The NAIT volleyball team has been on a roll lately, and it’s in no small part three men bringing the thunder from down under. Three of the top players on the men’s volleyball hail from Australia. Brandon Eagle, Mitch Lewington and Simon Coat have all made the long flight from Australia to Edmonton
When asked how they like NAIT compared to back home, Eagle was eager to share. “NAIT is such a great school, NAIT offers such a wide range of courses to
choose from and their support services are second to none thanks to NAITSA and their efforts,” said Eagle.
Lewington added that living in Edmonton is similar to back home. Australia and Canada are similar in lifestyles, so it was a relatively easy transition for him.
The boys chose NAIT because of the volleyball program. “They have a very high-quality and professional volleyball program. Compared to other schools that I was looking at within North America, NAIT seemed to have it all,” said Eagle.
Lewington likes the vibe of a big city. “There’s a lot of things around the city to do on days off.”
Something that does differ between the boys is that Coat and Lewington got the opportunity to play on the Australian Junior National Team. The Junior team is one of the reasons why Lewington is at NAIT. “It ties in relatively similar, the training schedule is just as busy as the other. The Aussie volley- ball program encourages players to come to North America to play because they know how high-level all the coaching and play is.”
Eagle he never played with the Austral- ian team growing up. He worked his way here by getting in touch with an agent at Vol- leyUSA. They put him in contact with the Head Coach, Doug Anton.
Aside from Volleyball, the boys spend their free time doing school work. They both love having free time even though it’s a rare thing for them. They try hard to make time for friends and teammates to hang out outside of school and volleyball. The boys have made Edmonton and NAIT their new home.
