From Switzerland to the Burridge Gym

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By: John Bauer

McMaster has been drawing international students for most of its 127 years of existence. Among them are those who represent the Marauders and their home countries both on the scoresheet and in the classroom. Volleyball teammates on the court and good friends off it, Ina Onat and Nicole Goricanec have taken roundabout journeys from living abroad to home games at Burridge Gymnasium. They tell their stories in this two-part series.

A long road to Mac

When you think of beach volleyball, the Swiss Alps generally do not come to mind. Far from a volleyball hotbed, the small town Giubiasco, nestled at the base of the Alps, is exactly where Marauders outside hitter Nicole Goricanec began her somewhat improbable volleyball journey to McMaster.

Goricanec was born in Locarno, Switzerland, about a half-hour drive from her former club team’s home court in Giubiasco. She began her playing days at age 12 on the court, and soon took up beach volleyball as well. One of her earliest memories of volleyball is actually quitting the sport. But it was her older sister, Tanja, that got her into the sport in the first place, so, naturally, a little bit of sibling rivalry spurred her return to the game.

“I was tired of playing volleyball, but then I saw my sister playing and she got better and better,” said the younger Goricanec. The elder’s improvement has since translated into a professional volleyball career for Tanja, and Olympic aspirations.

While Goricanec did once wish to follow in her sister’s footsteps, she has instead chosen to focus her attention to her education. In her Grade 12 year, she decided that she wanted to use her volleyball skills to help her see the world. So along with applications to Swiss schools, she enlisted some help to get her name out to North America. She found a travelling scout who specialized in helping connect European players with U.S. college coaches looking for recruits, and uploaded a highlight video. From there, all she could do was wait.

With decision time looming, it was looking like Goricaenc may have to stay in Switzerland for university.

“I decided really late because I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

“Then I got a scholarship. I wasn’t sure I was going to get one because it was late. But it worked out.”

That scholarship was a full-ride to St. Petersburg College in Florida. The only caveat was that it was a junior college, meaning she could only stay for two years. There, she worked on her English, and played volleyball for the school both on the court and on the beach. But after one year, she was ready for a change.

“It wasn’t as good of a school,” she said. “It was more fun than something serious.”

She does not regret the time she spent there, however: “I learned a lot [about] beach volleyball. We had a really good coach... I’m so happy that I did that year.”

After doing some research, and with the recommendation of her father, an alumnus, Goricanec applied to McMaster’s commerce program, and was accepted. Now in her first year of studies, she hopes to eventually parlay her degree into a career in international business: “[I] would like to work for a company that allows me to travel and interact with different people from different cultures and countries,” she said.

Though commerce and volleyball may be her passions, what might be most impressive about the player endearingly called “Swiss” by her teammates is her linguistic savvy. She is fluent in English, German, and Italian, has studied Spanish and French, and is interested is learning some of the Chinese dialects. You can also add volleyball to her vernacular.

When her family is gathered back in Switzerland, the topic of conversation often turns to the sport that unites four of its five members. “During dinner we always talk about volleyball,” she says.  “My other sister doesn’t play volleyball so she’s always bored... [She always says] ‘let’s talk about something else.’”

Goricanec was eased somewhat into her role on team in her rookie year. Though she sits behind several experienced outside hitters on the depth chart, she got into ten games and picked up 22.5 points. What might be most tantalizing about her play to coach Tim Louks is her serving prowess, as she ended up leading the team in service aces per set played, despite seeing limited game action. She considers serving one of her strengths, especially serve placement.

On the mark

Coincidentally, the player that may appreciate Goricanec’s accuracy most is Ina Onat, a fellow international student.

“Onat has a lot of ball control which is why I asked her to be my pepper (a warmup drill where players alternate setting up and returning each others’ spikes) partner when I was first coming back from my concussion,” said Goricanec.

That trust extends off the court as well. Onat remembers how the two met at the team’s rookie dinner, and have been close friends ever since.

“After all the other rookies left, it was just me and Nicole left and we hung out for hours. We walked around campus talking about her life before coming to Mac and I told her how I moved here from Turkey and we shared our own stories of how we both decided to come to Mac. Having a similar story to Nicole really drew us together. I am very lucky to have had a friend like her this year, she is someone I can always trust on and off of the court.”

Bridging the gap

While the two players may have grown up 2000 km from each other, this distance has actually brought them closer together now that they are Marauders.

Though the season may have ended in disappointment for the team as a whole, both players can look back on the season and find many small victories. For Onat, just stepping back on the court and facing her fears, much less staring down university-level spikes may have seemed out of reach mere months ago with her concussion woes.

Goricanec has achieved her dream of finding a place where she can take her education as seriously as her volleyball career, while still exploring a new part of the world. But come next season, the two will be looking towards greater things on the court.

The team is a single year removed from being OUA champions, and may only lose one or two players in the off-season to graduation and exhausted eligibility. With this year’s quarterfinal loss fresh in their minds, they will be looking to reclaim their throne atop the OUA and make some noise in the CIS playoffs.

After all, Onat and Goricanec did not come all this way to McMaster to settle for anything less.

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