Generational player soars above competition

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This article was published 28/11/2022 (1287 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Peter Labun talks volleyball his eyes light up. His enthusiasm is infectious.

Throughout a pandemic that obliterated his Grade 10 season and a serious ankle injury that cut short what could have been a successful run to the provincial AAAA title in 2021, the cheerful 17-year-old Miles Macdonnell star left side has persevered and flourished.

Despite the obstacles he encountered, Labun’s combination of skill, athletic ability and leadership is so advanced a panel of coaches has voted him the province’s top varsity boys player in the Free Press’s annual top 10 poll.

“Last year as a Grade 11 he led our team,” says Tim Au, who has served as the head coach of the Buckeyes varsity boys program for 16 years. “This year, for sure, he stands out. He is truly a special player that comes once in a generation. Just physically, he can do some things I haven’t seen others do.”

What is Labun capable of you ask?

Standing 6-2 — undersized for a left side player — Labun has a block jump reach of 10-4 1/2, a spike touch of 11-4 1/2 and a standard vertical leap of 41 inches. These eye-popping numbers alone would make him an excellent prospect for U Sports volleyball.

“He’s just a physical specimen,” says Au. “His serve is particularly strong and he has a really strong arm and shoulder. For a 17-year-old boy, he’s built tough and strong as a man.”

Labun had playing at the next level on his mind when he spent additional time in the weight room, which he says has given him extra lift at the net.

“Over COVID and my Grade 10 year in the midst of quarantine, my family invested in a home gym,” says Labun, whose father Jon Labun was an all-Canadian at the University of Winnipeg and a member of the national junior volleyball team program during the 1990s. “I lived in there for a year.”

Volleyball at its highest levels has become dominated by taller players, with attacking players routinely 6-6 or better.

Labun doesn’t sound worried.

“I wouldn’t call it a disadvantage,” he says. “The way I see it is some of these guys are born with their natural height and they don’t have to get up as high. For me, it’s just I gotta get myself to the point where I’m meeting them at the top.

“If I’m seeing a 7-footer who’s touching at 11-4, I’m thinking, ‘Then that’s one more inch for my vertical and I’ve just gotta get a little higher.’ ”

Truth be told, Labun’s volleyball career almost never took off.

In Grade 8, he lost an entire year after being diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans in his right ankle. The disease can causes deterioration in bone and cartilage and in Labun’s case, required corrective surgery.

Three years later, Labun tore the ligaments in the same ankle when he landed on an opponent’s foot that had strayed over the centre line.

Throughout these ordeals he was able to lean on his family.

“Both my parents have been huge supports of me playing volleyball, especially going through injuries,” says Labun. “They’ve been sending me to physio, sending me to chiro, sending me for massages, they’ve fully supported me.

“They just want to see me succeed in my passion, whatever that is.”

His mom Nina Labun, a career nurse, is currently the chief nursing officer at Misericordia Health Centre

“She knows when to ice me and when to tell me to stretch,” says Labun. “She’s a total asset.”

Unfortunately for Labun and his teammates, No. 4-ranked Miles Mac suffered a five-set loss in to the No. 5 Lord Selkirk Royals in Saturday’s provincial quarter-finals and didn’t advance to this week’s provincial AAAA final four.

As a result, he’ll embark on another club volleyball season for the Junior Bisons as he prepares to start school next fall at Kelowna-based UBC-Okanagan where will play for the head coach Brad Hudson and the Heat.

“It’s been a long conversation,” says Labun of the recruiting process. “I’ve talked to a few other schools as well but it just felt like the best fit because I think they have the greatest coaching staff. That’s sort of really comes down for me. For me to trust the program, I want to trust the coach first.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14