Second-year men鈥檚 volleyball player Michael Donovan has earned a spot on Volleyball Canada鈥檚 2021 U21 team.
Things were a little different this year when it came to selecting Volleyball Canada鈥檚 national teams. In lieu of in-person tryouts, prospective players submitted highlight and skill videos and physical testing data to GMTM, dubbed 鈥楾he Athlete Exposure Platform鈥� to be reviewed by the selection committee.
The Tigers were fortunate to be able to practice most of the school year with COVID-19 numbers low in Nova Scotia and even had a few scrimmages with some alumni, so Donovan had access to film from those sessions, making the task of collecting everything he needed for his tryout much easier.
鈥淚 already had a lot of playing footage from the practices and scrimmages we were able to have over the course of the year,鈥� says Donovan. 鈥淚 spent about a week organizing clips and submitting everything else that was required.鈥�
As one of the 19 athletes selected to the squad, Donovan is currently participating in virtual programming until July 5. He has been limited to at-home workouts and beach volleyball training due to the current restrictions in Nova Scotia and is in the middle of a six-week outdoor jump program to ensure he will be ready to handle the load of a full training schedule which is set to begin on July 5, 2021 in Gatineau, Quebec.
Training will take place at the national men鈥檚 training centre and while they don鈥檛 have an official schedule as yet, he expects there to be eight sessions per week including five on the court and three in the weight room with two days off per week for rest.
The team will spend the majority of the summer there, staying in Airbnb鈥檚 focused on representing Canada at the FIVB U21 World Championship scheduled to take place from September 23 to October 3 in Italy/Bulgaria.
鈥淚鈥檓 really looking forward to meeting my teammates and coaches from across Canada,鈥� says the London, Ontario native. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to get back on the court and compete at the world championship in September.鈥�