St. Clair College and the Department of Athletics and Recreation would like to congratulate women’s volleyball head coach Jimmy El-Turk on his recent Silver Medal win with the Team Canada U18 Girls Youth National Program. The Team was competing at the NORCECA Championships in Honduras last week where El-Turk was working as an Assistant Coach.

After going 1-2 in pool play, losing to Cuba 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-20) and the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-19) and then defeating Costa Rica 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-13) the girls advanced to the quarterfinals against the host Honduras.

Canada was victorious over Honduras winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16). In the semi-final against Cuba, Canada won a thrilling match 3-2. Canada was down 2-1 and then again 10-4 and 14-11 in the 5th set but found a way to get it done taking the 5th set 16-14.

The girls fell short to a very talented USA team in the gold medal match but walked away very proud, winning the Silver medal, a best-ever result at this competition, and qualifying for the World Championships for the second time ever and for the first time in 30 years.

Coach El-Turk had a great experience and was thankful to be a part of such a memorable result. “Being given the opportunity to represent Canada as a coach is a dream come true but to be a part of a team that made history is on another level. To have spent 9 days in Central America, have a chance to work with the best coaches and athletes in Canada, is something to be very proud of and the future of volleyball in Canada is very bright. “