In simple terms, Mathew Guidi is going from a T-wolve to a T-bird.
Dig deeper and it's most apparent he's also going from one of the lesser known athletic high schools in the Tri-Cities to a university whose sports teams are consistently held in high esteem Canada wide.
The six-foot-three left side from Coquitlam - a Pinetree secondary senior - has committed to join the UBC Thunderbirds volleyball program on scholarship starting next fall.
Last Thursday's announcement of Guidi's signing with the T-birds coincides with that of six-foot-two left side Irvan Brar of Surrey and six-foot-seven middle blocker Joel Regehr of Courtenay.
What makes the T-birds grabbing Guidi even more impressive is that the Pinetree Timberwolves didn't even house a senior boys volleyball team last season. Guidi, 17, admitted he considered transferring to Dr. Charles Best or Heritage Woods - two local schools with committed volleyball programs - but elected to stay at Pinetree instead and continue to train in the Focus Volleyball club system.
"I like Pinetree and have a lot of friends here so I decided to stay," Guidi told The Tri-City News during a telephone interview Monday. "Not just my friends but my teachers, too they've all been congratulating me. It was hard for me to get noticed [by university recruiters], especially with me not playing in the [high school] provincials. But it's sweet to be coming out of Pinetree, a school not known for its sports as much as its academics."
Besides Guidi's athletic skill and book smarts, it helped greatly that he toiled in the Focus Volleyball club system and under the primary tutelage of UBC assistant coach Matt LeBourdais.
"[Guidi's] an outstanding ball control guy who loves to compete and hates to lose," said UBC head coach Richard Schick. "For a guy who didn't have a high school team to play on, he's taken advantage of every opportunity he's had to play the game and has excelled on both the beach and indoor club season.
"He not only loves to compete but loves to train. He can't get enough of the game and is going to fit in nicely on our team."
Apart from UBC, Guidi drew interest from several other schools both in Canada and the U.S., mostly enticingly Pepperdine situated on California's radiant Malibu shoreline.
"Pepperdine was the only other [university] I was really considering but one of the main reasons I chose UBC was because of the coaching," said Guidi, who boasts a better than 80 per cent scholastic average. "I went out to a few UBC team practices and both Richard and Matt are really good coaches. I feel I can really learn a lot playing for them."
GOLFER VIGNA TO SFU
Coquitlam golfer Kevin Vigna - fresh off qualifying for the 61st East Aurora International Junior Masters from June 24-28 in New York - has signed a letter of intent to attend Simon Fraser University starting next fall.
Vigna, 17, made the Junior Masters grade by winning the low overall crown at the MJT KIKKOR Classic tournament two weekends ago at Surrey's Morgan Creek course.
