Brains and ability

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This article was published 09/07/2024 (638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young athletes are often graded on raw ability.

It’s an easy evaluation and, in Kai Toney’s case, a gross oversimplification.

The 16-year-old Winnipegger, who enters Grade 12 this fall at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate, is already a dominant high school volleyball player.

The 6-3, 170-pound left side is an exceptional leaper with a powerful right-handed attack.

His coaches say Toney’s brain and processing ability put him in another category. A two-sport (basketball-volleyball) athlete for most of his life, he immersed himself in club volleyball last summer and the results were remarkable.

“He just learned technique,” says Lindsey Habib, who coaches Toney’s WinMan club team while also guiding Manitoba’s 17U squad that will compete at the Canada Cup in Calgary, July 24-28. “He got more reps. We were hard on him with how he performed in practice. When people see Kai, they see the jumping and the arm and the athleticism that pops off the chart.

“But that’s not what makes him special. There are guys out there that have the athleticism. The thing that makes him special is how quickly he can absorb information.”

How does Toney explain his rapid development?

“Lindsey has kind of shown me that volleyball can be different from just hitting the ball as hard as you can to the floor,” he says. “It’s kind of a different style of understanding — learning how to score. Those are the parts of the game you’re going to be facing in university. I definitely think I’ve matured in understanding the skill gap and understanding the level of volleyball.”

To illustrate the uptick in his skill development, Habib explains the improvement in Toney’s basic passing.

At the 16U level, Kai began his club career with WinMan by charting a below average 1.6 score on the statistician’s 3.0 rating system. He was behind his more experienced teammates.

“The thing that makes him special is how quickly he can absorb information.”–Lindsey Habib

Within two months, he was registering an average score of 2.25.

“I think it’s just an instinct gap,” says Toney. “I just noticed when people I’m playing with have been playing way longer, it’s not that they’re more athletic or better. I think their reaction times are a little faster, things come a little easier. But I definitely think it’s a gap you can make up for if you put your mind to it.”

Off the court, training has helped Toney improve some of the physical things, such as his spike touch.

“It’s definitely gotten better,” says Toney. “I’ve been working more in the gym, especially on the biometrics and stretching and I think things got up a couple inches. I think last year I was around like 11 foot, 11-1. Now I’m closer to 11-4, 11-5, so it’s been gradual improvement.”

Toney is the starting left side on Habib’s provincial team that will form the nucleus of next summer’s Canada Games squad. He plays the most important attacking position on the court and his stock as a U Sports recruit has been on the rise.

“Every time I come and watch Kai he gets better and better at something, whether it’s passing, whether attacking or it’s whether blocking or serving,” says former Wesmen player and assistant coach Rob Olfert.

“Is he undersized for university? Maybe a little bit, but not to the point that it’s gonna affect him. He’ll be able to go U Sports.”

Kai’s enthusiasm for the game is due at least in part to a familial bond. He is the son of former 1980s University of Winnipeg volleyball stalwart Kevin Toney, a veteran high school coach with extraordinary enthusiasm for training.

“I think his ideas on hard work are great and everything but the game’s definitely changing,” says Toney of his dad’s mentoring. “There are even things that have been added in the last couple of years. There’s been a new style in last couple years where instead of hitting the ball, you’re kind of throwing it to the floor… I’ve been working on it and even at (club) nationals in May, nobody else was doing it.”

Parental influence may have made Toney more open to coaching.

“It’s made him a lot more easy-going and it’s kind of flattened out the ego and so I think in a lot of ways he’s had that constant push where when he’s in the car (with his dad), it’s not about, ‘My son’s the next superstar,’” says Habib. “It’s about the things that he needs to do better.”

Toney, who helped WinMan to a silver medal at the 17U club nationals in May, is expected to be instrumental in helping Manitoba challenge for a medal at the Canada Cup. How does he rate?

“Kai is right there among the best in the country,” says Habib. “When you start talking about the top five or six outsides in Canada, he’s actually undersized and maybe even a little under athletic compared to top five, six kids in the country. You’re looking at guys who are 6-8, 6-9, jump out of the gym with a big arm…

“But he gets it done in a different way. He’s faster, a little better at reading the block and has a lot more shot variety to him. He’s just a frustrating player to play against.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca