Most members of the Winnipeg Wesmen men's volleyball team rang in the New Year at Disneyland.
Larry McKay had other plans.
"I spent it in my hotel room," the head coach said, laughing at himself yesterday afternoon. "It was very unexciting."
The Wesmen returned home from the Golden State on Monday, winless in the two matches they played against the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Irvine -- both NCAA Div.1 schools -- last weekend.
"This was a first in the respects that we played in UCLA, right in their main gym where I think they've won 18 national championships, so there's a lot of tradition and history there," said McKay, who in previous seasons has taken his clubs to places like Chicago, Santa Barbara, Calif., and Indiana for exhibition play.
"Overall, the trip was good from a volleyball perspective, seeing what the top teams down in the NCAA do and how they do it," the coach added.
"We'll be a better team as a result of it."
With all the stress of chaperoning a team around an unfamiliar area, McKay admitted he was glad to be home. Given the amount of worry about things like crossing borders and booking hotel rooms and driving athletes around in a van, it's easy to see why McKay spent the end of 2005 in his room.
"It's a lot of stuff to be concerned with, so no, there wasn't a lot of vacation time for me," he said.
"But it's for the players, anyway. They had a great time, I think."
On Friday, Winnipeg lost to the Bruins 3-0 (30-18, 30-25, 31-29). The next afternoon, the Wesmen were dropped 3-0 (30-26, 30-20, 30-19) by the Anteaters.
Third-year Ben Schellenberg led Winnipeg with 25 kills in the two games.
In NCAA pre-season polls, UCLA is ranked No. 2, while UCI is eighth. Still, McKay said his club should have won both matches and feels the CIS is actually the superior university association when it comes to men's volleyball.
'CANADIAN TEAMS ARE BETTER'
"I don't feel it's close at all," the 17-year coach said. "In my opinion, the top Canadian teams are better this year. Having said that, we didn't beat UCLA. We could have, but we had been off for a month, and that was our first time on the floor since we played Manitoba (on Dec. 3.).
In fact, McKay said if you matched up the top five teams in the CIS -- Alberta, Trinity Western, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Winnipeg -- against the top five in the NCAA, many would be surprised at the outcome.
"They're the top five teams in the country and if given a chance, with all things being equal, would probably beat the top five teams in the States," he said.
The reason for that?
Outside of California, volleyball isn't played in many high schools.
"It's popular in California and in the Midwest, but aside from that, it's not really big down there," McKay said, noting schools like Ohio State and BYU often recruit athletes from South American countries for their volleyball squads. "It's a club sport, so not everyone has a chance to play.
"It seems to only be a popular sport where there are beaches."
