Above: Luke Johnson, a senior at CCHS, traveled to Duluth to play volleyball this winter. Here he waits for a play on the volleyball. Left: In the team picture Luke Johnson is standing next to his coach, Pete Stasiuk. Photos courtesy of Chris Goettl
Luke Johnson spent four seasons working as a manager/ assistant coach with the CCHS girls’ volleyball team. It’s a sport he loves so when an opportunity arose for him to play on a newly formed boys’ team in Duluth, he jumped at the chance.
Luke’s coach is Pete Stasiuk from Duluth Denfeld. Pete gave a brief synopsis of boys’ volleyball to the Northland.
“What we played in (this year) was not a league but a series of tournaments sanctioned by USA Volleyball,” said Stasiuk.
“The boys that participated ranged from sophomores to seniors, and came from schools all over northern Minnesota. We had kids from Hermantown, Proctor, Superior, Duluth East, Grand Marais, and Moose Lake this season,” said Stasiuk, adding, “Luke was an outside hitter for us and co-captain.”
Competition came from clubs who hailed from Canada, Twin Cities, and Iowa.
The season lasted a few months, but in that short span the boys performed well on the court. “We started practicing the week after the girls’ state tournament. Our last tournament was the weekend before the Minnesota Boys High School League started.
“We played in three tournaments this year. We won the two tournaments that we played in the club division; the other we played in the open division.
“The current Minnesota North Club formed in 2007 for girls across the Northland. This year was the first year we had boys’ teams,” he added.
As for Luke, he made the 230-mile round trip to Duluth twice a week to take part in two-hour practices, and then traveled for tournaments. He is interested in playing recreational volleyball in college.
While he didn’t get much opportunity to play volleyball on a team, Luke ran with the chance that he got, and his tireless work with the CCHS girls’ team helped them get to three straight state tournaments.
No one knows his or her future but maybe Luke will someday end up like his current coach. Stasiuk played intermural volleyball in college then became an assistant coach with the Duluth girls 18s team in 2011. In 2013 he became the volleyball coach at Duluth Denfeld, and has been “head coach for girls’ 14s, 13s, and 12s teams until this year when we started the boys’ teams.”
Volleyball is a sport that Stasiuk is passionate about, but no more so than his co-captain, Luke Johnson.
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