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Julia Hall began her competitive volleyball career at 16 when her
high school gym teacher encouraged her to try out for
the Region 4 volleyball team. Luckily, the coaches saw
potential and a drive to learn and took the chance on her.
It only took one summer and she was sold on the indoor game.
In the following few years, she medalled at Provincial and
National Championships with the Ganaraska Wolves Volleyball
Club, won the Regional Summer Games, then was invited to play
for Team Ontario and won the bronze medal at the Canada Summer Games.
Playing at such a high level throughout her high school years
is what provided Julia the opportunity to be seen and
recruited by the University of Toronto.
Julia's career with the Varsity Blues had a rocky start,
as she had to red-shirt her first year due to a back injury.
After a year of physiotherapy, her coach encouraged her to
play beach volleyball for the summer to get back into playing
shape. Just as quickly as she loved indoor volleyball, she now
loved beach volleyball too. The summer in the sand lead to a
bronze medal at the Provincial Beach Championships and just as
importantly put Julia into the best shape of her life.
She was then able to begin her varsity career as the
Rookie of the Year and OUA Champion. However, Julia was
soon put back on the injured list when she tore her ACL in
the quarterfinal game at Nationals. What else was there to do
but put in another year of physiotherapy followed by a summer
of beach volleyball to get her back on her game. The rest of
her university years had a similar theme, with summers
medalling on the beach and winters winning OUA championships
and All-Star Awards.
After 4 years with the Varsity Blues and the completion of
her Bachelor of Physical Education, Julia decided to take
a year off and continue her beach training. A year later,
she finished off her competitive indoor career with the
Universitiy of Western Mustangs, while attending Teacher's
College.
Julia now teaches at a local elementary school, were she
coaches the volleyball teams. She continues to play
recreational indoor volleyball in the winters and competitive
beach volleyball in the summers. She enjoys coaching beach
volleyball in Port Stanley in the summers, where she can
pass on her love for the game.
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