How does a graduate of Carson Graham secondary, a school located in a district that does not have a volleyball league for senior boys, find himself sitting in front of a gathering of reporters answering questions about how his team has just won a big volleyball match?
The team, by the way, was the Canadian senior men's national volleyball team. With Carson grad Fred Winters starting at power hitter and wearing the captain's armband, the Canadians had just dismantled Belgium 3-0 in the FIVB World League, an annual international tournament that pits the world's best national teams against each other.
It's a bit of a head scratcher for North Shore sports aficionados who know that although there have been some attempts at volleyball leagues for younger students, there hasn't been one at the senior level for many years. So how is a North Shore grad the captain of the national team? The answer is basketball.
Fred Winters grew up in Victoria and, as a strapping lad who pushed well past six feet tall — he's now about six-six — excelled in both volleyball and basketball. But basketball was his true love and what brought him to Carson Graham for the 1999-2000 year. His good friend Brent Charleton — both were members of the provincial basketball team — convinced Winters to become an Eagle for his Grade 12 year so that they could team up to dominate the AAA basketball ranks.
"I went there to win a provincial championship in basketball," Winters says with a laugh. "We came pretty close."
The Eagles, coached by Vern Porter, in fact finished third in the 2000 championship tournament.
"I remember losing in the semifinals," says Winters with just a hint of sadness, adding that he does have other fond memories of his year on the North Shore. "Go Eagles!"
Winters may have had basketball in the blood but it was volleyball that ended up paying the bills. Despite not playing high school volleyball in his Grade 12 year, he showed more than enough talent on other teams — including the junior national team — to earn a scholarship to Pepperdine University where he became the team's go-to hitter.
He then parlayed his play into a spot on the senior national team and a professional volleyball career that has taken him all over the world.
It's a path that served him very well and Winters says it's a shame that it's so tough for North Shore boys to follow his lead because the sport hasn't picked up at the high school level.
"Untapped resources, man — there might be good talent up there," he says. "A lot of good athletes. Any good basketball athlete has the potential to play volleyball. It's a shame that they don't have a league — I'm sure that there'd be guys that would play. It just takes one school to start."
Other than getting a painful reminder that the Eagles failed to win the 2000 provincial basketball title, things were going pretty well for Winters 14 years later on the night that the North Shore News caught up with him at UBC's Thunderbird Arena. Canada and Belgium were battling for first place in their World League pool and everything went right last Friday night for the Canadians as they won 25-15, 25-21, 25-21 in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
"It's fun to play when your offence is flowing, you're not making a lot of mistakes," says Winters. As often happens in elite sport, the tables turned the following night as Belgium rebounded to score a 3-1 win. The Canadians are back in action this weekend against Australia in Edmonton, hoping to get back to the final round of the World League tournament and match or beat the fifth-place showing they scored in 2013, the highest ever finish for the Canadian senior men in a global competition.
The big goal for the team is to make it back to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1992. Regardless of what happens in the years to come, Winters says he's still amazed by what has transpired in those years since his Carson Graham days.
"This is crazy that I've played 11 years professional, 12 years on the national team. I still feel young. People say I look the same, I'm not ageing. Man, I've got the best job. I don't want to start my real life yet."
The question remains though: does he miss basketball? "Yeah, all the time," he says with a laugh. "I can't play now, I'm just playing volleyball all the time. Yeah, I miss hoops. It's my favourite sport. . . . I'd take NBA finals over volleyball."
Winters is still doing OK though. More than OK, actually.
"I've got the best job," he says. "I love what I do."
