Captians Blog #1

Garrett in action last season

All the pieces are coming together. The 2010-2011 season is soon approaching, and 13 players have come together to compete for a national champion come March. As co-captain of our team (aside Ryan Barbeau) I'm excited at the opportunity to lead the squad in what hopes to be a promising season. Unfortunately for me, I have been sidelined for the majority of the preseason, as I am recovering from reconstructive ACL surgery that was performed late last April. I actually bring this to you as I sit in Fowler Kennedy waiting to see the surgeon. I have just passed the 6 month marker, and am hoping to return to action within the next few weeks. Its been agonizing watching our team perform without me. Of course taking in the UWO Mustangs vs. The Kentucky Wildcats was entertaining in August, although it would have been a much greater experience competing against what will surely be a group of future NBA stars. 

Aside from an unusual pre season individually, from a veterans standpoint, it's also been a bit unusual seeing so many fresh faces in the locker room. This year we welcome five new rookies to our squad. Peter Scholtes, Quinn Henderson, Nathan DeLoreto, Andrew Vincent, and Drew Hebb. In the past, its been relatively small recruiting classes. One or two players at most. However, with so many young stunners, fresh out of high school the learning curve was somewhat accentuated. Nevertheless, each rookie has progressed nicely and will play a role in our teams success this year. As a result of such a large portion of newcomers, we found it only fitting that they experience how things are done here at Western. 

We now set our focus to this upcoming weekend. A tournament at the University of McGill in Montreal. We'll play Queens University, the University of Price Edwards Island (UPEI) , and the hosts McGill. Its an exciting weekend for our squad, as it will be our first CIS tournament. For nearly 8 weeks our team have been beating up on one another in practice, six days a week. I'm sure they will relish the opportunity to finally beat on someone else. These games will be very important for us as we move forward. Not only will it give us a chance to gage where we stack up against other CIS competition, it will give us the opportunity to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses as a unit, and also shake off any rust before OUA east play begins. I now travel from the doctor's office to my first full contact practice. Tonight we will thoroughly prepare for Queens on Friday, followed by reps upon reps of fundamentals which make our team successful. Our journey begins tomorrow at 10am when we will load the bus and head for Montreal. Where our journey ends? Well, that remains to be seen. However we have grouped together 13 like minded competitors all with one goal in mind. A national championship. You can follow us this weekend, and all season long from our facebook page (to join CLICK HERE). Your number one spot for all the action. (Check out the Memorial half court shot) Become a member, and "like" the UWO Mustangs. All the best!
Your Captain,

Garrett Olexiuk