Competition runs deep in family

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This article was published 07/12/2015 (3592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the Harder household, going for a dig isn’t confined to the court.

Russ Harder is the coach of the Glenlawn Collegiate varsity girls volleyball team. His sons, Trent, 17, and Ethan, 14, are setters for the Garden City Collegiate varsity and junior varsity volleyball teams, respectively.

When The Times spoke to the Harders on Dec. 2, a couple days after volleyball provincials, the family’s competitiveness was clear.   

“We made it the furthest,” said Russ, taking a little dig at his boys.

“I coach the varsity girls at Glenlawn and we made it to the final four. We faced Selkirk, a very good team, and I think our girls were a little intimidated by the bright lights of U of M (University of Manitoba) and didn’t perform as well as we could have. We did beat No. 2-ranked Vincent Massey in the quarter-finals and that was a huge upset. We thought we could continue the run, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

In JV boys action, Ethan and the Garden City Fighting Gophers reached the provincial quarter-finals, losing to St. Paul’s in a hard-fought five sets.

In varsity boys volleyball, Trent and the Gophers were defeated in the first round of provincials, dropping three straight sets to Glenlawn, dad’s school.  

“That was kind of an upset because we were ranked a couple seeds higher than they were, but we just didn’t really come out that day,” Trent said of the defeat.

“They had to face Glenlawn and they couldn’t handle it,” said Russ, who has been a phys-ed teacher at Glenlawn for 16 years.  

Russ’s ribbing is good-natured of course. The Harders, who live in Garden City, just have a healthy sense of competition.

A fit family, Russ said his wife Tammy Harder, an English teacher at West Kildonan Collegiate, is a workout buff and formerly captained the Winnipeg Blue Bombers cheerleading team.

“We all do workouts together,” Russ said. “We put a chin-up bar and a punching bag in the basement along with a bunch of weights, mats and balls, so these guys are always hammering away.”

In addition to volleyball, both Trent and Ethan play high level soccer. As a younger man, Russ played for the Winnipeg Fury, a defunct professional soccer team.

It looks like the Harder boys will continue following in his father’s footsteps.

“I want to be a phys-ed teacher just like my dad,” said Trent, who is in Grade 12.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from this tree,” Russ added.

Trent and Ethan have a little catching up to do. On Dec. 5 at Canad Inns Fort Garry, Russ received the AAAA Girls Coach of the Year award from Volleyball Manitoba.  

Russ said he models his coaching style after that of Phil Hudson, who was Russ’s coach while he was a player with West Kildonan.

“Whenever I coach a team we talk about our performance,” Russ said. “With a skilled team like (Glenlawn) had this year, if you focus on your performance the results are just going to come.

“But, if you’re results driven, I think you lose sight of why you’re there and I don’t think it’s as fun for the athletes.”