Volleyball PRO: James Battison
James Battison, or Batti as he's known by in the volleyball community, is Canada's newest addition to the men's national beach team (or by LTAD standards, the Training to Compete model). At 6'8" tall, it's no surprise that the 29-year old has chosen volleyball as his sport of choice. The talented athlete from Malton, Ontario began his varsity career at York University where he was a 5-year starter for the Lions, won an OUA championship in his fourth year and left as the career leader in blocks and top ten for all-time kills. He described the situation after a couple of months post-OUA: "I left because I wanted to continue playing at a high level and that option was't available to me here. I also wanted to see Europe and it was a great opportunity to do both. "
After university Batti headed overseas to play in Klagenfurt, Austria where he lead his team in blocks and finished third overall in the league for total blocks. The biggest transition from the OUA to professional was surpassingly, not related to volleyball at all - it was the language. Battison struggled with the barriers of not knowing the native tongue everyday: "You move to a city where they may have little to no English and you have to carry on life." He expressed frustration not only with previously simple tasks as buying groceries and getting around town, but also duties related to volleyball: "You would think it being your job that it's easy to do things like schedule practise and attend meetings, but it doesn't always work that way. Translations happen, but they aren't always precise or make sense."
After three years in Europe, Batti has returned to Canada to suit up for the national beach team and has mixed reasons for returning: I'm back for this amazing opportunity to work for the Canadian national team, but it's combined with the feeling that I'm missing out on life here. As I started to think about moving forward with my life, it just made sense to me and made the decision easy."
Returning home to Canada to begin playing "professionally" ("carded" as a Team Canada athlete) wasn't as easy as Batti thought it would be: "Beach in Canada is not really a recognized sport and there isn't a lot of funding. In Europe my job was to play, practice and workout. My time was free. Here, I am forced to work and find ways to support myself as well as my beach career. The game is different, but that has been the biggest change."
Batti also works as a coach and personal trainer for several teams in the Toronto area, where he trains at an indoor training facility year-round. He's currently training for the upcoming (mid-May) OVA season and preparing for his first taste of international competition. A forever fan of OUA volleyball, Batti can often be found lurking at the University of Toronto or his old stomping grounds York University gym during his time off. LancerMVBlog would like to thank Batti for his time and wishes him all the best in his upcoming beach season!
(March 4, 2015)