Loeppky celebrates achieving Olympic dream

The distance between the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles and Steinbach Regional Secondary School is over 6,600 km, but when the Olympic volleyball tournament kicks off July 27, they’ll have at least one thing in common.

Both will have seen Eric Loeppky battle for volleyball glory.

There was no drama to be had when the men’s Canadian Olympic Volleyball team’s roster was announced July 8, as Steinbach’s Loeppky was named to the team. He has been a mainstay as a starter for Canada the past year, helping them to a best-ever finish in the Volleyball Nations League, as well as being a key cog when the team qualified for the Olympics last year.

Loeppky said he was hanging out with his family when he received a text from head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo he would be heading to Paris.

“I let my wife know and then continued on playing with my kids and changing diapers,” Loeppky said, laughing.

“It wasn’t anything super exciting. It was special, but it wasn’t anything crazy.”

Loeppky is married to Samantha Seliger-Swanson, who has represented the U.S.A. at international events as well.

Establishing himself as regular on the Canadian roster is a nice change of pace for Loeppky compared to four years ago, when he was named as an alternate for the Tokyo Olympics, but wasn’t called upon.

“I still don’t feel like (an Olympian) until that first whistle goes, if I’m being honest,” he said.

“It’s super cool, I’m super grateful. It’s made me reflect on the last three years since Tokyo… It’s a much better feeling. I feel a lot more excitement about everything, and much more accomplished.”

In a news release announcing the roster, Sammelvuo thanked the entire Canadian player pool, including those who he didn’t pick this year.

“We want to represent Canada in the best way possible and for the whole country to be proud of Canadian volleyball on the world stage in Paris,” Sammelvuo said.

“We must arrive on the court for the first match in the best technical, tactical, and mental condition possible. We don’t have a lot of time, but we will use our time effectively as we get back to work to get ready for the Olympic tournament.”

Team Canada is a tight-knit group heading into pool play, having comfortably qualified last August. Three of Canada’s roster mainstays even played together last season for Vero Volley Monza in the Italian Superlega, with Loeppky joined by 2020 Tokyo players Stephen Maar and Arthur Szwac.

“The team is hoping to play as well as we can and go as far in the tournament as we can,” Loeppky said.

“If we’re truly playing at our best it’s safe to say we can beat some pretty big teams. I think we have high expectations. We believe in ourselves, and we hope to shock the world.”

Loading up on Canadians proved to be a great strategy for Vero Volley, as the team had their best season in franchise history, making three finals and comfortably qualifying for European champions league.

“For the Canadian team, how we did at Monza has been a huge part of our growth,” Loeppky said.

“There was three of us on that team, and the three of us have pretty important roles with the national team.”

Loeppky was bought out of his contract with Vero Volley by perennial Italian contender Lube, and will be joining them as their second-ever Canadian signing after the Olympics.

Canada is in a group with Serbia, Slovenia and most importantly the hosts France for pool play at the Olympics. The match against France July 30 is one the entire Canadian team has circled on their calendar, as the atmosphere inside the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is expected to be insane.

“Getting to see that match when the lots were being drawn was pretty exciting, I don’t think you could have picked a more perfect scenario,” Loeppky said.

“It’s going to be wild, I’m pretty sure that game is already sold out.”

Canada will rely on their experience earlier this month, where they played France for a sold-out exhibition match, with an incredible atmosphere despite the lower stakes.

“I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to get to play them in pool play, I’m really excited,” Loeppky said.

“It’s one of those games where there’s so much noise, it’s so loud in there, that it kind of works in your favour.”

Canada kicks off their Olympic volleyball journey July 28 with a match against Slovenia, before taking on France and finishing against Serbia Aug. 3. All of Canada’s matches will begin at 2 p.m. Manitoba time. Games will be live-streamed on CBC.ca.