Undefeated N.B. girls volleyball team 'devastated' it can't compete for national title

A group of undefeated female volleyball players from Moncton trained for two years, won every tournament, outperformed older athletes and became the best in New Brunswick. But it wasn't enough to earn a shot at the under-15 national championship this year.

Volleyball Canada regulations place the Cyclones in the third tier for the nationals in Alberta this week. The best the team can finish is 17th.

Coach Jon Clinch said team members trained hard to fulfil their dream of playing at the tournament's highest level, or within the top two tiers.

It wasn't an unrealistic goal. The team won the Canadian under-14 championship last year. Progressing to under-15 this year, the team went undefeated and won the Atlantic title.

"Nobody can believe that a provincial champion doesn't get to compete for a national championship," Clinch said in an interview. "On top of the fact that we won the national championship the year before."

Volleyball Canada's ranking system allocates points to each province. The Cyclones say they maxed out the number of points they could have earned over the past year for New Brunswick and still don't qualify for the top two tiers at nationals.

Clinch said the points system is hard to understand, but the team didn't expect to receive the ranking it did.

"It was a surprise to us because of the fact that we won the nationals the year before and the resume we had this year," he said.

Volleyball Canada told the Cyclones that guidelines are based on a weighted point system. It allots points based on a team's ranking going into provincial championships and its rank coming out.

Each age and gender also has a unique point scale based on the past six to 10 years of data on how each province or territory performed at previous national championships.

This is where Clinch wants more information. He wonders how it is possible that a team ranked 12th in Ontario gets to play in the top two tiers, but a team ranked first in New Brunswick doesn't?

"We understand that seeding can be complicated to explain, given the many factors involved," Sandra de Graaff, Volleyball Canada's director of domestic competitions, said in a statement to CBC.

"Cyclones couldn't have done anything to change their situation, as seeding is base on historical data, as per the current guidelines.

"The 15U girls category has 312 teams participating from across many parts of the country, so this NB team (15UG Cyclones) is still ranked well ahead of the majority of the teams in this category."

De Graaff said New Brunswick has not placed higher than 14th at the under-15 girls level, earning that rank in 2015. 

The appeal

When Clinch found out how the Cyclones were ranked, he and executive director Amy Clinch, who is also his partner, appealed the decision. Volleyball Canada denied it, saying all seeding rules were followed.

"No information was provided to indicate that seeding was performed incorrectly or outside of the National Seedings Guidelines," Volleyball Canada wrote in its decision.

Amy Clinch said she understands that Volleyball Canada didn't break its own procedures.

"What they're failing to see is their rules and policies are not just and fair," she said.

"I find it heartbreaking, especially for these kids because they trained so hard," she said. "It's hard for the coaches, it's hard for the parents. A lot of money was invested, you know, it's in Alberta. It's just really, really frustrating the fact that New Brunswick is just off the radar."

One athlete stayed up crying all night, Amy Clinch added, when she realized there was no chance her team could play at the higher levels. She said for some of the girls, it's the first time they're experiencing barriers in sports.

"They're just devastated, devastated," she said. "There's already a lot of barriers in sports for girls, for girls sports, and I just feel like adding another one is just so heartbreaking."

Jon Clinch said the athletes are still planning to represent New Brunswick as best they can. But he said the team will never know how well it could have done at a higher level.