A Smithers Secondary School volleyball player has secured a spot on the Capilano University Blues team in North Vancouver.
Melissa Pesch will be graduating in the spring from high school and recently signed to play for the Blues in September 2022.
“I was offered a red shirt position for my first year which is basically means I get to practice, train and do everything with the team but I don’t get to participate in the games yet. That is mainly because we haven’t had a club team here because of COVID so I haven’t had as much practice as some of the other players.”
Smithers Secondary Sr. girls volleyball coach Kristina Stefanek said she is a leader on and off the court.
“She was our captain, she was our morale leader, very positive and very upbeat,” she said. “She can see the positives in every situation, even when we were down or playing a harder team she managed to always lift the team up. Skill wise, she was our middle blocker but also our best passer. No matter where she was on the court, she was a really strong player.”
Stefanek is proud of her and added she is ecstatic for her to have this opportunity to play at a university level.
“I see how hard she works in her studies and she puts 100 per cent in everything she does. She deserves this.”
Pesch also kept busy this school year coaching the grade 8 and junior volleyball teams; played basketball and was on the track team all while continuing with her love of theatre, jazz and concert bands.
Pesch will be studying kinesiology at Capilano, having she secured one of only 40 spots for first years in the bachelor program. She isn’t quite sure what she will do after university and is open to see how the world of sports and kinesiology changes.
“Being a kinesiologist is picking up more of its own profession, instead of having to master in physiotherapy or some other aspect,” she added.