Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – There are few things more rewarding for a coach than when an unpolished diamond in the rough turns into a gem.
For MacEwan men's volleyball bench boss Brad Poplawski, he wasn't initially sure what he had in middle blocker Noah Johnson, who had just one year of high school volleyball under his belt when he joined the Griffins in 2018.
The 6-foot-6 Edmontonian was an intriguing prospect, to be sure, but he only made his Edmonton Christian senior high school team in Grade 12 and was a backup at that, not seeing playing time until midway through the season due to an injury. He also had some club experience with NAVC but was extremely raw coming into MacEwan.
"I started pretty late," said Johnson. "I actually didn't make a good team until I was in Grade 12, so I didn't really have an opportunity to compete really well with people. But that also gave me an opportunity to grow lots when I got here."
He took off last season under Poplawski's tutelage.
"He was our most improved player last year," said the head coach. "Coming in in his first year, he was pretty raw. He was relatively new to the sport.
"It was in our Europe trip last year where every time he went in, he just kind of made plays that were noticeable to the coaching staff," he added of the 2018-19 preseason exhibition tour. "Obviously as the year went on, he played a lot for us last year. I think he's just rolled that into this year."
Johnson has started every match for the Griffins so far in the 2019-20 Canada West season and is tied for the team lead in blocks with 13. He will lead the squad into its home-opening weekend against Brandon on Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday (6:30 p.m., both in David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"He really works hard," noted Poplawski. "He's extremely coachable. He checks all those boxes. When we're doing our team video session, he comes in and makes notes on the sheets we give the players because he really wants to understand and digest the game plan. As a coach, you love seeing that – a guy who's that invested. You tell him something and he's really going to work on it.
"For our league, he's quite young. Being a second-year middle, there's still a long way to go, but with his length and some of the things he can do physically, he's really been a bright spot for us so far."
Noah Johnson is tied for the team lead in blocks with 13 through the first six matches of the season (Chris Piggott photo).
Johnson's eagerness to learn comes from the way he approaches everything in life.
"I've always adopted a growth mindset, so I really like criticism," said the Business major. "Pops is really knowledgeable, so it's really easy to learn when he's pressuring you to get better and better. It's important to get better at this level, too."
The fact he is holding his own in the tough Canada West loop as a second-year player is huge considering he has a long way to go yet in his development. Johnson looks up to fifth-year Griffins senior Max Vriend, who has grown into one of the top players in the country after putting in the work in the gym and on the court.
"It makes me really excited," said Johnson. "To see how good players like Max are and how small he was when he started, it encourages me to get to Max's level someday."
Drawing a tough hand from the schedule-makers, the Griffins have played their first six matches of the season on the road with two bye weekends worked in. That means that although they've been in action since Oct. 18, they will finally play in front of a home crowd for the first time on Friday.
"I think the biggest negative with the schedule is not everyone travels," said Poplawski. "You only get to travel with 12 players, so we have a roster of guys that work just as hard as everyone … they do everything, and they haven't even got to be at a home game yet or see their team play in person. It's hard for those guys to feel part of the team and that's probably been the biggest negative."
Brandon returns almost its entire roster from a Canada West championship season – including reigning conference MVP Elliott Viles – and enters the weekend ranked second in the country and tied for top spot in the conference at 7-1.
They will be a supreme test for the 1-5 Griffins, who at least have the benefit of already being forged in fire after facing No. 1 Trinity Western earlier this season. Even if they lost both matches, going through that experience against a top team provided some lessons they can take into this weekend.
"I thought the first night against Trinity we spectated instead of dictating the pace of play," said Poplawski. "We just watched what they were going to do. What they were going to do was impressive. I hope we learned from that.
"We can't wait to see what Brandon does because we know they're going to do big boy things. They're going to play big volleyball. They're going to hit the ball high, they're going to hit the ball hard. We can't wait to see what their level is. We have to come out and be aggressive and push."
