Playing the long game To restore her mental, physical health, top U of M volleyballer Raya Surinx temporarily steps away By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 5:07 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024

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Manitoba left side Raya Surinx was the best women’s U Sports volleyball player in the country in 2023-24.

So what does she do for an encore? What about a mental health break?

At the urging of U of M head coach Ken Bentley and assistant coach Michelle Sawatzky-Koop, the 20-year-old Winnipegger missed her team’s last seven games and three weeks of practice.

A mid-season break, although unusual, was deemed necessary. The demanding year-round practice and competition cycle Surinx has been immersed in since high school had drained her mental and physical reserves. She was not her usual upbeat self.

“The night we played Sask. at our pre-season tournament (Sept. 20), I just started crying after that game, and they were like, ‘Raya, what’s wrong?’ And I had no answer. I was like, ‘I don’t know, nothing’s wrong. It’s nothing you guys did, I promise,’” Surinx recalled earlier this week.

“So then Ken called me that night, and he said, ‘It’s OK, just take time off. It’s no big deal. We can work with you. I’ll give you whatever time you need.’ He was super good about it and I was like, ‘No, I don’t need time off.’ And as practices kept going the week and a half after that, it just didn’t get any better. My play wasn’t the worst it’s ever been but it wasn’t great. There was no spark.”

Feeling refreshed, Surinx returned to practice this week and will be slowly worked back into the Bisons lineup. The team, which was recently ranked No. 1 in the conference pre-season coaches poll and is among the early favourites to win a national championship, hosts Thompson Rivers at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Friday and Saturday.

Teammates such as Manitoba libero Julia Arnold had plenty of empathy for Surinx’s situation. The two were also teammates on Volleyball Canada’s NextGen national team and relocated to Richmond, B.C., for a summer of training and competition that wrapped up with 11 games in 16 days at a tournament in Mexico.

Upon returning home, Arnold and Surinx had about two weeks off before they resumed practice with the Bisons.

“I played with her all summer and the summer was really hard,” said Arnold. “It was hard on both of us. You’re just go, go, go all the time, no breaks, which is obviously what we signed up for. But for her, having gone from high school to club (volleyball), to Canada Games to university (volleyball) to Team Canada, back to university and then Team Canada again, is a different story than mine.

“I think it just got to the point (where) she was just out of gas. She loves volleyball, but at a certain point it gets really hard to be there and give it 110 per cent every day, which is what you have to do on this team.”

An old-school approach might have been to play through it, which was Surinx’s first impulse. Sawatzky-Koop, a former national team setter and no stranger to the demands of the sport, had to insist she take more time off.

“She said, ‘From an athlete’s perspective, who is going to take that time off? So as your coaches, Ken and I, have decided it’s best. This is a part of your training. We’re going to give you some time off,’” said Surinx, who is in her third year of eligibility.

“So this kind of took away the option for me — because no athlete is gonna say, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to play.’”

Bentley also consulted with Surinx’s parents, who were very supportive.

“I honestly think she quickly realized that it was the right thing to do, because we had talked about it beforehand,” said Bentley.

“We talked about it after our (pre-season) tournament was over on the (Sept.) 23rd, so this had been part of the conversation for a while. Because it was apparent she was just not firing on all cylinders and so then it got to the point where, ‘OK, listen, we really need to do this.’”

Surinx understands she’s not the only athlete to endure the rigours of nearly year-round participation in an elite sport.

“It was really tough, especially like hearing what some people were saying, because you either get it or you don’t,” said Surinx.

“I heard through the Canada West grapevine … there’s been some comparisons. They’re saying, ‘If this girl can do it, why does she get time off? Why should it be any different, right? But I don’t think they understand that everybody handles stuff differently.’”

The Bisons, 14-1 to start the season, split a pair of road games with the Calgary Dinos last weekend to open the conference regular season.

“Raya can play, Ella Gray can play, Light (Uchechukwu) can play,” said Bentley. “These are three athletes who can go play professionally, and they can play for the next 10 years, if they want. So Raya taking a little bit of time off does nothing to squash those long-term opportunities.

“And that’s been probably the hardest part of convincing her, right? You’re not going to forget how to play volleyball. Just as it was with Ella Gray last summer. She took the summer off and it was fantastic for her.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca