SPORTS FLASHBACK 1999: St Pierre’s Jocelyn Roy is one of Canada’s best

Fifteen-year-old Jocelyn Roy of St Pierre is regarded as one of the best high school volleyball players in Canada.

In the past three weeks, the young volleyball star has garnered three major volleyball awards. Being named the Manitoba Volleyball Association U15-U16 Player of the Year last week was automatic, after the major awards she garnered on the national stage in recent weeks.

In mid-May, the Grade 10 student at St Pierre Collegiate was named an all-star at the National Juvenile (U17) Volleyball Championships in Newfoundland.

What makes this all-star selection even more noteworthy is that her University of Winnipeg team finished fifth in the competition, and Roy was the youngest player at the national event, as she was competing with and against players in grades 11 and 12.

Playing for Club West, an elite volleyball program out of Virden, she led her team to the National U15-U16 Championship two weeks ago, in Calgary. There were an astounding 103 teams from across the continent competing at the Olympic Speed skating Oval, which was converted to 24 volleyball courts. Jocelyn Roy was named the most valuable player of the entire tournament.

The 5-foot-10-inch Roy, who possesses superb jumping ability, is probably the most highly touted volleyball player to ever come out of the southeast, and she still has two more years of high school left.

Diane Scott, assistant coach of the Canadian Women’s Volleyball Team and head coach of both the U of W Wesmen and the school’s juvenile program, says Jocelyn Roy is, without a doubt, the best U15-U16 player in the country. A player of Roy’s calibre does not come along every year, Scott said.

“Roy is an outstanding young athlete with a great work ethic; she is a sponge when it comes to learning. She will be the top high school in the province next year, despite being only in grade 11.”

Dan Kalynchuk, Roy’s coach at St Pierre Collegiate, who has built up a very strong volleyball program over the last decade, says he feels very fortunate to be able to coach Roy.

“She is a very gifted and humble athlete.”

In an interview at St Pierre Collegiate Wednesday, Roy said winning the MVP award in Calgary made her feel very good, but she couldn’t have done it without her teammates and coaches. It is the first MVP award she has ever won.

An honors student, Roy knows she will be able to pick and choose where she wants to attend university, because of her volleyball ability. But, if at all possible, she would like to stay in Canada, but adds if she gets offered a free education in the United States, that is the route she may have to take.

But for the time being, there are more studies and more volleyball at the high school level. After all, she is only 15, and doesn’t celebrate her next birthday until October, about the time she accompanies the St Pierre Cobras to a high school tournament in Edmonton.