Lloydminster’s Lennon Mari’s golden finish with Team Canada’s U19 boys’ volleyball team was that much sweeter because the championship victory in the world qualifier came against the U.S., of all teams.
Read more: Junior A Lloydminster Bobcats cash in on U18 AAA St. Albert Raiders
“Oh yeah, it was so much more satisfying, taking them down in the final,” Mari said about Canada’s five-set marathon win over the Americans on the May long weekend in Burnaby, B.C.
“We saw them quite a bit (during the weeklong international event) and they were always seen as kind of top dog in the tournament. No one was really expected to beat them.”
Playing on the Simon Fraser University campus, Canada prevailed at home in the Continental final and qualified for the NORCECA world championship next year.
“It was a really good feeling,” said Mari, a Grade 11 student at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School. “It was great, honestly.
“We definitely did a bit of celebrating, but the game ended a little late and the ceremony went later. So, after our celebration, everybody hung out for a bit, but not too long. Everybody pretty much had flights to catch the next morning.”
Mari made Canada’s 14-man roster after a Kelowna tryout camp, competing in Burnaby, B.C.
All those achievements have come before Mari celebrates his 17th birthday in late June. Almost all of Canada’s U19 players are Grade 11 students, except for one in Grade 10.
When he returned to the Lloyd Comp hallways last week, Mari’s friends gave him a buddy kind of welcome.
“They kind of poked fun at me for wearing a little bit of Team Canada stuff the first day I got back, but other than that, they were super supportive of me,” he said.
Mari came home with a veritable collection of Team Canada clothing — including hoodies, jacket, backpack, shirts and shorts.
Not to mention a gold medal around his neck.
“It’s currently just sitting on my desk, waiting to get hung up,” Mari said Friday from his home. “I need a special spot for it.”
He credits team chemistry on and off the court for Canada’s gold-medal success.
“It was a lot about us being not only a team, but a family,” Mari said. “(The final) was the best game where we worked together and played as a team. It wasn’t a one-man show.”
Although it was a short-term event, and the Canadian players had just met each other, they came together in short order.
“We were all open to meeting new people, and then we all just grew a bond after that,” said Mari, who equated that national team experience to his tight relationship with his Lloydminster teammates on the high school Barons and the club volleyball Rustlers.
“What happens on the court is often dictated, quite a bit, by what happens off the court. So, I would say our trust in each other came a lot from our ability to be around each other and have a good time off the court.
“As a team, we went to every meal together. We always had our team-building sessions on game days. And then, just hanging around at the dorms in the lounge, we were always together and realized there’s no reason not to be with the team you’re only with for two weeks.”
The young Canadian talents will have plenty of time to get to know each other. They’ll represent the nation at the NORCECA U19 worlds in the summer of 2027.
Though standouts on their local clubs, these national players quickly adapt to new roles.
“Yeah, I would say my own personal role was almost being ready to go on (the court) at any time,” said the six-foot-five Mari, still a relative newcomer to volleyball after transitioning from basketball in his Grade 10 year.
“So, especially in the big games, it was about staying prepared and staying focused on the game, and that goes for everybody on our team. Everybody was always engaged. There was no disengagement between who was on and who was off. It was always working as a team and trying to encourage the other guys to be the best they can be.
“Every now and again, I got called upon. Went in and tried my best, just tried to help the team out. In the big games, like our semifinal and final, it was a lot of the starters playing, and they were all phenomenal volleyball players. It worked out well in our favour.”
Every step of the way, Mari embraced the support of his teammates and his family. Along with his parents, his younger brother Hendrix and his father’s girlfriend attended the world qualifying tournament in British Columbia.
“I would say my favourite moment was just being on the court and being able to turn to my left or my right and seeing not only my teammates cheering, and everybody being engaged, but also seeing my family engaged,” he said.
Mari is the lone Saskatchewan representative with Team Canada’s U19 squad, also consisting of eight Ontario players, four from B.C., and one from Alberta (Red Deer’s Hudson Penz).
Four other players were cut after the national team tryouts in Kelowna. Mari approached that selection camp as an educational opportunity.
“I tried to look at it as more of a learning experience than me showing my ability,” he said. “I think focusing more on your own individual growth in scenarios like that is overall better than just trying to be better than everyone else.”
Another such development opportunity comes next fall. For the first semester of his senior year of high school, Mari has been selected to train in Winnipeg as part of Volleyball Canada’s men’s national excellence program.
The program is “designed to prepare Canada’s most promising high school athletes to perform at the highest level of sport and to continue their development toward the national senior team program and/or playing professional volleyball,” reads a news release from Volleyball Canada. “It offers individual technical and tactical skill development, as well as team-play refinement.”
Immediately before he joined Team Canada in B.C., Mari participated in the Saskatchewan provincial championships in Warman with his U17 Rustlers club.
“Provincials went all right,” said the Lloydminster Meridian Source’s choice as the athlete of the month for May. “Definitely not the showing we wanted. But it could have been worse. But it could have been a bit better, too.”
As summer nears, Mari and one of his Rustlers teammates, Beckett Rogers, are partnering for the beach volleyball season.
“I love beach volleyball,” said Mari, welcoming the chance to play outdoors in the sun and sand.
“It does take a little bit of getting used to, but once you get used to it, it’s so fun.”
Read more: AJHL prospect Toma writes his own story en route to Lloydminster
