Hansen-Young transfers to Brandon

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (1041 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jayde Hansen-Young will complete the long and winding road to a family tradition this fall.

The former Vincent Massey Viking is headed to Brandon University and Canada West women’s volleyball, three years after graduating high school.

“My aunt Becky (Birch) played here and my uncle Brett (Young) played here for a bit so we were always watching,” Hansen-Young said. “Even when someone wasn’t playing we knew lots of people. Mary Thomson helped coach me, Kellie Baker, Kelly DeRoo, I knew lots of people in the program.

“Playing at ACC was so much fun but this is the next step up and it’s kind of exciting.”

She trained at Assiniboine Community College during the COVID-19 pandemic, took a year off and came back to play for the Cougars last season, quickly becoming a mainstay in coach Kevin Neufeld’s lineup.

The five-foot-eight outside hitter was a graduating all-star in high school and helped the Vikings reach the AAAA provincial final in 2019. But she was on the shorter end for attackers, at least in Canada West, and didn’t land a U Sports spot.

For a while, she thought it’d never happen.

“Definitely there was the thought in my mind that I wouldn’t play volleyball competitively again,” Hansen-Young said. “I played senior women’s and co-ed and playing was like ‘no, I’m not done yet. I need to keep being competitive.’

“A huge part of my game is how competitive I am and how I just hate losing.”

That competitive drive is consistent throughout her family, including her grandmother, Rhonda, who’s enjoyed a lengthy volleyball coaching career, uncle and BU athletic director Russ Paddock, and Hansen-Young’s four siblings. Jori just won a U Sports women’s hockey title with Mount Royal University and Jersey played up with the Vikings varsity girls’ volleyball team as a sophomore.

Her younger brothers, Jaxsten and Jagger, are already promising hockey and volleyball players.

Jayde has always been a solid passer and defender and recognizes that her future in Canada West is likely as a libero. She joins an always-full group there, with former Viking Brianne Stott in the starting job and Brooklyn Pratt coming off ACL surgery after tearing it last pre-season.

Hansen-Young is OK knowing she may not play as much as a second-year.

“I like to think I’m a pretty hard worker but still being positive,” she said. “On most teams I’ve been in I’ve kind of been that leader, looked up to role. I’m excited to take a back seat and be on the opposite end of it.”

Interestingly, there may not be as many veterans as a typical U Sports team.

So far, Danielle Dardis, Syree Tucker, Tielle Hagel, Marly Pellerin and Ashley Thoms have left the program following an 0-24 campaign. Shortly after the season, coach Lee Carter was placed on leave and Brandon University has noted a third party is investigating Carter’s conduct.

The Sun has not been made aware of any players being contacted by those conducting the investigation.

The head coaching position has not been posted.

On the other hand, the Bobcats have recruited heavily, adding Alberta’s Georgia Johnson, Ontario’s Alex Roberge, and B.C.’s Shaunti Gill and Grace Gallacher with more reportedly on the way.

“The coach thing is obviously in the back of my mind but I know the program and know the people around the program,” Hansen-Young said. “(Assistant coach) Ashley (Hosfeld) has been amazing and my uncle Russ, I know a lot of people in the program and have confidence in them. There are a lot of great coaches out there. I’ve had most of the same coaches throughout my life, repeated coaches. I’m excited to see a new perspective and learn new things.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record but once you’ve been with them for four or five years, it is a broken record.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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