Dueck grows with post-secondary experience

Mya Dueck’s first university experience may not have been exactly what she thought it would be, but that’s OK.

After all, the 20-year-old, two-sport athlete emerged from Lake Region State College a better person.

“It was really good,” Dueck said. “I’m very glad I went. I was kind of like ‘I’m going to go to college and it’s going to change my life forever, it’s going to be this huge, amazing thing’ and it wasn’t.

“I had very high expectations, and I think they were definitely unrealistic, but I learned a lot about myself and grew a lot as a person and as an athlete.

“I improved so much in both of those categories.”

Dueck, who finished up at the two-year school after playing both volleyball and softball, spent a long time building up the experience in her head.

Dueck, who is the daughter of Marc and Laura, played minor softball in her hometown of Boissevain until she had to come to Brandon to play house league in her major under-15 year because they didn’t have enough players for a team.

From there, she joined the Westman Magic in her minor U17 year and spent three seasons in the program.

At the same time, she took up volleyball in Grade 7 and along with her school teams, played club until U18. By then the post-secondary dream had firmly taken hold.

“I was definitely interested starting in Grade 10, 11 in high school,” Dueck said. “I actually committed to play volleyball at Lake Region State College first. That was December of Grade 12, and then in January of my Grade 12 year, I got in contact with the softball coach.”

She spoke to five or six other schools, but Lake Region made the most lasting impact.

“I liked the small environment, being from a small school,” Dueck said. “I liked the idea of not going to a huge school, and I liked the fact that it was close enough to home but there were a lot of opportunities to travel. I got to see lots of different places when I there.”

Devils Lake is just 193 kilometres southeast of Boissevain, so it wasn’t a massive move. At the same time, she was leaving home for another country, so there was an adjustment.

“It was tough,” Dueck said. “It was a big transition living on my own and having a roommate, things like that. My first semester was tough, it took a while to adapt.”

While her days varied depending on the time of year, she was busy.

During volleyball season she got up at 5:30 to hit the gym by 6 and practise from 8 to noon, with more gym time in the afternoon. They played two or three times a week during the season and also practised.

When the season ended in late November, she shifted gears.

“I took a week or two off to do nothing,” Dueck said. “With ball, we lifted Tuesdays and Thursdays, and practised every day before Christmas and after Christmas until we started playing.”

She admitted the workload did take its toll at times. While she didn’t suffer any serious injuries, Dueck had to suffer through fatigue and the normal aches and pains.

“I feel like I’m dealing with it a little bit more now that I’m done,” Dueck said with a chuckle. “My body is like ‘What did you do to me? Let me catch up.’ Overall, I didn’t deal with anything major. I just had some things here and there but no major injuries, so that was very lucky.”

“I’m an avid napper,” Dueck added with a laugh. “That was definitely a strategy for me.”

The conflicting attention for her time, and the need for some mental and physical time off, certainly put a premium on managing her time. Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a university to nurture an athlete’s academic success.

“The professors at school were amazing,” Dueck said. “A lot of the school population are athletes so all the professors work very, very closely with the sports teams. For softball, we had study tables, so we met once a week in the library and would have an hour.

“We were all together but we were all doing homework. We worked in groups in the library. It was a very nice facility to work in.”

On the volleyball court, the five-foot-four Dueck served as a setter and defensive specialist. She appeared in 22 matches over two seasons, with 47 sets and 10 points.

On the diamond, the right-throwing, right-hitting Dueck caught and also played infield. Over two seasons, she hit .282 with 20 runs batted in.

She admitted when she first arrived, she had to deal with some imposter syndrome and needed to convince herself she really belonged.

“Volleyball was definitely more difficult, especially coming from a small school,” Dueck said. “I was the captain of the varsity team my Grade 11 and 12 years, I played varsity in Grade 9 and 10, and I was definitely always one of the stronger players on the team. I had a very big presence, and then I got to school and it was ‘Oh, everyone is the same as me,’ so that was a big adjustment.

“Ball, I played more of a critical role on the team sooner. By the time I was playing ball, I was definitely more comfortable being at school. Volleyball season was tough just because I was starting off so fresh.

“I just had moved away from my parents and everything was new. By the time I got to ball, I was a little more settled, so that helped.”

She did have plenty of support, with two sets of teammates.

The softball team had a nice Manitoba contingent, including Tristin McTavish of Hamiota, Ella Harkness of Portage la Prairie, Stephanie Rosset of Portage, Payton Durand of Winnipeg and Faith Spence of West St. Paul. There were also four Saskatchewan players and one Albertan on the 17-player roster, with six Americans.

Conversely, the volleyball team had just three Canadians, Dueck, Katie Leece of Cartwright and Lexie Shearer of Glenboro.

One of the tough parts about playing at a two-year school is that not long after students get settled, they have to begin planning for the next step. After all, they have two years to make an impression on other schools to get in the door somewhere else to finish their education.

“Girls definitely start thinking about it, especially into the spring of freshman year and sophomore year,” Dueck said. “I was actually the only one on the softball team this year out of the five sophomores who is continuing to play and I don’t think any of the volleyball team is. Usually there are one or two girls who continue on.”

Her commitment came from an interesting detour.

A year ago, she went to Europe with four of her Lake Region teammates to play with The North, a program that takes teams across the pond for games.

“It was an amazing opportunity,” Dueck said. “It was so cool. We got to travel, we were in Italy, Austria and Hungary. We played eight games over the course of 11 days so it was lots of ball but also lots of travel. We had lots of time to see the sights and tour around.”

One of her The North teammates was playing with Mount Royal University, and she ended up speaking to the coach. As a result, her next move is to Calgary, where she’ll play softball for MRU. The Cougars compete in the eight-school Western Collegiate Softball Association.

“I’m very excited,” Dueck said. “I love Calgary, it’s a beautiful place, and I’m excited too because I’m starting my Bachelor of Education. Jason Poole is the coach, he’s originally from Manitoba, and I’m really looking forward to playing for him.”

This summer, she has aged out of Magic, so she is playing women’s fast pitch in Deloraine and coaching the AA Westman Storm.

“It’s been really nice to still be involved but in a different way.”

» pbergson@brandonsun