Three seniors from Belmont secondary school have become a triple-threat for Camosun College.
Taran Silas, Doug Waterman and Mark Severinsen have secured their names on the roster for the Camosun Chargers men’s volleyball team for next fall.
Dave Dooley coaches the teens on the Victoria Volleyball Association U18 team. He’s also the assistant coach to the Chargers team and will continue working with the three players in the fall.
Silas, captain of the U18 team, is a “high flyer” on the court, Dooley said. “Taran is a good leader and he leads by example. He leads with his voice and by his actions.”
Dooley is also excited to welcome Waterman on the team next year, as the Chargers are losing three of their four middle players.
“(Waterman) could be walking into a starting spot on the team. He is a big kid, but he needs to get a bit quicker and develop a sense of his position on the court,” Dooley explained.
“Mark is a really strong kid,” he continued. “He needs to learn to jump a bit higher, but he’s got the technique.”
Having one Belmont player make the Camosun team is amazing, said Belmont coach Kris Johnson, but three is unheard of.
“I have watched them grow into technically sound players,” said Johnson, who coached the boys at Dunsmuir middle school and Belmont. “They’ve just turned into real, cool young men. When I found out they were all playing for Camosun I was dumbfounded. These boys work hard at everything they do.”
Severinsen found out he was selected for the team in January, and it thrilled him because he was already planning on attending Camosun in the fall to study computer technology.
“This will be really nice to be going to college and continue playing volleyball with two of my best friends,” Severinsen said. “I really wanted to continue on with volleyball and stay in town.”
In Severinsen’s family, volleyball has always been an important sport. Two of Severinsen’s older brothers played for the Belmont team and even helped coach it.
“I used to go watch my brother play college ball in Selkirk (College) and now he can come and watch me play,” said the left side player.
Waterman was offered a partial scholarship to Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, but opted to stay in Victoria near his friends and family.
“I really wanted to stay and play with my friends who I’ve been playing with since Grade 8,” Waterman said. “Most people don’t get to play with their best friends after high school.”
When he’s not on the court, Silas has decided he’d like to study business and marketing.
“College ball is a lot faster and the guys are much more massive and physically stronger,” Silas said. “In high school we could run whatever plays we wanted and it would work, but in college we are undersized and we’ll have to be smarter about the plays we choose.”
charla@goldstreamgazette.com