Kyle Hinchey, a recent Alberta high school provincial champion, will graduate from Jasper Place to be a member of the Heat this fall.
KELOWNA, BC – The first recruit announced for the Heat men’s volleyball 2016/17 season is a powerful Right Side, from Edmonton’s Jasper Place High School, Kyle Hinchey. Hinchey is a 6’6” outside power hitter, with an impressive string of accomplishments to show for his volleyball career prior to his starting with UBC Okanagan this coming September.
The current high school senior has been named to two Team Alberta squads, once for 16u beach volleyball, and then with the 17u indoor provincial team. With his club team last year he was picked for the youth national selects, while he and his team took fifth place at nationals. In his final year of high school, Kyle was made a member of the 18u NAVC Griffins. Playing with his high school team, he has earned tournament all-star honours twice, at the TVT and University of Alberta tournaments in 2015. He and his Rebels teammates have also won the 4a school city title, culminating as back-to-back provincial championships in Hinchey’s grade eleven and twelve years.
Kyle’s current coach, Sid Brandsma, describes him as “by far one of the most dominant high school right sides in Alberta. At 6’6″ Kyle is a huge block, with great leaping ability and an explosive swing. As Kyle continues to fill out and increase his strength he has the potential to be an outstanding CIS player. UBC Okanagan is very lucky to be getting this young man who is talented enough to take any program to the next level.”
On why he chose UBC Okanagan, Kyle has a very positive and well-rounded reasoning for wanting to be a part of the future here. “I chose UBCO because I feel that the academic atmosphere and setup of the classes and campus will be a good fit for me, I like the small campus feel and how welcoming and open it was all setup. It seems as though there is a great student community and base for athletics as well. Volleyball wise I felt I meshed with a lot of the players really well and thoroughly enjoyed my 2 hour conversation with assistant coach Kyle, he left a great impression on me and as someone I would be spending a lot of time around that was a huge part of my decision. I feel Greg is a very good coach for me as well, he’s got an incredible eye for the game and so much knowledge that I hope to soak up in my time playing at UBCO.”
As excited as he is to be here, the Heat program is equally looking forward to having him. “Kyle is our first recruit for our next cycle going into the next 5 years,” said Heat head coach Greg Poitras. “He is one of the top recruits in Alberta, if not Western Canada. We feel his physicality and skill level will help our program immediately. Kyle comes from a volleyball family with siblings that have also played post-secondary volleyball. His older brother plays for the UBC Thunderbirds and also the Canadian Sitting National Team. He has played on Team Alberta and has also been identified by our National Team program. Kyle is a great jumper and also has the attack velocity to score against our future opponents. We have learned that we have signed a very charismatic person and an athlete that is committed and driven to take our program forward to big things.”
All parties involved seem to agree that Kyle Hinchey will be a big addition to the Heat. Moving forward, his power and his enthusiasm look to give Heat fans present and future a lot to be excited about.