When I played university volleyball for McMaster back in the early 90's, the rivalry between Canada East and Canada West certainly existed, but nowhere near the level it seems to be at now. These days, it is a very popular topic of discussion, debated throughout the year, over pretty well all the age groups. You just have to look up and down the thread list on Mark Reilly's PVB website forum to see how heated the rivalry appears to have become in the volleyball community.

So when I saw beach teammates Jessi Lelliot and Ben Saxton wearing their respective university t-shirts (Toronto Blues and Alberta Golden Bears) down at the courts the other day, it stood out to me as somewhat refreshing. Despite the fact that Jessi is originally a Westerner, as well as the clashing nature of the blue and gold/green, to me it represented not East vs. West, but rather East and West, teaming up together. Then it got me thinking about how many Canadian teams currently on tour and from the past, were actually an East and West team. Quite a few quality teams came to mind. In fact, right away I could name three of the four current top teams - Leinemann/Van Huizen, Lessard/Maxwell, Ahren and I (not to mention several other current tandems). And from the past, solid teams like Leinemann/Holden, Kathy Tough/Guylaine Dumont, Garth Pischke/John May, Brian Gatzke/Dan Lewis, all figured that combined forces would be the best approach. Obviously they were right.

What's my point? Well, perhaps you will draw your own conclusions, but I just thought it would be a refreshing change to the ongoing debate about which region is better, to point out how great East and West can be together. You know - the whole "united we stand, divided we fall" concept.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for rivalries. I think they have the potential to push teams to not only play better, but also to raise the overall level. However, when the athletes involved fail to understand things like sportsmanship and respect for their opponent, then that's when rivalries can go too far and they can start bringing out the worst in people. And I have to admit, reading some of those threads on Reilly's PVB site had me a bit worried that the East/West rivalry was on the verge of losing those benefits, at least up until I saw the aforementioned t-shirts.

It was a clear reminder to me that I am surely overreacting. A few wayward words on a website, posted by a few wayward individuals aren't a threat. It very likely isn't a true reflection of the thoughts and attitudes of the teams involved anyhow. In fact, I realized that if all the other athletes, i.e. the ones who can look past the trash-talk and see the bigger picture, had the inkling to all write their thoughts on the site, I am sure they would severely outweigh the ones that almost affected my viewpoint.

All that from a couple of t-shirts - who would've thunk it?