The Champlin Crossfire 14U tournament winners were the North Shore Yetis who are shown wearing their champion T-shirts. Starting in front L-R: Rae Ann Silence, Weston Heeren (team manager), Molly LaVigne, Charlet Waver, and Amy Carpenter. Not pictured: North Shore Yeti club manager Paul Sporn.Back row L-R: Sadie Wilson, Anna Heeren, Morgan Starkey, Christianna Mendivil, Ella Sporn, and Coach Marlene Wester.
It’s 5:45 a.m. on a very dark and bitterly cold winter Tuesday. With the snow swirling over backpacks and ponytails, it almost looks like visions of the infamous Nordic white furry monsters trudging through the drifts to the gym doors. These Yetis are not those of legend…yet.
Through the freezing early morning shadows, Coach Wester greets her players at the door with a smile.
The North Shore Yeti 14U volleyball team concept began with a very passionate group of 8th-grade girls who wanted to compete at a higher level and be challenged to grow their skill in a year around volleyball club. While initially joining a Duluth team seemed like the most simple answer to this desire, with this cohesive group of girls, parents wondered if a local opportunity could be created to not only allow for the girls’ participation in multiple sports, but also to continue their team growth together.
The solid parent support in time and resources in organizing the North Shore Yetis induction into the North Country Region Volleyball Association and to form our club was the relatively simple part – finding the coach to lead our girls to both delicately foster growth while still challenging them we thought would be trickier – until Marlene Wester agreed to our wish for her to lead this new team. Coach Wester has been relentless in her nurturing dedication and use of her own knowledge as a coach and player to build team Yeti. We as parents couldn’t have dreamed of a better fit to coach these special girls.
Needless to say, the hard work, tireless commitment, focus on learning and heart for competition and each other as teammates, has to come from these nine athletes and does, no question.
The Yetis play in five tournaments this season that runs January through April. With two successful tournaments under their belt, this past weekend the North Shore Yetis 14U team became champions of the Crossfire Tournament after a hard played day in Champlin as they defeated Blaine, St. Paul East, White Bear Lake, Champlin and finally Bemidji in the title game. They were the only team to be undefeated in all games, never losing a single set.
While the snowy vision on Yetis ambling into the gym may seem unbelievable, one thing for certain is this North Shore Yeti volleyball team is for real.
Leave a Reply