6-foot-7 middle James Weir is the Brandon Bobcats first recruit for the 2014-2015 Canada West men’s volleyball season.
Weir was born in Saskatoon, but has spent the past few years living in Australia with his family.
"Big strong athletic kid moves extremely well and we think he’s going to be able to come in and challenge for minutes," said coach Grant Wilson.
"I decided on Brandon because of the success that they’ve had as a volleyball program in recent years. From what I’ve heard there is a great team culture within the Bobcats and I am really thrilled to be heading over there in September," Weir told gobobcats.ca.
Weir gained great volleyball experience Down Under.
He helped the Canberra Heat to a silver medal in the Australian Volleyball League men’s championship and was a scholarship student in the Australia Institute of Sport development program.
"Guys that we have experienced that have come out of there, they seem to have a really solid understanding of the game. They’re well trained and they’re well coached," said Wilson. "We really think that type of experience is invaluable it’s something that doesn’t really happen in Canada, so to have a Canadian kid gain that experience is a pretty exceptional thing."
The Bobcats welcome Weir, but lose BU male athlete of the year and Canada West all-star Dan Boutwell due to graduation.
There’s potential for the Bobcats’ newcomer to fit that mold in the future.
"I kind of linked him to Dan Boutwell, that’s kind of who he reminds me of, and perhaps he’s even more skilled now then Dan was at that age," said Wilson. "We’d like to think that with hard work and continued development that he’s going to develop into a real solid middle just like Dan did."
Weir will join fifth-year Frank Jones, BU rookie of the year Ty Moorman along with hometown product and freshman Daven Pascal at the middle position going into 2014-2015.
"Adding James to that mix gives us four middles, which is what we like to have. It gives us veterans at one end, youth at the other and tons of potential in-between," added Wilson.
