‘Playing to win’

The Liverpool Regional High School’s boys’ volleyball team finished its season third in the province.
The team won its third-place game against Bridgetown, capturing the bronze medal in a nine-team Division 3 tournament at South Colchester Academy in Brookfield Dec. 1 and 2.
“Placing third in the province in an extremely competitive sport is an amazing feat for boys that play 10 weeks a year,” said Chris Framp, volleyball coach and athletic director at the high school.
Nicholas Whalen, a Grade 12 player on the team, said it feels good to have achieved that ranking.
Framp said finishing third in the province should be rewarded.
“When I’m older, I’ll see the medal, and I’ll remember how well we did during this tournament,” said Nathan Nasrallah, one of the team captains.
The boys agree good communication on and off the court is one of the things that helped them succeed.
The team usually practices two or three times a week, though finding time wasn’t always easy. Each of the boys isn’t only committed to volleyball - they play other sports and have part-time jobs and schoolwork to contend with.
Beyond committing to a number of things, finding teams to compete against was also challenging because there was only one other Division 3 team in the district.
“In order for us to play just regular league games, we had to travel a minimum of an hour-and-a-half,” said Framp.
Ben Hatt, the other team captain, said it was the best game the team has played.
“It was more than us just playing volleyball,” he said. “We were actually playing to win.”
The 12 players say they could not have done it without Framp.
And what does Framp have to say about his players?
“The sports always come second because they are student athletes, and they’re a fantastic group of boys that I was super proud of,” said Framp.
He added when the pressure was on, the team played exceptionally well.
“I was just super happy with how the year ended.”
Three players – Hatt, Colton Wigglesworth and Whalen are set to graduate in the spring.