The opening serve on the 2011-2012 Red Deer College Kings volleyball season is still a few months away but don’t tell that to head coach Aaron Schulha.
The Kings recently announced the addition of six new recruits for the Kings next season, including Edmonton natives Jackson Maris, Chris Jones and Pat McIntyre, as well as Dan Schurling (Neerlandia, Alberta), Robin Smith (Whitehorse, Yukon) and Robert Brotherton (Busby, Alberta).
“Jackson has been one of the top two setters in the province for his age group in each of the past three seasons,” said Schulha of Maris, who is the younger brother of current King Boston Maris.
“He has been widely recruited by many CCAA schools, CIS schools including the University of Alberta and NCAA schools including the University of Hawaii. Jackson will come to RDC next year and will be expected to make an immediate impact as one of the premiere setters in the ACAC. At 6’3”, he will not only be an impact player in running our offense but he will be a threat at the net both offensively and defensively. He has a tremendous passion for the sport and his volleyball IQ is very high. We are very excited to add Jackson to an already solid core group of returners.
Jones, meantime, is a left side power hitter who Schulha feels will also be able to step in right away and help the Kings get back to Nationals, where they finished in fifth last season.
“He has the potential to be a very solid CIS player in the near future, “ said Schulha.
“Chris is one of those rare ‘complete athletes’ at the high school level that possesses a good jump, a great arm, is a strong passer and has a tremendous volleyball IQ. He has played with the same group of athletes in his Northern Alberta Volleyball Club program over the past few years and they have won the vast majority of tournaments that they have entered. They have developed a culture of winning and along Jackson and Pat and Chris has been a key contributor to the success of that group. He’ll be key to the success of the Kings volleyball program next year.”
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