He hopes it’s electrifying in the Sask Tel Centre on Friday night.
And it should be as Saskatoon native Gavin Schmitt competes in front of all his family and friends in the FIVB World Volleyball League.
“My brother ended up buying 40 tickets,” he said. “My family. We’ll be out strong and hopefully ticket sales will be good because it’s such a good league.”
FVIB kicks off tonight with Canada taking on Korea at 8:05 p.m.
“I think we can do very well,” said Schmitt. “We’ve had success against most of these teams in the past and if we play well I think we can be successful this weekend.”
China takes on Portugal before that at 5:35 p.m.
Schmitt started playing volleyball in Saskatoon for the HVC volleyball club and eventually went on to win the silver medal with the men’s national team at the 2013 Volleyball Championship in Langley, BC.
Right now Canada is 3-0 in the World League and getting ready to head to the Summer Olympics this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This tournament is going to be a combination of a tune up for the Olympics and building for us,” said Schmitt. “It will be building, resting guys, and playing, kind of the whole work up to get ready for Rio.”
Schmitt said the FVIB world league has really started to grow.
“Volleyball has become more accessible because it’s on television,” he said. “Social media has really blown it up and people are starting to follow it.
On Saturday, Canada takes on China at 1:30 p.m. and on Sunday they play Portugal at 6:05 p.m.
To get tickets head to Ticketmaster.ca.
Canada is ranked 10th in the world.