Posted by Sudbury Northern Life
Brett Walter has loved football for as long as he can remember. Although his first introduction to organized sport came courtesy of ice hockey at age six or seven, it wasn't long before his athletic calling took him in a different direction.
In Grade 5 or 6, he had his first taste of football, playing in the Joe MacDonald Youth Football League. To suggest he was bitten by the gridiron bug would be a huge understatement.
"I just liked football so much ... I watched NFL, I probably played 'Madden'," said Walter, relaxing after class at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School.
But there was something beyond a sheer love of the game that set Walter apart from the other youngsters who strapped on the over-sized pads.
"I guess I always felt natural as I was always bigger than most of the kids my age," he noted. "I just grasped the game." Turning heads almost from the first time he took to the field, the Lively native quickly carved out a reputation within local football circles - all before he had even entered high school.
His future seemed clear from the get go. "I thought football was going to be my favourite sport. I thought it was going to be the path I was going to take," he said. "I had dreams of playing university football, maybe in the States. But as I grew older, volleyball just kind of took over."
Truth be told, the transformation really didn't start until his junior year as a Knight. Walter had played on a strong elementary volleyball team and continued the multi-sport tradition of most athletically-gifted local talent - competing in football, volleyball, basketball and track and field at Lo-Ellen.
The tide began to turn, he said, in the summer following Grade 10, with a set of tryouts, that by his own admission, he was almost literally dragged to.
"It was in Grade 10 when somebody first came up to me and said I should be playing club. I had no idea there was even such a thing as club volleyball."
Off he went that summer to regional volleyball tryouts, where Walter emerged as a key component playing middle.
"That was my very first exposure to what volleyball was like, the calibre, the atmosphere ... at that level."
So the tug-of-war began - a debate that has raged on for the past three years as Walter has continued to shine not only on the gridiron and volleyball courts, but also in the classroom.
Through it all, he has demonstrated an ability to remain grounded, while dealing with a decision where the heart often overrides the mind. "I told myself the deciding factor would be opportunity - to go to the university of choice and to keep playing after university."
Last July, the young athlete attended the Ontario Volleyball Association High Performance Camp - one of 20 players to work their way through an open tryout process (the remaining 20 were pre-selected or invited athletes). The OVA camp also provides the venue for the selection of the provincial team.
Battling the odds, Walter cracked the 14-man roster. "At the end of the first week, my coach told me that nobody even knew who I was before the camp ... but now, I had given myself a shot to make the team,"  he said.
That ultimately led Walter - one of three finalists for the Amateur Athlete of the Year Award in Sudbury - to choosing the Queen's University volleyball program as his next stop.
Even as he moves forward with conviction, Walter noted the reality of his situation next fall. "I know when I go and play volleyball next year, I'm going to miss it (football). I'm probably going to watch every single home game (at Queen's)," he laughed.
Enrolled in kinesiology at one of the province's top post-secondary institutions is not likely to provide a great deal of time for second-guessing. "I honestly don't know what to expect ... but I doubt I'm going to be bored."
Randy Pascal is the voice of Eastlink Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.
