Ryan Scalater returns to Lüneburg
Editorial
On December 13, the Canadian Opposite of Jastrzębski Węgiel Ryan Sclater will have the opportunity to face the CEV Champions League match with his former club from Germany SVG Lüneburg, where he matured volleyball after arriving in Europe.
The 29-year-old volleyball player of Jastrzębski Węgiel went to PlusLiga this year. He started his volleyball career in the Trinity Western Spartans university team, with which he won university games twice. He signed the first professional contract in 2017 with the German SVG Lüneburg club.
He spent two seasons there and then moved to France for three years. In France he played for Montpellier UC for two years, and then for a year for Arago de Sete. Last season, he was a player of Al Jazira Sport Club in the United Arab Emirates for. He has also been in the Canadian national team since 2017. He appeared with her at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where he reached the quarterfinals.
Now he is playing for Polish champions and this year edition of the CEV Champions League Jastrzębski Węgiel. He found himself in Poland very well. He is an important link in the team led by famous Argentine coach Marcelo Mendez. Although he acts as a substitute for Olympic champion Jean Patry, when he enters the court, he always gives a positive impulse to his team. And ones need to know that the Polish league (PlusLiga) is extremely demanding for players, especially those who join it for the first time.
Ryan Sclater.„I've been really enjoying the year so far. Every match like I'm seeing more and more great players. But our team is also in really the good place. We're playing with a lot of confidence, having a lot of high level players and a lot of players at the big moment at the end of sets. So it's been fun to see that from our team. It's been great to see just high level teams all over the league. Every matches are really strong match, so it’s been really good. I am really happy that I came here”
He is not the only Canadian playing in the best Polish league. Apart from him, the following players also play in Poland: Samuel Cooper (Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie), Byron Keturakis (Exact Systems Hemarpol Częstochowa) and Brodie Hofer (Enea Czarni Radom).
„I'm always happy to see how our players yeah finding a good place to play. Sometimes you feel like if I play better as a Canadian then I can help the younger guys to get some good contracts because we can create good reputation, so it's nice if we kind of we can all work together to create a good image for Canadian players. I think most teams are happy with us. We normally work hard and bring a good atmosphere to the team” believe Sclater.
The status of volleyball in Poland is very high. This discipline is second only to soccer in popularity. Poles are the current vice-champions of the world and European champions. They also won the Volleyball Nations League this year. Poland is the leader of the FIVB world ranking. During volleyball matches, the halls fill up and, most importantly, there is a friendly, family atmosphere in the stands.
Ryan, who lives in Poland with his wife and two children, admits that he feels very good in this country.
„Of the courts as well I feel really comfortable with my family and everything and that's always really important for me, so yeah I feel pretty comfortable here” admit Canadian Opposite.
On December 13, Ryan will have the opportunity to face his former club from Germany, SVG Lüneburg, in the CEV Champions League group phase match.
„It’s really special for me actually. I haven't been able to go back to the city since I left five years ago and for me it's kind of a special place for my volleyball journey, but also just for my life. My daughter was born there and it was the first place that I came after University to start my professional career. I'm happy and proud of what they were doing and I'm so excited to see some old friends so it should be really exciting for me” said Ryan Sclater.
What does he owe to the German club? „I learned a lot. I had a great coach there, Stefan Hübner, and a good environment to learn and train. A lot of guys who left, work hard together and improve, so I learned a lot about playing volleyball at the next level, learning kind of to play with older players, real men, after I came out of University, so I was happy to go there and just to grow in a lot of ways” explain Sclater.
The Canadian is also impressed with the city where SVG plays its matches. „That's a really beautiful place. I'm happy that we're going at Christmas to see the Christmas markets and everything. So it'll be really nice to walk around the city and just to see there's a lot of history there and a lot of culture and great things to do, so it would be fun” said Sclater.
The match of the the third round of the CEV Champions League group phase will be a clash between the leader and the runner-up of pool "D". So far, both teams have won two three-point matches.
„Some players I know, some Canadians, so it will be nice to see them and see how they're progressing but actually since I was there there's no teammates left from when I was playing. So I know the guys just because they're Canadian players. But I think it's such a perfect place for us to start after University” ends Scalter.