TRU recruit Ellie Oestreich is in Kamloops this week, her future home, as part of the U-17 Team BC squad (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

TRU VOLLEYBALL RECRUIT

Future WolfPack volleyball player dreamed of going to TRU since she was young

Jul 10, 2019 | 4:01 PM

KAMLOOPS — Ellie Oestreich is not a familiar name around these parts of the province, but in a couple years she could be a household name with the TRU WolfPack.

This week, Oestreich is in Kamloops, her future home, for a U-17 Team BC volleyball camp. She’s committed to play here starting in the 2020-2021 season.

“[WolfPack women’s head coach Chad Grimm] reached out to me this year, sometime in the fall. I’ve always wanted to go to TRU since I was little, so it was an easy decision,” said Oestreich.

The 17-year-old outside hitter is from Grasmere, B.C., a small town of about 150 people in the Kootenays. Growing up, TRU sports camps came to Grasmere. It started her path to the WolfPack.

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“I went to one when I was six. I didn’t play, but I just watched my friend and I wanted to play really bad,” she remembered. “Then after that, I always went every year. I really liked the coaches and the players they sent over. I always inspired to be like that.”

Oestreich plays on the high school team at Mount Baker Secondary in Cranbrook, an hour’s drive from home in Grasmere.

With limited competition and coaches, she also plays on a club team in Calgary, and that’s how TRU women’s coach Chad Grimm discovered her.

“[WolfPack assistant] Drew Venebles was there, and Olga [Savenchuk] and Anastasiia [Muzyka] were there as well, and they confirmed that Ellie was a player that we should be definitely contacting and making a push to see if she could make TRU a fit,” said Grimm. “It ended up working out.”

She was also recruited by Simon Fraser University, an NCAA Division II school. Rob Gowe, the coach of the U-17 B.C. girls team, was the assistant at SFU at the time.

“I think she’s going to be a good addition for Chad. I think she’s one of those kids, she’s got the physical tools now,” said Gowe, who’s now the head coach of the women’s volleyball program at Capilano University. “She’s just got to work on that technique, get her there. I think she’s going to be a valuable addition and help [the WolfPack] take the next step.”

Oestreich heads to Halifax this weekend with her B.C. teammates for nationals. She’ll play out her Grade 12 year in Cranbrook before joining TRU in September 2020.

“I’m really looking forward to just getting to be on a high-level team and getting the high-level coaching that I’ve always wanted,” she said.