Volleyball setter Jasmin Walia proves it’s never too late for success

Huskies volleyball player Jasmin Walia was voted best women’s athlete in this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

After starting school at George Brown College (GBC) in January 2018, Walia began her volleyball career midway through the season when the rest of the team had already been established.

But starting late didn’t stop her from being an essential part of the team.

For the first half of the volleyball season without Walia, the women found themselves with a major gap on the court.

“We had no setter at the time and basically tried to turn a few players on our team into setters,” said head coach Daphne Choi. “It’s a crucial role, if you are going to be a setter, you start training from a young age,” Choi said.

After playing as a setter for four years for the Toronto Diamonds Club and the Ontario Volleyball Association, Walia was the perfect person to fill the team’s missing gap.

Realizing this, Walia emailed the head coach Daphne Choi midway through the season, emphasizing how she wanted to help make the team better and would work hard.

“From the first practice that she came out, she did just that,” said Choi.

Starting on a team midway through a season is not an easy thing to do.

“It’s a bit hard because there’s already an established chemistry between the players,” said Walia. “But as a setter your supposed to be able to run your plays and get things going. I guess I just have to deal with it,” she added.

Walia didn’t let the difficulties of being a new person on a team stop her, and now Choi considers her a silent leader on the court, and an essential part of the team.