Lethbridge product Talbot joins the Kodiaks

By Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s volleyball team has served up a local recruit.

The Kodiaks announced Tuesday the signing of Claire Talbot to the Kodiaks roster in time for the 2021-22 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season.

The local product who will graduate from Catholic Central High School this spring also played club volleyball locally with Panthers Volleyball Club in Coaldale.

“Claire has been a really strong and consistent athlete in the middle since I had started watching her a few years ago,” said Kodiaks head coach Anna Schwark in a release. “It is so apparent from watching her in games and at camps that she takes her training seriously and has a lot of fun competing. I think Claire is coming in with a great skill set and has the potential to really compete with our senior athletes.”

The familiarity factor helped Talbot choose Lethbridge College,

“I’ve been keeping in contact with Anna for a couple years now and I met her probably while being a Panther,” said Talbot. “I’ve met some of the [Kodiaks] team and I thought it was a great atmosphere and I just really wanted to be involved in the program.”

Schwark noted the excitement in keeping local athletes local.

“I think for a long time, high school athletes really had their sights elsewhere for post-secondary and there just wasn’t any excitement for them to stay and represent Lethbridge College,” she said. “Having girls like Claire or Eryka [Woods], Taryn [Bach] and Alyssa [Pavka] join us last year proves that our program is highly competitive and we can have a lot of fun being a successful program and this creates a lot of interest for us.”

Talbot credited Panthers co-founder Chris Perry with helping her take her game to the college level.

“Chris was a great influence in my volleyball career and he allowed me to improve as a middle and work on specific things you’re supposed to know,” she said. “We really dug deeper into every single game and that brought me to realize everything I needed to work on as an athlete.”

After losing their 2020-21 ACAC season to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schwark looks forward to a return to competition.

“I think we all really felt that the 2020-21 season was going to be something special for us and though we have lost a few graduating members, we still have a really strong group of highly motivated seniors and probably our strongest group of incoming recruits since I have been with the program,” she said. “I think our compete level will improve and we will be playing with more endurance and strength, for sure.”

Last month, the Kodiaks were cleared to start planning the fall season.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Follow @@DWoodardHerald on Twitter

Comments are closed.