Jackson’s journey takes him to Germany

James Jackson, a star volleyball player at Fanshawe for three years, continues to achieve new heights.

James Jackson, who won a CCAA National Championship and was a three-time all-star during his career at Fanshawe, is now playing pro ball in Europe. (Photo courtesy Fanshawe Athletics)

Just a little over a decade ago – on the count of three, of course – James Jackson went with ‘scissors.’ Little did he know, this innocent children’s game would change the course of his future, in ways he would never have imagined.

“Believe it or not, in Grade 9, I actually played Rock Paper Scissors to decide if my really good friend, Robert Doyle, and I would go out for volleyball tryouts. I won and we ended up going,” laughed the H.B. Beal Secondary School graduate. “It wasn’t very serious for either of us though at the time.”

Things are a little more serious these days.

Flash forward to this past summer, where the then 24-year-old Fanshawe College graduate inked a deal with the Netzhoppers KW Volleyball Club, part of Germany’s Volleyball Bundesliga league – the highest level of men’s play in the country. He plays in a town called Königs Wusterhausen, located a few kilometres outside of Berlin.

Growing up in east London, it’s safe to say Jackson’s time was consumed by sports. If you needed to find him, odds are he’d be outside with friends playing basketball, skateboarding, biking, playing road hockey – anything to release that athlete energy.

And he definitely used height to his advantage. The 6-foot-8 Jackson took control on the basketball court throughout high school, where the idea of switching to the volleyball court never really occurred to him. He’s kind of glad he made the leap.

“It was definitely a great introduction to the sport, and being part of a team made the high school experience ten times better,” said Jackson, who continued his athletic domination, catching the eye of Fanshawe College head volleyball coach Patrick Johnston.

The two-time Ontario Collegiate Athletic Association (OCAA) Coach of the Year took note of the skills Jackson brought to the game. Johnston, himself a veteran of Team Ontario and Team Canada, asked the teen if he’d be interested in helping him coach, and play with, an Under-18 team.

“James truly has a gift, but he also works plenty hard at it,” said Johnston, adding his physicality sets Jackson apart from other players on the court (his 12-foot vertical certainly doesn’t hurt his cause).

“His ability to go over blockers is something that, in my years in Canadian volleyball athletics, there’s maybe only been a couple who can do that consistently, and that really changes the game. It’s so hard to defend. “He’s also one of the hardest working guys in the gym, which is rare for someone with such natural gifts.”

It was the summer of 2014 when Jackson began to recognize the potential opportunities

that could be afforded him, thanks to his skills on the court. While attending a high-performance volleyball training centre – essentially a training camp for more than 100 on the province’s top volleyball athletes – two teams would be selected to represent Team Ontario at an upcoming tournament.

“I didn’t want to go, and I basically thought I had no shot at even getting selected for the training camp to begin with,” said Jackson, who simply took it as a great opportunity to perhaps play and work with some big names from university and college ball for the week, then head home. He ended up being selected to represent Team Ontario.

From there, 14 players would be selected from across Canada to represent the Junior National Team at the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Games in El Salvador. Yep, he made that squad as well.

Jackson, 24, is learning a new style of volleyball — and a new culture in Germany (Photo: Netzhoppers KW Volleyball Club)

“So, in about three weeks, I went from not wanting to go to a tryout of a tryout, to getting selected for a team that I hadn’t even thought of for one second,” said Jackson. “Being over there and playing against other national teams, and realizing I was physical enough to play with anyone, was when I realized that I could really do something big in this sport.”

Jackson would take this newfound experience to Fanshawe College, where his game continued to surpass expectations. In his three years as a Falcon (2015-16, 2016-17, 2018-19), he won a Canadian College Athletic Association National Championship and bronze medal, along with two OCAA gold and a bronze. He’s a three-time CCAA and OCAA Championship All-Star and had an incredible OCAA career record of 51-1.

“Pat was actually the first post-secondary coach to ever reach out to me. I remember the moment very clearly when it happened because I was so excited that somebody wanted me to come play for them,” said Jackson, who said the opportunities to play volleyball elsewhere were numerous.

After his 18-Under season of competitive volleyball he had multiple offers from schools, but it was something about Coach Johnston and his hometown Falcons that felt right.

“When I was going into (college career) I was a little timid of the competition and the technical side of everything, as I hadn’t been playing very long,” he said. “Pat always believed in me from the get-go and allowed me to play my game. He understood some of my silly errors and my laid-back attitude. It was awesome.

“Pat knows how to breed excellence, on and off the court, and he helped me in a lot of ways. I’ll never look back and think I made the wrong decision playing for him.”

Johnston, in his eighth year coaching volleyball at Fanshawe, said while it’s common for Canadian volleyball players to take their talents to Europe, whether or not Jackson was going to make the leap was “a matter of if he wanted it, as opposed to if he could get it.”

“He’s just a great kid from a great family,” said Johnston, who still keeps in touch with Jackson. “To watch him play and see how good of a teammate he is is awesome. Seeing

him win is great, but I also love seeing him be a supportive teammate. In his time, he hasn’t been challenged that much so it's good for him to be over there to see how much he can be pushed and how much better he can get.”

And selfishly from a program perspective, Johnston added, Jackson’s success has paid dividends for Fanshawe. Athletes are specifically entering his program knowing of the opportunities that lie head – with the goal of being “just like James.”

For Jackson, heading to Germany this past year was no doubt filled with excitement – as well as nerves. He admitted some mornings he’d wake up thinking, ‘Let’s do this,’ and by the afternoon all the fearful thoughts and the ‘What ifs’ would creep in.

“There was no clear feelings or emotions for me in the time leading up to leaving, all I knew for sure was that it was about to happen” he said. “Even being over here now, sometimes I snap back to reality and think ‘Wow, I’m really here.’ It’s a surreal feeling at times.”

And what about the language barrier?

“I didn’t know a single word of German, of course, and now after five months of being here I know about 10,” laughed Jackson, who lives with his girlfriend and two other players on the team in a small house, in what he describes as “what you would picture in your mind when you think of a quaint European town.”

It’s also been nice for him to have a fellow Canuck on the team, Vancouver’s Byron Keturakis, someone he can count on to “justify to the others that wearing flip flops to practice in Germany’s 10-degree winter isn’t so weird.”

Calling yourself a pro volleyball player and pulling on a Netzhoppers jersey is something he won’t soon forget. Playing his first game – even better.

‘Auswechslung (Substitution) James Jackson.’ (Likely one of the 10 words he knows).

“I remember getting into my first game so clearly,” said Jackson, who plays the position Europeans refer to as diagonal, also known as opposite, which is the attacker on the right side of the net.

“I got subbed in the position right before I was heading back to serve. I remember standing back there hearing the crowd. This was our first game of the year, and we were still allowed to have spectators at that time. I could feel my pulse in my eyeballs thinking to myself, ‘So, this is what it’s all about.’”

The Netzhoppers, while sitting at 6-8 in the regular season, recently qualified for the German Cup finals later this month – the first time in the club’s history. Jackson sees this as yet another opportunity to up his game.

“My technical and small ball game have always been where I lacked,” he admitted, adding at this level of play you either float or drown. “It’s a different game at this level. It’s so much more analytical. When we do film, we look at just about every single percentage and tendency possible of our opponents.

“I’ve had to change my game here a lot, offensively making and working on shots that I never had to do before. It’s tough mentally when I attack a ball that has scored 90 per cent of my life, just to have it blocked or dug. It's about always working on and trying new things and being able to trust the process.”

While unable to make it home for quite some time – due in large part to the travel restrictions surrounding COVID-19 – Jackson is well aware of the support he’s getting back home in London. While he had a window to make it home for Christmas, he would have had to quarantine the entire time and really didn’t want to put anyone at risk.

While this meant his mom’s famous lasagna and BBQ chicken would have to wait, the numerous Zoom and FaceTime calls continue to help fill the void of missing his family.

“My family and friends have been so supportive and loving during this time,” said Jackson. “They keep up with the schedule and are always watching my streams, whether I am playing or not. It’s so awesome to feel the support so strongly from that far away. I am always grateful for it.”

Until he returns home, Jackson said he will continue to “live the dream” knowing there are so many in London who have his back and are rooting for his success.

“It’s been amazing,” said Jackson, adding the opportunity to possibly represent Canada at the Olympics would be yet another milestone. “I’ve met some really awesome people. Exploring and living in another culture is just such a cool experience that not many get the pleasure of doing.”