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On track with ‘Johnny Mac’: Halifax rookie Macdonald setting Trojans up for success
CALGARY (January 25, 2012)— Last spring, Ryan Marsden and his pal Dan Ota, the men’s volleyball coach at Halifax’s Dalhousie University, were cracking wise about the recent sporting pipeline that runs from Marsden’s SAIT Trojans to Oda’s Tigers.
Fearsome right-side Kenny Rauwerda and setter Justin Kilb both moved on to Dalhousie, a Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’s volleyball power, following the Trojans’ 2009-10 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship.
“I told Dan, ‘Hey, it’s time for you to pay us back. Help us out with somebody here,’ ” Marsden, the Trojans’ fifth-year head coach, recalls with a chuckle.
Sure enough, along came the young man known as Johnny Mac. Marsden was intrigued by the play of Haligonian Jonathan Macdonald during a scouting trip to the juvenile club nationals in Abbotsford, B.C. Ota, the president of the volleyball club Macdonald was playing for, arranged a meeting. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Despite being a raw, 18-year-old collegiate rookie playing thousands of kilometres from home, Macdonald has stepped into SAIT’s starting setter’s role shared last year by veterans Keegan Kuhr and second-team ACAC all-star Patrick Mead — and proven his chops as the maestro of the Trojan offence.
“He set and hit on his club team. That showed what kind of grit he had, and I was attracted to that. I liked his attitude. And when we were able to talk, aside from the funny language he spoke,” quips Marsden, “he was an intelligent kid.
“It was a little scary for Johnny, taking the reins right away in the first semester. And our older guys, who know what it’s like to compete in this very tough league, helped so much in accelerating Johnny’s maturity,” adds Marsden. “Johnny’s a strong-willed kid. The other players demanded something closer to perfection from him as a setter, and he’s done fine.”
The Trojans (8-7), fresh off a tough three-loss week, now have a bye on the schedule in preparation for a tough doubleheader on Feb. 3 and 4 against the suddenly fearsome Lethbridge College Kodiaks (9-5), who’ve rocketed up into the top half of ACAC standings.
Macdonald (1st year, Halifax, business administration), who spent last season as a member of Nova Scotia’s provincial under-19 squad, has taken more on his shoulders than anyone on Marsden’s staff planned.
He was expected to share the setter’s role with college-tested Geoff Trentham (2nd year, Red Deer, Alta., travel and tourism), a former Medicine Hat College Rattler. But Trentham was ruled academically ineligible for the first semester, putting Macdonald on the hot seat through Christmas.
Trentham returned and set for the Trojans for one weekend in early January, but slipped on some ice during a bye week in mid-January, broke his hand, and saw his season written off. And for SAIT, it’s right back to Johnny Mac.
“It’s unfortunate what happened to Geoff, but by now, I feel like I have the capabilities to set for this team,” says Macdonald. “I’ve made a lot of adjustments to play at this level. I feel like I’m really starting to come along.
“It’s thinking more about creating an option for each hitter, running a spread offence — overloading one side, then going away to try and give that hitter some room,” he adds. “It’s about always giving the hitters a chance to make something happen.”
Macdonald sits fourth overall in the ACAC with an average of 1.2 assists per set, and has been more sure of himself week by week, says Marsden: “Hitters demand the ball. But he’s learned to handle the personalities on the team, and he’ll stand up for his own beliefs.”
