These last few weeks have seemed a bit of a blur. The world is swept apart with the COVID-19 virus, and it’s hard to think of anything else. However, it’s important to try and remind ourselves about the things that give us joy. For lots of students, that includes sports, and here at Camosun, that means the Camosun Chargers.
Chargers men’s volleyball coach Charles Parkinson and women’s basketball coach Justin Thiessen recently finished up their team’s seasons. Parkinson has lots to say about the difficulties and triumphs that his team faced last season.
“Well, 2019-20 for us was a difficult season, primarily because we probably had more injuries in this season than we have had in the last six or seven seasons combined,” says Parkinson. “They were injuries that were completely beyond our control. For example, we had a dislocated finger that happened due to a crash in the back row, we had a concussion based on one of our guys getting hit really hard in the temple with a ball, we had a debilitating shoulder injury based on just an odd swing at an odd angle… Those things are really difficult to control, yet they are still the nature of the sport.”
Parkinson says that the difficulties didn’t stop his team from persevering and coming in fourth in the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) standings.
“I thought it was pretty good under the circumstances,” says Parkinson. “We definitely taxed our athletes and our coaches in terms of trying to figure out strategies and trying to figure out approaches. So, it wasn’t actually until a couple of weekends prior to the end of the season that we actually had everyone back together and healthy.”
Parkinson was able to work with the team and turn the challenges they were experiencing around.
“We did quite well in the last two weeks. I think we won three out of four. So, going into the provincial championships we were pretty confident that we were tracking in the right direction and that we would get something done. We ended up facing the College of the Rockies in the quarterfinal and we beat them three sets to one. They are a much-approved team, they had beaten us the previous two matches, and because of the situations we had faced in the year, they came in quite confident… But we took care of them three to one,” Parkinson says with a laugh.
Parkinson says a huge part of coaching is about looking back and remembering important details.
“With coaching, you remember everything,” says Parkinson. “Part of the process of coaching is reflection; you always try to reflect on what you did and review your notes prior to games—what was the game like? What was the video like? It isn’t just the athletes reflecting; the coaches have to do it as well. The decisions we made, the time-outs we call, the substitutions, the ways we dealt with the referee, the way we dealt with the players. That kind of reflection makes you better in the end.”
Thiessen, whose team placed fifth in the PACWEST standings, says that the relation between the coach and the players is what keeps the game moving forward.
“We have to sit down as a group and make our goals together,” says Thiessen. “We are definitely looking to improve ourselves for next season, but it is going to take some time for us to get together and look realistically on what we want to accomplish together as a group. Right now, people are just using their home gyms and trying to get this through this time the best that they can.”
Thiessen says that the perseverance of the players is getting them through this difficult time, and says that the women are just making do with training wherever possible.
“This past season was a lot of ups and downs, but I feel as a group we put a lot of good habits and routines in place that are going to promote a lot of success into the next season,” says Thiessen. “Hopefully we can get into the gym again soon, what with all this virus scare. We have currently shut down all of our meetings and all of our training, so I just hope we can start again soon because we have got a great group of talented girls that are excited to get back at it.”
Parkinson believes that the experience of playing together as students will help them grow toward something greater in the future.
“At the end of the day, it is not about winning, although winning is great,” says Parkinson. “It’s about the process that you take the athletes through in order to become better people. In my opinion, this is a combination of athletics and academics, not one or the other. They’re student athletes, which means that they are students first. We try to make them excellent in every way that we can.”