams that qualify for it. This year it was an open invitational, but the Riverview team would have qualified any how, having finished first or second in all their tournaments all season long.
Wilson said that the girls team that Riverview fielded at the tournament was mostly grade 7 players with a few grade 6 and a few 8 team members. They faced some tough competition and just missed the playoffs.
The boys on the other hand were all grade 8 players. Next year they will see all new faces on the team and the girls will see mostly the same players, but with this year’s experience to draw from.
Wilson has worked hard the past several years to develop a three year volleyball program and he has had comments from the high school coaches that it shows.