BRENDEN PALMER

Towering at six foot six and occupying the middle blocker position on the Huskies men’s volleyball team, Robert Graham is a formidable force on the court, crushing the ball against his opponents with a quick attack from the centre and shutting them down with a strong block when they try to hit back.

Graham has ended his fifth and final year with the Huskies and although he is no longer eligible to play, he looks back at his experience with the team warmly and is glad to have ended his final year on a high note.

“It was as good of a final year as I could ask for. We extended our season as far as we could, we went to nationals and making the playoffs this year was very rewarding. The last time the Huskies were in the Canada West final was in 2005, and making it there this year was huge. It was my first experience being in a playoff game, and actually playing a crucial part. I’m really proud of our team for not giving up and being resilient on the road,” Graham said.

That resilience has served Graham well over the years, on and off the court. At the age of five, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, something that hindered his ability to learn, but he wasn’t going to let it hold him back.

“I found reading and writing very difficult and I was a very slow learner. I had some pretty bad social skills too, and I would often spend a lot of time alone,” Graham said. “My teachers weren’t the greatest supports either and they didn’t think that I’d make it past high school, but my parents thought otherwise and so did I.”

With the help of his parents and some supportive educational assistants, Graham was able to overcome these obstacles and become a strong student. In the process, he discovered that he wanted to become a teacher in order to help those in need.

“I know there are students out there that are going through the same thing that I did, and I know that some of them have it even worse. Teaching would allow me to be a positive role model for those students, and give them a sense of hope and someone [who] believes in them,” he said.

As the son of accomplished volleyball player and former Huskies volleyball head coach, Graham was encouraged to hit the court at a young age, playing his first volleyball game at eight years old.

“To be honest, I hated volleyball when I first started playing it. If you’ve ever seen beginners playing, you’ll know that it can be hard to watch because the ball flies all over the court. It’s very difficult to learn how to bump and set the ball, and your wrists and forearms can get very sore from the impact. Eventually, I told my mom that I wanted to quit,” Graham said.

Despite expressing his disdain for the sport, Graham’s mother saw his potential to be a formidable volleyball player and encouraged him to stick with it. When he was in grade nine, Graham made the Saskatchewan Under-16 Provincial Volleyball Team, a turning point in his career.

“It was a great community of players. All of the guys were funny and great to hang out with and I didn’t want it to end. After that, I was really motivated to excel at the game and the rest took off from there,” he said.

Off the court, Graham enjoys the visual arts, voice acting and writing. He is currently writing a fantasy-adventure novel and one day hopes to be a published author.     

Although Graham will no longer be on the court as a player, he plans to use the skills he has learned over the years to coach students on the court when he becomes a teacher. Graham believes that the lessons learned on the court are not only useful to athletes, but can be applied to life in general as well.

“Things aren’t always going to be pretty. In the end, it really only takes one person to make your goals a reality, which is yourself,” Graham said. “Sometimes things aren’t going to start out great but it’s a test to see how strong you are as an individual, and if you work hard and don’t give up, you can overcome those obstacles.”

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Photo: Scott David