By Jordan Shifman
At first glance, it would seem as though the Lisgar Collegiate Institute Lords simply had a very successful volleyball season.
After all, the senior boys team finished 9-1 during the regular season and won the city championships for the first time since 1977.
They went on to win all four preliminary matches at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations finals, including one against the school that ended up winning the tournament, Chatham-Kent Secondary School, only to narrowly lose in the quarter-finals, finishing fifth overall.
At a closer look, it’s a team that wasn’t supposed to succeed, led by a captain that wasn’t supposed to be playing volleyball.
Lords’ captain Stuart Hamilton has been battling Crohn’s disease for just over two years. The disease is known to cause weight loss, blood loss, abdominal pain, intestinal problems, and often requires lifelong treatment.
The 18-year-old has been playing volleyball since he was 12, but at the end of last season the disease forced him into a hospital bed.
“The doctors said I shouldn’t be playing volleyball,” he says. “I told my dad that I wanted to make the provincial team, win the title and win the Ken Davies Memorial Award for most valuable captain for the Ontario Volleyball Association. And I wanted to go to OFSAA. He thought I was crazy.”
But within less than a year, Hamilton accomplished all of those goals. He says he was most surprised that the team made it to OFSAA.
He knew the team’s regular coach was going on maternity leave all season and there were no other volleyball coaches to take over.
“We’ve always just been second best,” he says. “Then I showed up for volleyball this season and the badminton coach was there. It was pretty weird. But we soon realized he was a great coach. He taught us to play with heart, not skill.”
When teachers were told the AAA volleyball team didn’t have a coach, Robert Tang volunteered for the job, even though he knew nothing about volleyball.
To learn the rules, the math teacher watched as many summer Olympic volleyball games as he could.
He says the keys to the team’s success were unity and Hamilton’s leadership.
“(Hamilton) basically ran the team from a technical point of view. I helped them to have one collective goal,” he says. “Our goal was to obtain the next point, and the way they obtained the next point was to play with their heart. That’s what I tried to instill in them.”
Lisgar principal Patricia Irving says she is proud the team overcame their obstacles and is not surprised Tang was an effective coach.
“Mr. Tang did a great job. What he may have lacked in skill in that sport, he made up in the knowledge of sport in general and how to play as a team,” she says. “To see all those players come together and see their individual skills add up to a great team success is wonderful.”
Steve Sevor, OFSAA assistant director, says his organization encourages schools to produce their best team, and for athletes to give their best efforts.
He says Hamilton’s perseverance is inspiring for others.
“The character of that individual exemplifies the ideals that OFSAA has of high school sport and the type of dedicated player we represent as an organization,” he says.
Hamilton says he’s been lucky in life, despite his illness.
“I’ve been pretty blessed,” he says. “I’m proud I’ve been able to be involved in all of this over the past year.
“This shows you that if you keep hoping and working hard, and put (in) a lot of effort and a lot of heart, everything will eventually pay off.”