Like
many kids growing up, Jacqueline Caverly tried her hand at the usual array of
sports such as baseball, soccer, and swimming. However, the third-year business
administration student found her calling in volleyball, where she is currently
a member of the Capilano squad and leading the women of the PacWest for digs
(averaging 4.67 a game, with 350 overall).
Caverly
comes from a sports family, and that’s putting it lightly. She and her brother
Dan are both in their third year of playing volleyball for Capilano, and Dan is
second in the league for digs (averaging 3.28 a game, with 246 overall).
“I
don’t think there’s really competition between us,” says Caverly about the
volleyball relationship between her and her brother. “We’ve always played
together, and we used to set up a court in our front yard. We’d invite people
over and we’d play and practice all the time.”
The
ties to volleyball in the family do not end there. Their parents, Tom and
Sandra Caverly, not only played volleyball, but also met playing the sport.
Caverly’s dad, Tom, eventually went on to work for Volleyball B.C. With a set
of parents who were both avid volleyball players and a pair of kids with a
burgeoning volleyball skill set, it seems only natural that there would be some
good matches between the four.
“We
used to [play them] when we were little, and [my parents] would run all these
plays and try to trick us,” says Caverly.
She
and Dan got their revenge, though: “Sometimes they would play Dan and I against
just my dad, or just my mom. … I think it was hard for my parents that first
day when they realized they couldn’t win against us anymore.”
There
is also a third sibling, Katherine – however, she doesn’t play volleyball.
Instead, she plays soccer for UBC, and before UBC she played for the Canadian
U-17 squad.
Although
Caverly has been having a fantastic season at Capilano, she remains humble:
“Stats can sometimes be misleading,” she says. “It always feels good to see
your name at the top of a list, but our defensive style affects it, the amount
of playtime, the amount of games and our opponents … It’s something that I’m
really proud of, but everyone is really strong … a lot of people are really
focused on reaching the goal.”
Their
head coach, Wayne Dejsardins, has built the Capilano women’s volleyball program
from the ground up, leading them to the playoffs every year over the course of
13 seasons.
“Everyone
knows how much work he does, he puts hours and hours and hours in … going over
game tape, looking up all the stats,” says Caverly. “He knows just about
everything about just about everyone … it’s really good to have him on your
side as a coach.”
By
the end of this season, Wayne Desjardins will no longer be leading the Blues
women into the playoffs. After a lifetime involved in the sport, Desjardins
will be hanging up the whistle: “It will be hard without him next year, but I’m
sure that whoever they get will be able to continue on with what Wayne has
built,” says Caverly.
Despite
her small stature (she stands 5’5), Caverly found her place in the sport by
playing a defensive game. “When you’re growing up, if you’re small, [the
coaches] kind of ignore you in terms of offence … It’s really good that there’s
a position that I can play that I don’t have to be forced to show my offensive
skills,” she says.
With
three more season left to play at Capilano, a new head coach on the way, and
several new draft classes to come into what may possibly end up being a
completely revamped system, it will be interesting to see where Caverly goes with
her game, and how the entire squad deals with some of the challenges that they
may be facing in the coming season.
//Erik Horn, sports writer
//Photo by Jason Jeon
//Erik Horn, sports writer
//Photo by Jason Jeon
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