Athlete Profile – Ryan Harris
The Sport That Was Calling My Name
Ryan Harris, a University of Ottawa Environmental Geoscience student, and setter for the Gee-Gee’s men’s volleyball team proves that dedication, commitment and hard work are vital to become successful. Ryan began his playing career in middle school and shortly joined a club team after his first season. He played three seasons with the Georgetown Impact before switching to the Kitchener-Waterloo Predators for another three seasons. Ryan also took advantage of playing high school volleyball each year for the Georgetown 87’s and managed to crack the Team Ontario beach volleyball team one off-season. A career that started for fun blossomed into becoming a five time Halton champion, an Ontario Summer Games champion and OFFSA champion in 2018. Ryan’s journey through volleyball shows that you don’t need to be born into something, but rather hard work and dedication will take you as far as you are willing to go.
When I was young, sports were never a huge part of my life. I grew up in Georgetown, Ontario, a small town in the Halton Hills region. In a town where everyone grows up with a hockey stick in their hands, I chose a different path. My journey in sports began with family and friends, on a non-competitive level. My friends were into hockey and basketball, but I never gravitated towards playing those sports beyond the schoolyard. I also played curling growing up because it’s really big in my family, but I stopped when I was around 11-12 years old because I had found the sport that was right for me. Or should I say, the sport was calling my name.
That sport was volleyball.
Why was it calling my name? I was tall.
I think everyone just picks it [volleyball] up around the same time, but I just had an advantage because I was tall, I was basically taller than everyone
I was first introduced to volleyball through my dad. He encouraged me to pick up the ball for the first time and attend a weekly volleyball recreation program hosted by the Town of Halton Hills. At the beginning, volleyball was something I did for fun, but quickly grew to be much more than that when I had the opportunity to try out for my first team. In 2013, I attended the grade six boys volleyball tryouts at Stewarttown Middle School. Apart from my obvious height advantage, I had the skills and experience to back it up. In grade six, most people only begin to play volleyball, but the commitment I had the year prior to attend the weekly volleyball program taught me the vital soft skills needed in order to succeed and advance.
As my volleyball career took off, it quickly became my obsession. Any chance I could to stay involved with the game, I took it. In order to reach the volunteer requirement for high school graduation, I became an assistant coach for my sisters volleyball team. My dad was her head coach for five seasons, and I joined him for each season. You couldn’t keep me away from the game. It gave me a new perspective on the game, something I didn’t have from several years of playing.
In the off-season of my club teams, I wanted to continue playing to keep advancing my skills. In 2017, I attended open tryouts, followed by a tournament to be evaluated for the Team Ontario beach volleyball team. I made the team and spent the summer attending training camps to prepare for provincials, nationals, and other tournaments. I got the chance to play internationally as well, competing in the USAV High Performance Championships in Los Angeles and training in Spain with the youth national teams from France and Spain. Training with top-level talent from the French and Spanish youth national teams challenged me, and pushed me to become better. It opened my eyes to the level of commitment these players had and no doubt helped me reach the next level when I arrived back in Canada.
Once I reached high school, I had the opportunity to play for the school, which I immediately jumped on. I attended Georgetown District High School (GDHS) and played all four years for the 87’s. It provided me the opportunity to play with new players that were better than me, particularly in grades nine and eleven when I was playing with older players. They had more skill than me and being surrounded by that talent helped me develop. Around this time, I also was switching positions, so being able to play on another team, while playing for my club team gave me the opportunity to work harder at improving my understanding of a new role. Being able to play with new talent, and seeing what they do really allowed me to make the switch much easier.
“It was nice to play with new people in the sense that they were better than me”
At the beginning of my U18 year with the Kitchener-Waterloo Predators in 2021, I was dealing with a serious knee injury which deterred me from pursuing the university route. It wasn’t even fun to play because of how painful it was. After practices and games, my knee would swell to double the size forcing me to ice it between games—I was doing whatever I could to reduce the swelling. I had patellar tendinitis (jumper’s knee) and for four months I attended chirotherapy to help relieve the pain while I was still playing. I was content with it being my last year playing, and worked through the pain to accomplish the goals set out by the team.
When the pandemic hit, there was nothing better for me than being stuck inside for an entire year, which allowed my knee to fully recover. During the summer before my second year at the University of Ottawa, I was keeping my eye out and considering my options to return to playing at a competitive level. When I moved to Ottawa I took note of the tryout dates and was strongly encouraged to attend by my dad. He suggested I give the first tryout a chance and if my knee felt good, I would continue on. My overall impressions were super positive; my knee felt great, I really liked the coach and I was having fun. Next thing I knew, I made the team.
When I made the team, I was chosen as the fourth string in my position. I understood that my playing time was not a guarantee as a rookie, and there were better players ahead of me in the same role. Not to mention, I found the transition between high school/club teams and the university level to be more challenging than I expected. The pace change is higher, and with my position as the setter, I ran the offence, so I needed to match that speed. The players ahead of me had more experience, and rightly, they got the playing time over me. I had a few small opportunities where I would substitute into the game for three points—I had to make these moments count to gain the trust of my teammates and coaches. My playing time was scarce, but I was determined to make the most of the opportunities I was given. I used practice to push myself to focus on my weaknesses. I held myself accountable to improve each time I stepped onto the court. It was nice having older, more experienced players that played the same position to analyze what they were doing better than me and how I could apply that to my own game.
DISCLAIMER: This interview was conducted and the article was written as a part of the Sport Media and Communications class in the Sports Administration program at Laurentian University in February 2023.
