Being able to read the court and give yourself up for the team is all part of being the one player on a volleyball squad with a different coloured jersey. It’s been something Strathcona-Tweedsmuir grad Jyoti Ruparell was able to do for her school team and various club squads and now she plans to do the same for the 2018 University Sports women’s volleyball champions. Ruparell announced in late October she will attend Ryerson College in Toronto with plans to play for the Rams, who are presently ranked no. 2 in U Sports women’s volleyball rankings. “I signed last week in Toronto and it was absolutely incredible,” said Ruparell. “That was my top-choice academic school for its creative industries program, within that you can personalize what within media and the arts you would like to specialize in.” She is leaning towards communications and visual culture media modules in the program. “It’s very personalized which I love, and the volleyball team was a bonus on top of that,” she said. Ruparell, a class of 2018 grad, is taking a year off school before heading to The Big Smoke. She got introduced to volleyball in Grade 7 after dipping her toes in many of the activities as the multi-sport private-school STS, about 10km northwest of Okotoks. “I had tried out for fun, I tried out for all the sports that year,” said Ruparell, who credits Grade 7 coach Tina Kennedy for fueling that passion. “In Grade 8 I fell in love with volleyball.” She would follow that passion playing with the Spartans until he senior year in 2017-18, when she opted to focus on her studies and played club ball. She played a variety of position from setter to middle and ultimately a libero with her club team, the Junior Dinos (Ruparell was an outside hitter and libero her Grade 11 year at STS). Libero is a back-court player only – the one who digs out the opposition’s spike and giving a pass to the setter. “It is strange,” she said of the libero position. “I became libero because I was one of the shorter players on the team to be honest. “But I love passing – in volleyball without the first pass or a dig, you can’t run an offence without that. The pass is what starts the play.” Being a libero is like being on the receiving end of a firing squad – the job is to throw yourself in front of a speeding spike to dig for a good pass. “It can be intimidating when you are playing teams you haven’t seen before, but practices and having played so long you lose that fear after a while – that’s your job,” Ruparell said. “I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love it.” Digging and promoting things she loves is part of Ruparell’s lifestyle – she’s helping with two of her passions during her gap year of school – reading and Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School. Ruparell started the STS chapter of Love of Reading, nine years ago as an elementary student. The student-driven program collects funds to buy books for schools in the Calgary area which may not have the same access as other schools for reading material. “I was more of a student mentor this year,” she said. “We had a team of students, who helped organize the jars (for donations) in the classroom. The student leaders did an amazing job. I did things like paperwork and helped organize. The students did an amazing job.” Ruparell is also helping coach one of the younger volleyball teams at STS. FAC playoffs The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans have advanced to the Foothills Athletic Council Senior boys final by sweeping the upstart Highwood Mustangs 25-4, 25-19, 25-20 in the semifinals at STS on Monday. The Spartans went into the quarterfinals as the no. 1 seed. They will take on the winner of the Foothills Falcons-Holy Trinity Academy Knights match which was played Nov. 6 at the Comp. The Senior girls FAC final will be an all Okotoks final. Foothills advanced by downing the Mustangs 25-15, 25-19, 18-25, 25-22. The other Senior girls semifinal had the HTA Knights coming back to down the STS Spartans in four games. The Spartans took the first set 25-21. HTA roared to comeback with three straight wins in the match at Knights gym to advance to the final. Both of the senior finals will go Nov. 9 at the Crescent Point Regional Field House near Aldersyde at 7 p.m. The Senior finals will be preceded by the Junior varsity finals at 5:30 p.m. The JV girls final will pit HTA vs. Foothills. The Knights had downed the Mustangs in the semifinals on Monday night. Foothills got by the St. Joe’s Hawks out of Strathmore. The JV boys final has the STS Spartans playing the winner of the Falcons vs. Mustangs on Nov. 6.
