YORKTON - There is no doubt it is an emergent time for professional women’s sport in North America – specifically in terms of team sports.
It more or less started with the Women’s National Basketball Association and have been followed by various pro soccer leagues, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and now two pro volleyball leagues.
League One Volleyball’s (LOVB; they are pronouncing as ‘love’) is in its first season, with the six-team league just a couple of weeks into its inaugural schedule.
Canadian outside hitter Vicky Savard signed with LOVB Omaha Volleyball, the first player from this side of the 49th parallel to ink a deal with the new league.
Savard told Yorkton This Week the opportunity to play professionally in North America is a huge development for women’s volleyball.
Before “we had to travel overseas or to Asia or South America,” she noted, adding for players here it was “a big sacrifice” having to leave for months abroad to pursue pro opportunities.
And, Savard made those sacrifices before LOVB.
During her eight-year pro career, Vicky has played in six different countries.
In 2018, she was named Best Scorer in the Finnish Cup, helping HPK Naiset to a Cup and League victory.
A year later, she led Minis Arluy VB Logroño to a Spanish triple, winning the Spanish Liga Iberdrola, Spanish Cup and Spanish Supercup while earning Best Outside Hitter honours.
She twice finished among the top three of Greece’s top league, and, in 2022, made her European Champions League debut with Ukraine’s SC Prometey.
Now Savard is in a situation, while not exactly at home – she hails from Jonquière, Quebec – she is closer.
“I’m one flight away from home,” she said, adding that allowed her to fly home for Christmas and simply to feel more connected.
“It feels like I’m playing at home,” she said, adding being in the United States is not so different in many ways than being in Canada.
Savard said fans also “have a way of celebrating the athletes,” she is already appreciating. “It’s really special.”
The new league may only have six teams in year one, but Savard said it aspires to be more in the seasons ahead, suggesting it wants to be “the biggest and best league in the world for women’s volleyball.”
In that regard Savard said they have already taken steps by going after players from around the world.
Savard may have been the first Canadian athlete in the league, she is not the only international player. She joins 29 other international players from 18 countries, according to a league article at lovb.com
“If you’re trying to make the best league in the world you’ve got to get those international athletes,” she said.
In that mix Savard hopes come more opportunities for Canadian players and she knows she plays a role in terms of simply raising the profile of the new league.
“I want to be the voice for all Canadian athletes that want to play volleyball at a high level here in North America,” said the athlete who broke onto the Canadian National Team in 2021, helping Canada take third at the NORCECA Championships. Since then, she’s won another NORCECA Championship bronze medal and played in three Volleyball Nations League tournaments, the 2022 World Championships and 2024 Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Ultimately, maybe that will mean an LOVB team in Canada.
“I truly hope it grows in that direction,” said Savard.
