More than 400 people gathered in the Lakeland College gymnasium June 17 as Rustlers Volleyball Club celebrated the group’s growth with its inaugural awards night.
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About 200 athletes and as many parents showed up in the gym, fittingly enough, to recognize achievements and highlight the club volleyball program’s development in Lloydminster and communities throughout the region.
“As the club has grown, we’re trying to find different ways to recognize not just the contributions of coaches, but also those of parents and our athletes,” said club president Taylor Dyer, also the varsity men’s volleyball coach at Lakeland.
The 20 youth teams that make up the club are often busy with their respective practices, games and tournaments, sometimes in different cities, so the Rustlers don’t necessarily have an in-season opportunity to meet in the same building, let alone the same room.
“I thought it would just be a cool thing to promote Rustlers and what we’re all about and what we’re trying to do,” Dyer said after the ceremony as family members snapped photos of their favourite athletes.
“I thought tonight’s event was incredible and really showcased that, and the support all of our young athletes have for one another, and the great amount of time the coaches put in to make it possible for this many athletes to have such an opportunity.”
THREE MAJOR AWARDS
About 40 coaches, including assistants, were on stage as the Rustlers’ coach of the year was announced. In a vote among his coaching peers, Josh Ryan was selected from an elite group of four finalists.
Ryan, the master of ceremonies for the awards night, led the 16U Gold boys’ team to a silver-medal finish in the Saskatchewan club volleyball provincials this spring.
“Josh does a lot, not just with his own team, but supporting other teams within the club, doing one-on-one sessions with kids who are looking for a little extra help,” Dyer said. “He’s involved within our (collegiate) Rustlers here at Lakeland, as an event organizer. Just bleeds green and gold. So, he’s very, very much deserving of that award.”
Other major awards went to the Rustlers’ athletes of the year. The female recipient was Jorja Hamilton of her 18U Gold team.
The male winner was Will Reiniger of his 18U Gold club.
Hamilton is taking her volleyball talents to Lethbridge Polytechnic of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
“Jorja is just an awesome kid,” Dyer said. “Her coaches had high praises for her, not just as a player, but also her character and all those things that go along with it. I think Lethbridge Polytechnic has got a real awesome human and player coming to them next year.
“Again, there were lots of potential choices we could have chosen from. She was a standout this year in terms of being the type of player we really pride ourselves in having in our Rustlers club.”
Vermilion’s Reiniger has played club with the Rustlers for four years, and he’s been part of Team Saskatchewan for the past three years. Early in June, he was chosen to the provincial team for the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, N.L., this August.
After that national event, the St. Jerome’s Catholic School graduate is off to Medicine Hat College with twin brother Brett to join their older brother Landon with the ACAC’s Rattlers.
“Will Reiniger has been a staple within the (Rustlers) program for the last couple of years,” Dyer said. “Within his age category, he’s a standout athlete, being selected to Team Sask for the Canada Summer Games. In his high school season, he was chosen for the Ganza tournament in Edmonton with the Golden Bears, so he’s just been an outstanding athlete throughout his career. That led to his selection and moving on to play post-secondary as well at Medicine Hat College. It’s super cool for him to be recognized and then moving on after this.”
Reiniger, 18, thanked the Rustlers club for helping he and his brothers progress in the volleyball world. Youngest brother Ethan, 15, played with the 15U Rustlers this past club season.
“I owe it all to my team and my coaches, honestly,” Will Reiniger said about being selected 18U Gold MVP and the club’s top male athlete overall.
“I’ve been with the team the last four years now, and every single year, they all want to give you the best that they can, always hard-working at practice. Nobody is really there just to goof around. Everybody was really dedicated to the team. And the coaches, as well, their drive to make us as best as we possibly could, that’s what got me to where I am today.”
COLLEGIATE PATH
It’s been that kind of a year for the Doug Smith-coached 18U Gold Rustlers, who are graduating six players to post-secondary volleyball programs. Along with the Reiniger twins bound for Medicine Hat, Rylan Smith is going to his hometown Lakeland College, Kolton Wildeman is committed to College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, B.C., Colton Campbell is off to Iowa and Jaydon Joyal is joining Augustana College in Camrose.
Rylan Smith, a Lloydminster Comprehensive graduate, steps in as a setter with Lakeland, a school most familiar to him.
“We’re super excited to have Rylan coming in,” said Dyer, whose brother Austin coaches the national women’s champion Rustlers. “Every year, there’s kids within our club that we’re going to have an opportunity to recruit to come play for us.
“That’s not really the goal, but it’s just an after-effect of the work that our coaches, and Austin and myself, our advisory board and everyone have done to increase the level of volleyball within the community. Every year now, on the men’s and women’s sides, we have players that can play at the next level and come play for our programs, which are great programs within our conference. We hope that’s a trend that continues, just with all the athletes we have coming to play for us.”
At the women’s level, along with Lethbridge-bound Hamilton, graduating Rustlers with college commitments are Lexia Chambers (Southeastern Community College in Iowa) and Cailyn Fraser (Williston State College in North Dakota).
Some of the younger Rustlers are also making waves beyond the Border City. The fast-rising Lennon Mari has been selected to the 17U provincial team, while Kayden Fenrich has been named to the 16U team.
Overall, the Rustlers’ awards night highlighted the accomplishments of all 20 teams — 13 female and seven male clubs — from 13U through 18U divisions.
“It was really awesome,” Will Reiniger said. “I didn’t realize how many more teams there were in every age group. I remember when I was 13 and Landon would have been in 16U and they were the only Rustler men’s team at that time. Now, there’s 13U all the way through 18U, and even multiple teams in some age groups.
“So it’s really cool to see how far Lloydminster volleyball has come. There’s some very talented players around this area.”
The Rustlers believe they made gains with and without medals this season, so picking a defining moment was difficult for the club leadership.
“That’s a tough one,” Taylor Dyer said. “There’s so many good ones to choose from. Whether it’s one of our teams surprising themselves and finishing a lot higher than maybe they anticipated, that for us is a success.
“Obviously, our 16U boys winning a provincial silver medal was a pretty big highlight. In our community, we aren’t often able to compete with the big, larger centres — Saskatoon, Regina and even Prince Albert for that matter. So, not a lot of provincial medals in our portfolio yet, but again, just the way we’ve grown the game and the sport, I think it’s been incredible. I anticipate us medalling more and more as the program continues to grow and get better.”
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