Grade-point anecdotes — Goossen signs with Bearcats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/01/2020 (2367 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thomas Goossen is taking a leap of faith.

It’s a move taking the Brandonite three provinces over, jumping to the next level of volleyball and digging deeper into his Christian faith.

Goossen has committed to the Columbia Bible College Bearcats men’s volleyball team for the 2020-21 Pacific Western Athletic Association season.

“It’s a dream come true. I’ve had a couple of cousins who played there and my dad played there,” Goossen said. “Just to be able to continue on that family tradition, it’s amazing.

“Since Grade 9 I’ve always thought I wanted to play sports after high school, whether it be basketball or volleyball. Really in Grade 11 I started thinking ‘Maybe I can play volleyball.’ Because our season was going really well and I had improved quite a bit that season. It was actually that season in Grade 11 I reached out to (head coach) Jason (Warkentin) at Columbia Bible College and we talked a little bit.

“It evolved from there and here we are now.”

The six-foot-four Neelin Spartans middle also considered Providence University College Pilots and Canadian Mennonite University Blazers of the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference. He earned a provincial AAA bronze medal in Grade 11, then was named to the Volleyball Manitoba graduating all-star team in 2019 and said he had an offer to play for the MCAC defending champion Pilots.

Wherever he went, the top priority was a school’s faith component.

“Really what it came down to was that Columbia Bible College, there’s a really great community there and it’s really, really good volleyball,” said Goossen, who plans to major in biblical studies. “What I’m going to be studying there, I’m really excited for that.”

The path to the Abbotsford, B.C., campus certainly hasn’t been the easiest one. Goossen grew up always calling himself a Christian, but his most powerful encounter with Jesus didn’t come for a while, and not before a year of anxiety that significantly impacted him from the end of Grade 8 through his freshmen year.

“It really destroyed me as a person and I was really, really lost at that point in my life. I wasnt’ sure what was real and what wasn’t real. It was hard, I was really alone that season,” Goossen said. “It was actually at a Bible camp I was at that I had this incredible encounter with Jesus. My anxiety didn’t stop at that point, but I was able to trust that I was going through the season for a reason.

“The Lord was helping me through that.”

Goossen said James 1:2-4 was a big passage for him to lean on. It reads: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (NIV)

“It’s talking about how God is working on you in these tough seasons, and you can be joyful in that, which is a really opposite reaction to what some people can have,” Goossen said. “Coming out of that season, that encounter with Christ really transformed my life and sparked a fire to follow him. Being able to play at a Bible college, specifically this Bible college is going to be insane, and I’m really fired up for that.

“Jason, he’s just a really amazing guy and I feel like he really believed in me as a player. I’m just so excited to work with him.”

Warkentin, who actually played for the Bearcats with Goossen’s cousin Josh for a season, liked what he saw both when he saw Thomas play at club nationals with Brandon Volleyball Club and when he came out to help with an Athletes in Action summer camp after his Grade 11 year.

“Firstly, just character and who he is as a person. I believe that’s one of the biggest keys to anyone we bring in is being able to have a solid character and strong work ethic,” Warkentin said. “Somebody who is committed to what they do, is willing to learn and grow, take feedback and apply it, and seeing the values of our Christian faith as well. In chatting with Thomas and seeing him play, he exhibited all of those.”

Goossen turns the praise and credit for getting to this point quickly back to God, adding that the support from friends, family and Neelin coach Blake Majcher has helped him immensely.

It’s quite the transition now, from feelings of fear and loneliness a few years ago to a new home, team and life.

But now he knows he’s never really alone.

“It’ll be a really important experience for my maturity. Being away from home I’m going to need to be independent, focused on my schoolwork and focused on volleyball. I really think it’s going to be an amazing experience,” Goossen said.

“Whether or not I use that in my final career, I think that’s something I’m going to be able to take with me the rest of my career and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m thankful for being able to continue my volleyball career: That’s just huge for me and I’m so excited to be a part of that team.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen