How does a gifted basketball player at a high school with no volleyball program get a university scholarship to play the latter sport?
Well, it certainly helps when you're six-foot-six, can manoeuvre like a gazelle, and can jump out of the gym.
Ryan Sclater, a co-captain and top point producer on the heralded Terry Fox Ravens AAA senior boys hoop squad, signed a letter of intent to play volleyball next fall with Langley's Trinity Western Spartans, it was announced Friday.
The 17-year-old Sclater -- a member of Team BC the last two years who captained the unit to the gold medal at the 2011 Western Elite Championship -- will join fellow Fraser Valley Volleyball Club-mates Tyler Heppell and Scott Plocktis on the Spartans. The three are considered to be among the top five prep recruits in the province this year.
"These three mark the best all-B.C. recruiting class our program has ever seen," raved Spartans head coach Ben Josephson. "We've had many great classes over the years but this is the first year in which we have 100 per cent home-grown talent coming in. The future looks very bright."
Josephson is elated to have collared the talented Sclater, who is also a member of the Centre of Excellence, a Volleyball Canada initiative that provides high-performance training.
"Ryan brings a very unique skill set to us," Josephson said. "He is very tall and long but possesses great athleticism. He is a big jumper and has great speed and agility, which will aid him in being a great passer.
"Ryan also has a great understanding of team and what it takes to be a teammate. These are virtues we hold with the highest esteem."
Sclater boasts a 96 per cent high school average and is looking forward to joining the Spartans for one main reason -- to win.
"I'm attending TWU because I want to be on the best team in the country... and be with an awesome group of guys for the next four or five years," said Sclater, who's also a soccer standout at Fox and plans to study sciences at TWU. "And it's half-an-hour away from my house. What more could I want?"
SFU's BASSO TOP ALL-AMERICAN
Coquitlam's Carlo Basso of the Simon Fraser Clan university men's soccer squad was named to the 2011 NCAA Div. 2 All-American first team, it was announced Friday. SFU's Matt Besuschko of Port Moody was chosen a third team All-American.
"It feels great to cap off a successful season with this honour," said Basso, who was the Clan's top striker during its first-ever undefeated season last campaign.
