The most overlooked skill in volleyball is arguably the most important. In the opinion of the one of province鈥檚 top spikers, an aggressive and effective offense begins with the humble pass.
鈥淎 lot of people will look at the big bangs and think, whoa,鈥� said Coltyn Liu, a six-foot-four outside hitter with the two-time senior boys city champion Van Tech Talisman. 鈥淏ut the big part is knowing how to pass because you can鈥檛 get those big bangs without a good pass coming off.鈥�
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Liu knows a thing or two about being set up to succeed. The Talisman offence drives the ball toward the agile 17-year-old named Volleyball BC鈥檚 male player of the year last season, but there was a time Liu and his family needed exceptional amounts of support and care from others. Before his impressive hang time became what it is today, Liu鈥檚 future hung in the balance.
As a toddler on a shopping trip for birthday supplies with his mom and older sister, Liu was struck by a wheeled, metal crate and sent flying into a wall where he lay in his own blood with life-altering catastrophic head injuries. He was two years old.
鈥淭he years since the injury has been filled with so much more trauma, ups and downs, tears or sorrow and of joy,鈥� Liu wrote two years ago in a mission statement for K.A.R.E. Power, the charity he started a decade ago with his mom and sister. His development was delayed, he threw screaming rages because he was in extreme pain, he was bullied.聽
Liu's world changed with sport, specifically volleyball. It was his miracle, you could say.
鈥淪o many people said that Coltyn wouldn鈥檛 be able to do many things, and I don鈥檛 live by that kind of thinking,鈥� said his mother Kathleen Shiels, who keeps a swear jar for which the most profane offender is 鈥渃an鈥檛.鈥�
Their Christian faith offers an enormous influence and source of strength for the family of three. They are bolstered by meaningful signs, the kinds of coincidences that compel one to ask if they don't mean something more. For example, the number four is an auspicious force in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word for death, but for the Liu family, who are of mixed heritage including Chinese, that number now comes with a life force all of its own. Liu wears it as his number. When he is admitted to hospital for frequent check-ups, Shiels says when they invariably find themselves in a room with the no. 4, the prognosis is good. They have turned death upside down.
Liu was home schooled until he began taking a few classes a week at West Coast Christian School in Abbotsford. Eventually, he was enrolled simultaneously at the private school and the public Van Tech secondary, in an exceptional example of the school systems coming together to serve a high-needs student who, for years, walked and talked differently than his peers and suffered the social stigma and cruelty that came with it. Because of his brain injury, Liu endures sensory over-load and tolerates painful exposure to high-pitch noises and other stimuli.
Incredibly, fundamental feature of volleyball --- the "big bangs," as Liu calls them --- that bring him relief from the environmental stresses he puts up with. The hard physical contact on his forearms that comes with digging up a pass or the ricocheting block that comes on defence, those are the sensations that bring relief. He seeks them out, said his mom. The pain is his remedy.
鈥淵ou can see his face relax when he takes a hit,鈥� said Shiels.When her children were growin up, she insisted they played sports, and both Liu and his older sister Parys were drawn to volleyball, a sport their mother also played.
鈥淗e talks about how volleyball saved him,鈥� she added. Miraculous, you could say.
Earlier this year, Liu was recognized for his tenacity, talents and charity when he was chosen by Coast Mental Health for a Courage to Come Back award. The the video below tells the family's emotional story in full.聽
With the Van Tech Talismen, the Grade 12 student is in the second round of the AAA senior boys volleyball B.C. Championship in Langley. Entering the tournament ranked third, the Talismen are gunning for the first provincial title for a 麻豆传媒映画school. They will have to get through the Kelowna Owls, the top-ranked team that has beat them in three meetings this season.
