Sydney Batiuk
This past weekend, in a double feature of women’s and men’s volleyball games against York, one player stood out amongst the competition. Sydney Batiuk, a second-year player on the women’s team, walked off the court with twenty-five kills, three aces, and one block across two games, setting the tone for the season with a 2-0 start.
From Prince Albert, Sask., Batiuk always had a passion for sports. Bouncing around different teams throughout elementary and high school, she locked in volleyball, a sport she began playing at the age of eight, when “[the pandemic started], I kind of had to pick a sport. I excelled in volleyball more than the other sports.”
A biotech student, she joined her brother, a third-year UW student, last year after being accepted into her program and joining the volleyball team. The transition from Prince Albert to Waterloo was tough, but she says, “being able to see my brother and meeting [my teammates] was honestly such a blessing in my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
The feeling is clearly mutual. The team connects on and off the court, and Batiuk believes “the more that you build relationships with people… [the easier it is to communicate during games].”
Strong communication is what led them to victory against York on Halloween. Batiuk put up fifteen kills and two assists, and eight digs. In Saturday’s game, she continued to display her prowess, earning ten kills, one block and five digs to win both games 3-0.
She cites the teammate telepathy between her and setter Madison Seo as something that boosted her performance over the weekend. Batiuk’s first kill of the season came when Seo set her up to score.
“Me and [Seo] have been working on our tempo and our timing all season so far… you could tell as the game went on that it just kept getting stronger,” she recalls.
Now 2-0 to start the season, the women’s volleyball team will face off against the Brock Badgers this weekend in St. Catharines. Batiuk says, “We’re going into the weekend with the same mindset… We really kind of understand our style of play and what we need to do to win games.”
The team’s next home game will be against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday, Nov. 14.
Callum Myers
You don’t have to have played a sport your whole life to perform well at a university level, and nobody exemplifies that better than Callum Myers, a member of the rowing team who won a silver medal with his partner Graham Peeters in the men’s double at the Canadian University Rowing Championship this past weekend. In the individual race, he finished in 11th place. The kicker? It’s only his second year rowing.
Born in Dartmouth, N. S., Myers was an athlete for years before coming to UW. He began as a downhill skier before becoming a triathlete. The fourth-year biology student finally joined the world of university sports in his second year, when he was on co-op. He “knew some rowers and I joined in for their winter training . . . so I joined [UW’s rowing team] and the rest is history.”
He cites UW’s co-ops as a primary reason for his decision to come here, claiming “A lot of the science programmes at other universities don’t allow you to have work experience.”
Early risers, he and the rowing team will “wake up at 4:20 [a.m.] and then we’re at the club by 5. And on the water by 5:30. And then we usually get off around 7,” showcasing remarkable dedication. Myers will go the extra mile and “try to get another workout in before I go to classes.”
No doubt his work paid off. He recalls his race against Guelph as a learning experience that taught him how important physical fitness is in the sport.
“The weather was really awful… you couldn’t row [how you’re used to] and it was more of a survival race trying to get down the course.”
In the championship race, he and Peeters pulled away alongside the team representing the McGill Redbirds in the final stretch, who finished first.
“We definitely started to [speed up], and we were closing in on McGill. They only had us by [two seconds].”
As far as his performance in the individual race, one of the first of his career, he says he knows he can do better.
“My [stats] are comparable to people who [placed on the podium]. [I know] I’m good enough to do a lot better”.
In his last year of university, Myers plans to return to Nova Scotia to pursue his post-graduate studies, where he’ll row for whichever university he decides to attend. It’s safe to say there’ll be a lot of competition for such an amazing talent.
