Local volleyball phenom Chloe Kube poses with comedian Gerry Dee and her Player of the Game award from the Cwench All Canadian Volleyball games in June. Kube, who is just entering Grade 11 at Medicine Hat High School, has already earned herself a full-ride scholarship to Division 1 NCAA's University of Buffalo.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat volleyball player Chloe Kube has had a very big year.
Kube, who is entering the 11th Grade, won MVP at the U16 Girls Volleyball Canada Youth National Championship this past spring. In the summer, she lined up a full-ride scholarship to the University of Buffalo, home to a NCAA Division I team. And those are just the highlights.
Heading into nationals in May, the U16 South East Alberta Volleyball Club Rattlers Gold team had fallen short of their goal to win provincials, ranking fifth overall.
“Provincials didn’t go as we hoped, but we kept working really hard through practices, and at nationals, the team just gelled really well. We were playing some of the best volleyball we’ve ever played. We just thought, ‘Dang, maybe we can actually win this,'” said Kube in an interview with the News on Monday.
The team kept winning, and sure enough, they won the whole thing.
“It was really surreal, because we had never competed at the highest level before,” said Kube.
It was especially special for Kube, who had spent the previous year spectating the U16 girls finals.
“I idolized the girl that got MVP the year before. It was surreal for that to be me the year after. I worked really hard to get to that point and it just showed that it was achievable to me.”
Nationals was the beginning of a string of victories. After the tournament, Kube was invited to the Cwench All Canadian Volleyball Games in June.
The tournament saw 30 girls from across Canada selected for each of the U16 and U17 age groups to compete in a best-in-Canada matchup. The fully-sponsored match was streamed on CBC. Her team won there, too, and Kube was awarded player of the game.
In July, Kube co-captained one of the two U16 Team Alberta teams for the Canada Cup, a tournament where the best players from each province compete in a national contest. Kube’s team, Team Alberta Black, won the tournament.
After all her success in Canada, Kube was invited on three official visits to schools south of the border. After touring Northern Arizona University, University of North Dakota and University of Buffalo, she made a verbal commitment to Buffalo.
“I got the opportunity to meet some of the girls, which would be my future teammates, and I really clicked with them,” she said. “The coaches are all great. I’m definitely going to be able to get better as a volleyball player there, because they play in a really competitive conference.”
Kube still has two years before she’ll begin in Buffalo. But in the meantime, she has her sights set on plenty of other milestones.
“A dream of mine is to play for Team Canada. So I’m going to keep working really hard at that,” she said.
Kube says she’s looking forward to enjoying her last couple of years here in Medicine Hat, spending time with family and friends and striving for the best results with her club team.
Her club team – the one that won nationals in May – is also coached by her mother, Lori Kube, which adds another element to the meaning of all this success.
“If it wasn’t for her, I would not be where I am right now,” said Kube. “My mom cares so much about our team and she cares so much about me. We have become so close because of all this and it’s really cool.
“I have so much to look forward to. Honestly, all of this that happened this year was so completely unexpected. I’m just excited to see what’s next.”
