Calleigh Councillor is 12 hours away from home in a different country. On Monday night at NCMC, home felt a little closer and she's thankful for it.
PETOSKEY — Calleigh Councillor has felt the way a lot of people feel about living in northern Michigan during her short time so far: thankful.
“I love it,” Councillor, an NCMC volleyball freshman, said. “The girls are so amazing, the coaches are amazing. This feels like; I was just saying to them what I’m thankful for, ’I’m so thankful you guys have made this feel like home away from home.’ I love it here so much.”
Monday night in the Petoskey Plastics Arena at North Central Michigan College highlighted that when NCMC welcomed the Bay College women’s volleyball team.
Celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving with family, who was visiting for the first time, Councillor was also celebrating her Canadian roots on the court with her Timberwolf family.
North Central put on ‘Canada Night’ for Councillor, complete with the Canadian National Anthem, Canadian flags around the gym, a special Canada artist playlist during timeouts and between sets and more.
“It was very special for me,” Councillor said. “I really, really appreciated the effort that (Athletic Director) Ashley (Antonishen) put in and made me feel very appreciated here since I’m so far away from home.”
Councillor came to North Central all the way from Fort Frances, Ontario, which is about 12 hours away, just across from International Falls, Minn. and the northern tip of the state.
When Councillor found out she was going to have a special night, she was elated.
“Yes, I was trying to promote it, ‘Wear your red, wear your white.’ But it was very wholesome,” she said.
The icing on top was having her family in town and seeing her play at the collegiate level for the very first time.
“I haven’t seen my family since the beginning of August and they came down this weekend, so it was really special for me,” Councillor added.
And, her play on the court was pretty darn good too.
The Timberwolves stormed out of the gates in the opening set against the Norse, taking a 25-9 win, before a 25-20 win in set two, a 25-16 loss, then a 25-20 victory to close out a four-set victory.
Councillor, an athletic middle blocker, finished with seven kills, three blocks and two digs, with her 8.5 points the second most on the court for NCMC on the night.
“She had a good night,” North Central coach Shannon Flippin said. “The first set, I think she was error free, had a few kills. So she had a good night with her family up in the stands.”
Flippin found Councillor through a connection at Lake Superior State, with one of their assistants a former coach to her when she played for Team Ontario in Nova Scotia.
“When I was a senior, he sent me a message recommending this place for me,” Councillor said. “I reached out to Shannan and here we are.”
She’s had a strong first season so far, racking up 34 blocks to go with 54 kills and 10 aces.
She’s also felt a bond with her teammates from the start, which has led to another winning season for the Timberwolves at 13-7 and 5-4 in conference.
Before they clicked on the court, work was put into building a connection off the court.
“In our preseason we did do a lot of team bonding,” Councillor said. “We had a team bonding coach and she came in and we got really, really close in the preseason. We went to the breakwall a lot. So building that friendship was the most important part first. We all clicked as a team and now here we are.”
Events like Monday are another way for a team to bond, understand teammates and grow.
Six more regular season games remain for North Central, including a hosted quad this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18 against Kankakee Community College, Milwaukee Area Tech and St. Claire County Community College.
Councillor and others won’t get ahead of themselves looking too far ahead just yet, with a focus on whoever is up next first.
“We have this saying called ‘bird by bird’ which is one thing at a time,” she added. “Right now we’re just focused on the little things building up to the big things, so one game at a time.”
While that might be the focus, remembering back to Monday night and being thankful for it will likely be on Councillor’s mind for a while as well.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: North Central volleyball's Councillor thankful for Canada Night match
Category: General Sports
