Jefferson Hagen / MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – With an extra-lengthy 41-day break between games in the middle of their Canada West season, the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball team will look to stay sharp during a holiday training trip to San Diego.

After playing Trinity Western on Dec. 2, their semester break goes into overtime this season due to a bye weekend Jan. 5-6.

So, head coach Ken Briggs is taking the team to California from Dec. 27 to Jan. 3 where they will camp out at a club training facility and the beach (of course!) to stay sharp and get in a terrific spell of team bonding.

Seven other Canadian university and college teams will be coming with them – including Canada West rival Saskatchewan, Canadian Colleges Athletic Association powerhouses Vancouver Island University, Lakeland and Humber and three other Eastern Canadian teams, TBA at this point.

"This isn't a tournament," said Briggs. "We'll have four hours of training a day where all our athletes are on the court at the same time. So, they're always playing.

"I'll split my team into two and they'll be playing VIU and Saskatchewan. The next hour it could be someone else. Then we'll have formal matches at different times during the week."

Three formal matches are planned for the duration, which will be decided when the teams get to San Diego.

Briggs is treating the opportunity as a training camp as the Griffins get ready for a crucial second-half of the season. At 0-12, MacEwan faces a tremendous uphill battle to catch a playoff spot, even if the quality of competition they'll face gets much easier than in the first half.

"When you come back after Christmas and play the next week, you've got to get right into it," said Briggs. "It's like a mini training camp. Like the start of the season, we'll train twice a day – just wash games in the morning where you keep score but it's informal. Probably in the afternoon we'll play formal matches for an hour.

"We need that getting back into it."

All told, the Griffins will have seven indoor training sessions during the trip and will also mix in some time on the beach volleyball court.

"It's kind of a reward, too," said Briggs. "We don't travel every year. We've got those fifth-year kids and this will be their first trip out of the country.

"It exposes us also to some of the U.S. volleyball, which does help."