Written by Christopher Zorbas

Leadership. That's what the last five years have taught Lancers captain and middle blocker Johnathan Moate. The fact that he never played volleyball before university would hardly be apparent watching the 6'8 Kinesiology major play at the FISU games in Taipei, Taiwan in 2017, representing Canada and playing with some of the best volleyball players the country has to offer.
 
Johnathan Moate came to Windsor after his height caught the eye of the Lancers head volleyball coach James Gravelle. Gravelle got in touch with Moate and organized a visit, after some athletic testing Moate was offered a chance to make the team at the open tryouts.
 
"All the preliminary tryouts went horribly…" conceded Moate, speaking about his experience at the open tryouts. "I was severely lacking in the ball control and knowledge of the game, I did pretty well in vertical jump and physical testing but other than that I really had no idea what I was doing."
 
"I honestly didn't think I was going to make the team," Moate continued. "But I think Coach Gravelle saw some of my hustle and inner competition and wanted to bring that out of me. Also, my first year we had a pretty good team, so they were able to take on a project player."
 
Moate was taken on a redshirt player meaning he was only allowed to practice with the team and not play in order to not waste a year of eligibility. For the entire first semester Moate was isolated in a separate court working one on one with an assistant coach to learn the fundamentals of the game such as footwork and positioning as well as ball control. In the latter half of the second semester Moate got to the point where he could join the team for drills.
 
"It took a long time," Moate added.
 
In his second year Moate had gone from practicing on a separate court to playing against some of the province's best.
 
"We were playing McMaster in my first year and they have been pretty dominant in the volleyball community," recalled Moate. "I won a joust against one of their players and I kind of gave him a stare down and one of the national team guys ran up to the net and screamed about how a rookie couldn't do that. That was pretty memorable."
 
After his second year of playing Moate was voted to the OUA second team and coach Gravelle recommended he try out for the national team. Despite not making it Moate felt he had a decent chance and was later told to apply to FISU games by Coach Gravelle who had been tabbed to coach the Canadian team in Taipei, Taiwan.
 
Despite playing the sport for not even four full years, Moate found himself among the country's best, representing his homeland.
 
"It was pretty amazing," said Moate with a smile on his face. "I kind of felt like I was under classed with some of the guys that were there. There were some really good names on that team and so I felt I needed to prove myself."
 
Despite all the on-court action, it's the opening ceremonies that Moate remembers.
 
"The opening ceremonies," explained Moate. "They did such an amazing job, the stands were packed. When you're in Taipei everyone loves Canadians so they all cheered when we came in. Also, being tall, they don't see a lot of tall people, so if you're tall or have blond hair walking around the community you'll get stalked for photos, so that was really cool for me."
 
The games weren't entirely all fun and games for Moate as the national jersey came with pressures as well.
 
"It was honestly kind of scary, going into it I was like this is a big responsibility," said Moate. "The guys who led team Canada were very clear about the expectations and you want to represent your country well and you want to perform to the best of your ability at the right time. It felt like a lot of pressure but it's also something I'll never forget, having my last name on it was cool and the team Canada on the front is something I'll never forget."
 
Moate hasn't just accomplished big things for himself and the national team. As a middle blocker Moate was an integral piece to last year's team, a squad beat Ryerson for the OUA bronze medal and advanced to the U Sports playoffs for the first time in program history.
 
"We won the bronze medal game against Ryerson in five sets, so it was pretty exciting," remembered Moate. "On Ryerson's side there was a guy that played at FISU with us, so it was cool to play against him. Also, to go to Nationals was cool, especially coming off a bad season all the guys worked really hard, it was well deserved and super exciting."
 
Going into his final year at Windsor Moate has accomplished a lot on a personal level, traveling to places and doings things he admittedly didn't think Volleyball would give him. As a result, the senior, who's been captain three years in a row has more team goals.
 
"I've been able to do a lot personally and been able to travel. I never saw myself here being a red shirt player and then being able to travel to Taiwan, going around Canada and Calgary," explained Moate. "This year I just have some team goals that would be awesome. We have a lot of hype around us because we're nationally ranked and made it to nationals last year, so we're trying not to get too ahead of ourselves. Right now, we're trying to host a playoff game which we haven't done in a couple season, if we do that we have the chance to host the OUA's which would be cool for the volleyball community and us to get some Lancer fans out."
 
There's no debate that Moate's journey has been a unique one, from learning a team game on a separate court to representing his country among some of the world's best. In his fifth year he leads what might be the Lancers best men's volleyball team in program history towards some lofty goals, carrying with him the best lesson the last five years have offered.
 
"Leadership for sure. Coming in as a red shirt and not knowing what to do," explained Moate. "Now I've been captain for three years, so it's taken a long time to adjust to that role. Especially in my first year, we had a tough year and I think that's because internal leadership wasn't where it needed to be and that was a really good lesson for me after that tough year; noticing you need internal leadership in a team for that team to be successful. So, I've really learned some good lessons, how to have talks with guys, even if they're tough you need to have them. Relating between coach and player is a tough job sometimes and having to take concerns between them can be tough."
 
Despite it not being easy, Moate is happy to be in a position of leadership in his final season.
 
 "It's helped me grow a lot and I'm thankful to have the opportunity lead the team."