Student athletes, sports and academics, where they started and where they are now
There are many sports on the Laurier Brantford campus, that implies that the school would have a wide variety of students athletes as well. Laura Plourde is one of these athletes. Plourde is a third-year in the social work program and the 2025-26 season will be her second year on the Laurier Brantford coed extramural volleyball team.
When asked about her experience being a part of the Laurier team Plourde stated, “It’s been really fun an opportunity for me to play volleyball in a more competitive setting, and obviously it’s something I really enjoy, but it’s also been a good, networking opportunity because I’ve met a lot of people playing volleyball in this area. So, it’s a good social time keeps me active, but it is just a fun time do something of passionate about.”
Plourde began her volleyball journey in the eighth grade. After trying a number of sports and activities, she found that volleyball was the sport that she was most passionate about.
Sports are not always something that people are amazing at the first time around, this held true for Plourde as well. After not making it onto a rep team her first go-around she spent the year training and getting better.
“I think at the time I was doing like figure skating, and I had stopped doing that and I ran into like a neighbour whose daughters played for a volleyball team and he was like, oh, like you should go and try out with them,” Ploude said. She later made it on a team for the Grimsby Vipers. Following that, she played for Defensa, a team based out of Burlington, for the remainder of her volleyball career before becoming a Laurier Golden Hawk.
Moving from a rep team to a university team is a very different experience. Everyone is an adult learning the little thingsfrom one another rather than having to learn and develop a whole team of athletes starting from scratch. “We kind of showup and we know the drills, and we know the skills, and we know like our positioning. So, we spend a lot less time on like the fundamentals and we just focus on like playing the best that we can,” Ploude said.
Plourde has continued to leave a lasting impression on her team and teammates. “Laura is someone who can really bring a lot of energy to practice, to games, and be someone who can always count on that have a fun time with. But she also does a great job of kind of balancing that fun with, you know, serious competitive play and, wanting to get better at sports. She’s a great person that people can lean on and people can talk to and kind of just open up too,” Evan Gombocz, third-year UX major and athlete on Laurier Brantford’s coed volleyball team.
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