The Bermuda Volleyball Association is sending teams to compete at the 2025 USA Volleyball Open National Championship in Denver this month.

A spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Volleyball Assocation is please to announce the two teams who will be competing in the 2025 USA Volleyball Open National Championship. The teams will compete in their respective competitive BB Divisions of the tournament from May 26 to 28, held this year in Denver, Colorado. The BVA will be streaming matches on their Facebook Page: “Bermuda Volleyball National Team”. Alternatively, people can watch via BallerTV.

Women’s Team: Devil’s Isle VC

• Kayley Hamilton [1]
• Kate Marcotte [2]
• Caitlin Bento [3]
• Demetria Hollis [4]
• Kayla Grant [6]
• Sharri Weldon [7]
• Anna Marcotte [8]
• Olivia Taylor [11]
• Amber Simons [24]

• Head Coach: Braedon Madeiros-Cooke
• Assistant Coaches: Kyle Hamilton and Stacey Madeiros Cooke

“Devil’s Isle VC, Bermuda’s Women’s National Volleyball Club, proudly announces its participation in the 2025 USA Volleyball Open National Championship. The team will compete in the competitive BB Division of the tournament, held this year in Denver, Colorado.

“The U.S. Open is a prestigious annual event that brings together elite adult volleyball teams from across the United States and around the world. Representing Bermuda, the Devil’s Isle VC squad will showcase its talent and determination on a national stage, competing against top-level clubs and athletes in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.”

“We’re incredibly proud of this group of athletes and all the hard work they’ve put in,” said Kyle Hamilton, Coach of Devil’s Isle VC. “This is a great opportunity to test ourselves against strong competition and represent Bermuda on the international volleyball scene.”

The spokesperson said, “The tournament will take place from May 24–29, 2025, and promises an exciting lineup of matches and a valuable development experience for all participants.

“Follow us on social media [@bdavolleyball] for live updates and results throughout the competition.

Ace Boyz VC

• Jake Roberts [1]
• Braedon Madeiros-Cooke [2]
• Tyler Siese [4]
• Connor Somerville [5]
• Dylan Somerville [6]
• Benjamin Barnett [7]
• Eron Woods [8]
• Tiago Morais Ferreira [9]
• Tristan Mullan [11]
• Brandon Sousa [13]

• Head Coach: Mike Smith
• Assistant Coaches: Juanita Blee, Chad Stoddard and Robert Saraiva

“The coaching staff are very excited about our upcoming tournament in Denver. The team we are bringing to Colorado is strong, and ready to compete. There are a few new faces this year, and they complement the rest of the team well. We have added depth on the court and the bench, and a bigger arsenal of tools to work with.

“After an incredible showing at the ECVA’s in October, we realized that we have the potential to be a very technically sound team and have spent this season tightening that up. We have focused a lot of time dialling in our ball control, blocking, and coverage on defence. We’ve also spent a considerable amount of time working with our Middle and Pin Hitters, on offensive transition, and strengthening our setter-hitter connection. We’re happy to report that the tedious work has paid off. With our passing percentage much higher, we are able to run a more well-rounded offence. The Middles are getting into the game more and our Pin Hitters are as effective as ever.

“I want to give a quick shout out to the entire Men’s National Team. They have all worked very hard to get us to where we are. Due to the nature of our practices, and really honing in on the technical part of the game, its taken a tremendous amount of discipline to stay present and dedicated. We believe their hard work will pay off and that will be proven in Denver.

“Finally, one last shout out to Olek Rymon-Lipinski. His dedication and hard work throughout the year have been inspiring for the entire team. Unfortunately, due to an ACL injury he can no longer travel with us. We all wish him a speedy recovery, and his presence in Denver will be missed.”

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(KMAland) — Regional sports news updates are posted throughout the day. Continue to refresh for all of the latest from regional schools listed below.

Iowa State 

-Men’s basketball to play home and home exhibitions with Northwestern: https://cyclones.com/news/2025/5/21/mens-basketball-iowa-state-to-face-northwestern-in-home-and-home-exhibition-games

Iowa

-Field hockey finalizes 2025 schedule: https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2025/5/21/hawkeyes-release-2025-schedule-fh

Northern Iowa 

-Qualifiers set for West Preliminary meet: https://unipanthers.com/news/2025/5/21/track-and-field-uni-track-and-field-qualifiers-set-for-ncaa-west-preliminary-meet

Creighton

-Izzy Ashburn hired as assistant volleyball coach: https://gocreighton.com/news/2025/5/21/ashburn-named-volleyball-assistant-coach

-Women’s soccer signs Jalen Chaney: https://gocreighton.com/news/2025/5/21/womens-soccer-womens-soccer-signs-jalen-chaney

Missouri

-Jason Gwyn joins softball coaching staff: https://mutigers.com/news/2025/5/21/softball-announces-addition-of-assistant-coach-jason-gwyn.aspx

Kansas City  

-Tory Lanham named Most Outstanding Performer: https://kcroos.com/news/2025/5/21/track-and-field-lanham-named-most-outstanding-performer-six-roos-earn-all-league-designations

Kansas 

-Men’s basketball hires Jacque Vaughn as assistant: https://kuathletics.com/news/2025/5/21/mens-basketball-kansas-great-jacque-vaughn-named-mens-basketball-assistant-coach.aspx

Kansas State

-Bowling Green transfer Marcus Johnson commits to Kansas State: https://x.com/TiptonEdits/status/1925235206010630603 

The Winter Park High School boys volleyball team has cemented its place as a powerhouse in Florida, winning its second straight state title and third in four seasons. The Wildcats captured the championship by sweeping Miami Southwest in straight sets, closing out a flawless postseason in which they didn’t drop a single set — going 21-0.

I don’t know when Hart House, the student center on the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, first began advertising drop-in volleyball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Perhaps it’s been going on for a while now and I somehow missed it. However that may be, over the semester just past these games have become among the high points of my week. Hart House is next door to Wycliffe College, where I teach, and I find the game a wonderful way of unwinding at the end of a long day.

It’s a young crowd, for sure. Senior members like me make extensive use of the weight room and other gym facilities, and I had assumed that I’d see at least a few of my fellow professors on the volleyball court. But no, it’s almost all undergraduates, joined by the occasional medical student or Ph.D. in the sciences. (Not, for some reason, graduate students in the humanities; whatever happened to mens sana in corpore sano?) The students seem bemused by my presence—friendly, welcoming, but also a bit uncertain about how they should regard this gray-haired Boomer among them.

It helps that I am actually pretty good at volleyball. Some of these young men and women are highly experienced players, with devastating overhand serves, and the ability to spike the ball with power. I’m not at that level, certainly. But I hold my own. I’m especially strong at setting—bump-passing the ball to a teammate in the front row, who (ideally) finishes off the play with a score. My serving has grown markedly better over time, and I’ve graduated from a gentle underhand to a fairly effective overhand. So far, I have managed to avoid serious injury, apart from the strained finger or two. One time, the ball hit me smack on the forehead—nothing serious, but it gave me a great excuse to do a Euro Cup-style “flop,” to the amusement of my fellow players.

Both the students and I are out there to have fun. I am not sure if “fun” is a theological category, but play certainly is; what else is liturgy but a kind of solemn play? Although volleyball games at Hart House are far from solemn, the element of play is real; that’s what makes the matches such a refreshing break from academic and other work. Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” Surely that’s a secular analogue for religious ecstasy, that experience of being taken outside oneself and just so finding oneself at a truer or higher level. As we play, we are “in the zone” or even “in the Spirit,” a condition that does not suppress the individual, but sets him or her free to participate in a larger purpose.

I wrote the preceding sentence before I read the fine recent Covenant essay by Dane Neufeld, “Competition and Performance,” in which he writes:

[It] is possible to understand the competitive environs of youth as a kind of preparation for the gospel. Like the law (an imperfect analogy), competitive pursuits can impart a moral code that helps to restrain and mold human desire in ways that helpfully prepare young people to live with others and to contribute in meaningful ways to a broader purpose.

I am inclined to agree with Neufeld, though with the caveat that the more professional the competition is, the more likely it is that competition will be distorted in harmful ways. When winning is everything (or the only thing, as Vince Lombardi said), fellowship and camaraderie are replaced by what Augustine called the libido dominandi, the desire for domination, which is more or less humanity’s default setting after the Fall.

Thankfully, afternoon volleyball at Hart House is a truly amateur affair—amateur, meaning lover—and therefore blessedly free from the meaner aspects of sport. Indeed, one of the things that has impressed me most is the students’ patience and concern for weaker players. Beginners to the game, for instance, are given almost unlimited do-overs on serves. A good deal of informal pedagogy happens in real time, as veterans offer tips to newcomers on the proper techniques. After an unforced error, a player can expect to be on the receiving end of some good-natured abuse, but no more than that. Play means laughter, and there’s no shortage of that on the court.

Volleyball sides consist of six players each. When more than 12 people show up, various schemes of rotation are adopted, meaning that one can expect to spend part of the match standing on the sidelines. One day I was waiting for my turn to be rotated back in, and fell into conversation with one of the students, who asked me what I did. “I’m a professor at Wycliffe next door,” I said. He asked me what I taught, and I answered simply “Theology.”

“Oh,” he replied—“is that like Religious Studies?” I explained that the University does indeed have an excellent Religious Studies faculty, with whom we maintain a good working relationship, but that Theology is different. It’s an inquiry into God, undertaken by the community that worships and confesses God in Jesus Christ—the church. Our college is a school in the Lord’s service. He found this interesting, and then asked simply: “So you’re a believer?”

It’s a good question. There’s a longstanding debate about whether “doing theology” requires that the theological subject be a religious practitioner. To me, the answer has always been obvious: yes! If theology is faith in search of understanding, as Anselm taught us, then faith is something like a key job requirement. There are smart people, good theologians, who think otherwise; but to me, the idea of “unbelieving theologian” has always seemed a contradiction in terms.

It’s tricky, though, because you also don’t want to make the quality of one’s faith the determining factor in theological work. This would be to place self before God, law before gospel, grim duty before playful delight—a totally wrongheaded set of priorities. Theology is an activity in which the object of inquiry, the triune God, is the very One who sets you free for the activity. Subverting Nietzsche, Karl Barth called evangelical theology the true fröhliche Wissenschaft, the joyful science, or as we might also put it, the playful science.

I did not share any of that with my teammate. I simply answered his question with a “Yes”—and before we knew it, both of us were being rotated back onto the court. Maybe he and I will pick up that conversation at a point in future. But I appreciated the opportunity for the existential check-in and small moment of witness. Yes, I am a believer—not because my faith is anything much, but by the grace of God, who sets me free to worship, learn, teach, write, and otherwise play my part in the work of the kingdom.

The term is over, exams are ended, and the students have scattered to the four winds. I doubt there will be enough warm bodies to field two teams for the next couple of months. But I could be wrong—there’s always summer school. Even if I must wait till September, I look forward to being back on the court again, hoping for a good rally.

Joseph (Joe) Mangina is professor of theology at Wycliffe College, Toronto.