Captain - Frederic Winters
Frederic Winters took up volleyball because a lot of his friends played. When he first tried the sport, he found that he enjoyed it. More than enjoying it, he excelled in it and last year he made his third World Championship appearance. After finishing 11th in 2006 and 19th in 2010, he helped the team to finish seventh in 2014.
This year he played in his fourth World League, finishing joint-seventh in Group 2.
Winters became one of the first three non-Chinese players to compete in China's professional volleyball league, when he joined BAIC Motors in Beijing in 2012. In 2003 he had a tattoo of the face of his grandmother inked on his right shoulder after missing her funeral because he was trying out for the national team. He had lived with her for much of his childhood.
Star Player - Gavin Schmitt
Gavin Schmitt started playing volleyball at age 18 in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. He played basketball as a child, but his mother wanted him to try as many sports as possible while at high school. One of those sports was volleyball and he took a liking to it immediately.
Schmitt has played in three NORCECA Championships, helping the Canada team to improve their performance. In 2007 they finished fourth in Anaheim, CA, United States, then were placed third in 2011 and second in 2013. He was in the national team for the 2010 and 2014 World Championship, finishing 19th then seventh respectively. Most recently, Schmitt played for Canada in the 2014 and 2015 World League competition and finished as Canada’s top scorer in both competitions. At club level he has played for teams in Brazil, France, Greece, Russia, Korea and Turkey.
In 2013 he was troubled by an injury to his left leg. A scan showed stress syndrome in his tibia bone. A further X-ray revealed he had multiple stress fractures in his tibia, so he underwent surgery on the injury and was out of competitive action until January 2014.
He says his sporting hero Frenchman Stephane Antiga, who currently coaches Poland men’s national team.
