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It happened in the Gold Medal game between Pakmen 17U Gold and Phoenix Legacy (17U) at OVA Challenge Cup, on Dec 2 2023, in Oakville:
By DAVID WINER Special The Pakmen have drawn a line in the sand that may never be crossed. Competing at the Ontario Volleyball Association Beach Provincials, the Pakmen Volleyball Club prevailed with a flurry of gold medal performances that would confound the most optimistic prognosticator. “It was a record performance!” said ecstatic Pakmen director Kelly Smith. “These were the most Tier 1 gold medals at a Provincial Championship in OVA history.” Many of the 200 enthusiastic youngsters, who took to the six regulation sized courts this summer to participate in Elite Beach training, competed at an unworldly level resulting in 10 out of a possible 15 Tier 1 gold medal showings. “We are especially proud of head coach Jessy Satti after coming off a record-breaking indoor season,” said Smith. “His 18U boys won Provincials and Nationals, and he became the first coach to ever win three consecutive 18U national titles. Now, his male beach athletes performed so well, winning almost every single event, including several all-Pakmen finals, and in some cases, winning gold, silver and bronze. “Also, Arjun Selhi, who played for Jessy as an indoor player and was one of Jessy’s assistant coaches on the beach for three years is now in charge of the girls’ program and they also enjoyed a lot of success.” Assisting Satti on the boys’ side were Omar Abu Jazar, Saad Shaikh and Kadeem Clarke, while Selhi was assisted by Osemi Efosa. “Across the board on the boys and girls side we’ve had a tremendous amount of success, said Satti. “I give a lot of credit to the athletes, who make the conscious decision to stick with their teammates and do beach volleyball with the club. It creates a really good dynamic and team culture. There’s lots of opportunities for players to do different beach programs with other coaches, but I’ve found our athletes enjoy our beach program. It shows that the club is able to offer high quality programming 12 months of the year, and our results from indoor and beach proves that.” Setting the tone were Pakmen trailblazers Salma Abdelrazak on the girls’ side and the tandem of Misha Panasiouk and Aleksa Rakic on the boys’ side who worked overtime to collect two gold medals apiece. Panasiouk and Rakic mastered the 15U and 16U Tier 1 age groups that were chock-full of Pakmen teammates. “I think Misha and Aleks had a great summer. When they played up (16U) and won, it was definitely a special moment,” said Satti. “I think they showed people that the way beach volleyball is played can outweigh factors like size and athleticism. We make sure to teach beach the way we feel it should be played, and we’ve done that since the inception of our club. By getting athletes to buy into the training and structure, it puts them in a position to have a lot of success.” The 15U division, contested August 12-13 at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay, was swept by Panasiouk and Rakic, followed by silver medalists Davis Hinshelwoods and Spencer Ham and bronze medalists Cooper Spehr and Jonathan Sousa. Pakmen inhabited two of the three podium placings in the 16U competition on August 5-6 with Yahia Elsayed and Chris Tang securing the bronze. The highlight of the tournament for both Panasiouk and Rakic was beating Elsayed and Tang in the 16U semi-final. “We lost to them in the final at an earlier tournament and they became the duo that we always wanted to play and beat,” explained Rakic. “While we lost to them in the first set, we fought through it and eventually won the third set 18-16.” “Even though we were ranked No. 1 entering the competition, the favorites were Yahia and Chris, who are both really good beach players and were also the tournament winners last year,” added Panasiouk. “We are also a year younger than them. But in a really close third game we were able to win, despite the fact the majority of the audience supported the opposing team.” A lot of planning had to go into Rakic and Panasiouk’s style of play considering there would be extra wear and tear on their bodies competing on back-to-back weekends. “Having to play multiple games a day with only about an hour of time for a break, it came down to how efficiently we used our time to rest and recover,” explained Rakic. “Sitting in the shade, and wearing towels and shirts to conserve our energy, was a must. After finishing each day we used our time to recover using ice, a roller and massage gun to prepare us for the next day and stay as fresh as possible.” However, the biggest reason for success, other than talent, is the rapport the two have developed. “Since Misha joined our rep team two years ago we’ve stayed close friends,” said Rakic, who attends Mississauga’s Applewood Secondary School. “Being able to connect easily from this friendship, it was easy to play together. All the time that we spent practicing on the beach and indoors made our basic skills better and helped us learn how to help each other through our struggles. If I’m struggling Misha is there to help me, and if Misha is struggling, I am there to help him.” Panasiouk, who attends Earl Haig in North York, says there’s a number of factors for their success. “The first is, of course, trust. We know that at the most crucial and stressful moment we will make the right decision that will lead the team to success. The second is communication. We are good at making our jobs easier and more efficient by communicating on the court; and the third is we are strong players in terms of set of skills no matter who the opponent serves, we know that we will definitely score a point.” “We are able to adapt and learn from our opponents,” added Rakic. “We understand how our opponents play and not only play to our strengths, but to their
It’s Monday night in Mississauga. Deep in the heart of the suburbs, a group of grade 12 girls clusters outside a nondescript middle school, laughing, chattering, on their phones. But these girls look taller than average, and stronger. They’re clad in sweatshirts, track pants, socks and sandals in spite of the cold. Volleyball wear. It’s practice time for the girls of Pakmen Gold.
It might seem like any other season as they wander into the gym, but it’s not. There are less tournaments, and the rosters have been whittled down to those who truly love the sport. The competition is tougher. There’s the pressure of keeping grades up, choosing universities, and trying to establish a winning legacy for the team. Welcome to 18U, the final year of club volleyball.
Pakmen veteran Caitlin Le has played for the club since 13U, when she was memorable for her unique eyewear and outsize hitting which was the envy of the league. She already knows it will be a wrench when the season ends. “I will definitely feel like a part of me has been left in the club,” says Le. She plays libero now, and her black-rimmed sports goggles have long since been replaced by contact lenses. “Pakmen is where my roots are,” she adds, “I have made many fond memories over the past years and will cherish them forever.”
Hard-working International Baccalaureate student Julia Wiercigroch echoes Le’s sentiments, and observes, “I’ll miss that sense of family. Pakmen gave me the volleyball foundation to build on, and space to grow.” Wiercigroch has been by Le’s side since those early days, but that too will end. Whereas Le will head west in September to study and play at Manitoba’s Brandon University, Wiercigroch will travel east, to Queen’s University in Kingston.
For all the girls, the end of the journey is also a beginning. Post-secondary decisions, despite being squeezed in between practices, workouts, and homework, have been a chance to reflect on the volleyball experience. “In addition to a great kinesiology program, I was looking for a university with a close-knit community, great coaching, and supportive teammates,” explains third-year Pakmen hitter Lucy Glen-Carter, who will attend Nova Scotia’s Acadia University in the fall, “They’re all things I have at my club.”
The importance of belonging is not lost on any of the players. Middle Jenna Woock joined Pakmen this year, but first played with Le, Wiercigroch, Glen-Carter, and Janelle Albert in 15U, when they won the Winter Games title with Team Ontario Region 5. For Woock, the 18U year has never been about chasing medals. “It’s about training and playing with the right girls, working with the right coaches, and competing at the highest level,” says Woock, who became the first Ontario player to commit this season, signing with the University of Toronto last September.
Fearsome hitter Janelle Albert has chosen to stay close to home as well, joining Dustin Reid’s Ryerson Rams, where she will reunite with three former teammates from last year’s Pakmen 18U roster. She also highlights the importance of finding a team that’s the right fit, and adds that volleyball is about more than just ball-handling skills. “Teamwork, trust, and the ability to correct your own errors are also important skills to learn,” notes the perennial All-Star.
As setter Alicia Lam considers university offers, she too acknowledges the sport’s impact. “Club volleyball has been such a positive influence on my life,” says Lam, who was part of the historic Pakmen team which won the 16U and 17U Ontario Championship double in 2015. “My coaches are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the sport and they focus on sharing that knowledge to ensure everyone’s success,” she declares. “I have also made many great friends over the years, and I hope to stay in touch with them in the future.”
Those friends include the other members of Pakmen Gold. Beth Rohde has, like Le and Glen-Carter, opted for a more intimate university experience. She will study biomedical sciences and play at Trent University in Peterborough. Middle Megan Beedie plans to head south of the border to Arizona State, and Alex Bartmann will set at Humber Polytechnic next season. Hitters Vanessa Leslie and Nicole Thompson continue to weigh their options, as does libero Megan Smith.
Given the formidable reputation of the Pakmen club, it’s no surprise that the girls are in demand. Nine of the players are former provincial or national champions. Most of them are on the honour roll at their high schools. The team recently defeated rival Halton Hurricanes in the 18U Grand Prix final, and are the number one seed heading into the Ontario Championships. They all know how they’d like to finish the year.
So while life after high school beckons, the team isn’t wishing the season away just yet. Like all grade 12 students, they’d like to be done with the English essays, the science labs, and the math tests. If prom was tomorrow, they’d be there. But it comes to volleyball, it’s a different story.
And that’s why, on a frozen Monday night in Mississauga, the Pakmen Gold girls will soon be flat out on the floor, diving, digging, rolling. They know that it’s a privilege to be recruited by a varsity team, or to contend for the provincial and national titles. And they know there are other players, at other clubs, in other gyms, who are training just as hard as they are. For now, there’s work to be done.
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