Pakmen Are an Indomitable Force

By DAVID WINER

Nightmares can be instigated by a plethora of reasons including stress, anxiety, trauma and medications.

Perhaps its time lexicographers and other dictionary editors amended the meaning to include those frightful volleyball players who munch on their foes in an incessant and vigorous manner.

Like their namesakes from the 1980s maze chase video game, Pac-Man, the Mississauga based Pakmen Volleyball Club has spawned generations of elite players who have persistently thrived to be the best they can be.

With the help of an assemblage of the best volleyball minds and coaches in the country, Pakmen have become a generational gathering of volleyball players who refuse to consider the word losing.

Over the past decade, Pakmen have let their actions do the talking, becoming the top club in Canada for 11 straight years and the best club in Ontario for a decade and a half.

Competing at this year’s Youth Nationals Indoor Championships, Pakmen earned three gold and three silver medals, easily distancing themselves from the rest of this vast land.

Along with winning the Under 14 girls’ division, Pakmen nearly swept all age groups on the men’s side, winning gold in the U16 and U18 categories and capturing silver in the U14, U15 and U17 classifications.

“I’m very pleased with our rep programs under (head coach) Jessy’s (Satti) leadership,” said Pakmen founder Kelly Smith. “With only two teams per age/gender we are able to offer each team the best possible coaches. And Jessy, and his team, can provide everyone with lots of support.

“Our coaches always seem to do a great job in selecting the right athletes,” added Smith. “They look for acquired skills, ‘coach-ability’ and character. When you have the right leader, good things happen.”

Good things certainly happened for the U14 girls.

After a disappointing showing at the Provincials, Andrew Rutter’s squad rebounded in a formidable way, overcoming several setbacks to win gold with a 25-21, 10-25, 15-13 win over Halton Hurricanes in the gold medal match.

The win came on the footsteps of two other three-set victories in the quarters and semis, besting Quebec’s L’Impact 25-16, 22-25, 19-17 followed by Ontario’s Mountain Matterhorn 25-11, 22-25, 15-8.

“Nothing came easy on that playoff day,” admitted Rutter. “Based on the strengths of the top eight teams at Nationals, we entered the final day mentally prepared to win all three matches in three sets. So when it did actually happen, there was never any panic. We had 12 athletes ready and eager to be pivotal parts of that third set.”

The U14 girls had a comparatively easier march to the playoff round, except for one hiccup, along the way.

“We lost a game on day one, 15-13 in the third set, but identified the issue resulting in our excessive error rate,” explained Rutter. “Losing the match provided a little motivation to fix the error rate. And, once addressed, it was a big reason for a very successful day two.”

Unlike Provincials where the squad won bronze and lacked some serious ‘Girl power’, having all hands on deck for Nationals made all the difference.

“We are a team of 12, with two complete and balanced lineups,” explained Rutter. “It’s because of our excellent depth in skill and talent that we play well together.

“Each athlete comprises an ingredient that is vital to the overall success of the team. At Provincials, we lost two of our setters to fractured bones, and another athlete to a back injury. Although we trained another athlete to fill in as setter — and she did an excellent job — having nine athletes instead of 12 disrupted our chemistry and flow. We needed those missing ingredients back. At Nationals, we were once again whole.”

Asked if the players felt slighted entering the Nationals as Ontario’s No. 3 seed, Rutter felt the positioning was justified, while simultaneously providing the girls with extra motivation.

“I feel we were rated appropriately based on our performance at Provincials and the excellent performance of the other clubs,” said Rutter. “At the same time, with 12 healthy athletes now ready to compete and three weeks to prepare, we knew that we were stronger than that ranking and we were excited to demonstrate it.

“Overall balanced play from each athlete executing their roles and shining in different moments was instrumental in becoming National Champions.”

Members of the gold medal team include Jaiden Alves, Tasneem Chowdhury, Lily Dick, Rosie Igbinovia, Sophia Li, Katie Rutter, Melania Saluchok, Kayleigh Sinclair-Killackey, Spring Shen, Ella Wittemund, Helen Yuan, Miranda Zhao and coaches Kelly Sinclair and Devan O’Connor.

The Pakmen U16 boys had some unfinished business to settle at Nationals after losing at Provincials to the vaunted Venom Black Mambas.

And, once they were able to overcome that hurdle, winning the gold medal against B.C.’s Duck Volleyball 25-16, 25-13 was relatively easy.

However, before reaching the gold medal match, Pakmen had to fight and claw their way past the Mambas in the semi-finals, 20-25, 25-21, 15-9.

“We lost to Venom multiple times this season before beating them,” opined head coach Saad Shaikh. “I think what separated us from (losing at) Provincials was our pure will to win. We just wanted it more.

“Venom is a great team. What makes them so dominant is the constant pressure they put on you. We did a great job being disciplined with our emotions after the first set loss and just started competing and playing our game, and it worked in our favor.”

Shaikh emphasized the team’s hard work during the season paid dividends down the road.

“I think we are so good under pressure because we practice and perform that way every day at practice,” said Shaikh. “My guys face a lot of pressure at practice, more than they face in a game. So when they find themselves in those moments, they have experienced them multiple times before.

“Our goal was to get better every game and that’s exactly what we did,” he concluded.

Victory didn’t come without some personal accomplishments along the way, including an MVP performance from Mateo Rodriguez and all-star showings from Cole Heynen and Kian Dezfulian.

Shaikh had nothing but praise for his entire squad.

“Q. Lopez, in his first year playing, was clearly the best Libero in the country; Pav Nijjar played every single set at Provincials and Nationals and constantly showed off his leadership.

“Zak McGrath is an all-around game changer; Chima Charles and Daniel Marukhnyak were big factors in the middle and Michael Wittemund is the greatest serving sub in the country.”

Shaikh drew tons of support from Saqib Shaikh, Karman Singh Nahal and Pranshu Patel, “who are the best assistant coaches in the game. They were the main reason we had success.”

U18 boys head coach Omar Jazar made no bones about it. Winning Provincials would have been a nice accomplishment, but winning Nationals was the year-long goal.

“Every year, Provincials is our last stepping stone before Nationals,” said Jazar. “As a team, our goal has always been Nationals, and going through that loss in the semis at Provincials was the perfect test for the team, emotionally, mentally and physically; the athletes were tested on all fronts. It was the same at Nationals. But, this time, the players knew what to do to figure it out.

“The loss in the Provincial semi-finals was our last test to see where we lacked and where we were strong.”

Entering Nationals as a lower seed meant competing in a difficult bracket right from the start.

“The preliminary matches were tough!,” concurred Jazar. “In our pool play we had the top teams from Quebec and Manitoba, who won their own Provincials. Every one of our players were able to showcase both their skills and perform as a unit. It’s phenomenal to see such a roster full of talent wholeheartedly be there for each other.

“The second day of power pools play was also tough,” continued Jazar. “We had WinMan Clutch and Kitchener Waterloo Predators. Our first match on the second day was against the Predators, our Ontario rivals, who had beaten us at Provincials. We knew what to expect and knew the challenges we would face. The players knew what they had to do, and won in two sets. In our second match against WinMan, we knew they would be a good team as we faced them in the Nationals last year. But, the boys executed and got the job done in two sets.”

While the last day of play appeared less hectic, winning two of the matches in two straight sets, Jazar begged to differ.

“Every team was very good, because this was the final tournament of our rep season. But we worked on picking out our opponents weaknesses while also highlighting their strengths. By doing so we were able to strategize.”

After defeating Manitoba’s Brandon VC 25-18, 25-13 in the quarters and B.C.’s Pacific Coast VC 25-16, 26-24 in the semis, it was time to take on WinMan one more time for the gold.

“After beating WinMan the day before in two sets, we understood we were up to the challenge, but it wasn’t going to be easy. The first set was hard fought with Winman securing the win 25-20. In the second set the boys rallied in the end to take it 25-21. Once the third set came around it was all on the guys to trust each other and the work they put in. You could feel the energy of all 14 guys for each and every point until we secured the win 15-12.

“I believe every player on our team had a key role at some point throughout the three days whether it was physically contributing, or something as simple as keeping the guys together when the coaches weren’t around, or making sure everyone met on time to talk strategy. Every player was a major contributor to our national championship, and without them, none of this would’ve been possible.

“I’ve been with this team for six years and the boys just worked immensely hard through the ups and downs. They continued to trust the coaches and each other. And, in the end, it paid off. It’s a testament to the leaders we have that no matter how hard things got, the boys demonstrated resilience and self discipline.”

Members of the team are Rennick Koskela, Ben Karmazyn, Ashkan Amiri, OVA all-stars Parker Ocampo and Daniel Lewis, Tristan Hassell, Yahia Elayed, Troy D’Cunha, National all-stars Misha Panasiouk and Mekhi Fitzgerald, National MVP Brendan Lyons, Dillon Layne, Tyson Parashyniak-Doll and Justin Low-Ring.

Jazar was assisted by Diem Huynh, Osemi Efosa and Gagan Majhel.