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Student Athlete Spotlight: Chris Adams

Student Athlete Spotlight: Chris Adams
Posted: Jul 23, 2018

This is part of an ongoing series of profiles to highlight the achievements of Sheridan's varsity student athletes academically and competitively. To view the rest of the Student Athlete Spotlight profiles, click here.

THE ACADEMIC ALL-CANADIAN award is the pinnacle of individual achievement for student athletes, requiring excellence in the classroom - by attaining an honours GPA - and on the court - earning provincial or national All-Star recognition. As he wrapped up a distinguished five-year career, men's volleyball player Chris Adams accomplished something no other Bruin has, becoming the first two-time Academic All-Canadian in Sheridan history after winning in back-to-back years. While reaching this previously uncharted territory was his most-valued individual accomplishment, his role in helping the team return to familiar ground was also preeminent among his accolades.

One of the first OCAA dynasties, no team was more successful in the first 30 years of Ontario intercollegiate athletics than Sheridan men's volleyball. The Bruins claimed 11 provincial titles and four national medals in the first three decades of the OCAA. So thorough was their dominance that they were the only Ontario-based team to win national gold (1983) or silver (1990) during that span; their four national medals were equal to the haul of the rest of the OCAA combined; and even today, Sheridan remains one of only three Ontario schools to have won a national championship in volleyball, and is the only one to have made multiple title game appearances, despite a 24-year CCAA Championship absence.

The program fell on hard times though and endured a playoff drought that lasted from 1995 until 2011. When Adams arrived in 2013, the team had not advanced past the quarter-final round and had won only two post-season matches since the last of a record six-straight Ontario titles in 1994. But after 22 years without stepping onto an OCAA podium, the 2015-16 team ended that ignominious run, posting their second-best regular-season record since 1994 and winning the OCAA bronze medal.
 
The high-mark for Sheridan volleyball in nearly a quarter-century just happened to coincide with a stretch where Adams began to excel in the classroom. He started in the Chemical Laboratory Technician program and graduated from it by the end of the 2015-16 academic year. Not yet ready to move on and still trying to find a way to bridge two passions - sports and science - Adams enrolled in the Bachelor of Kinesiology and Health Promotion program and flourished instantly, having maintained a high honours GPA throughout his four terms. With five years of post-secondary under his belt and two years until his degree is completed, he is on track to reach his career goal of becoming a high school teacher or biomechanist and has learned some valuable lessons in the classroom at Sheridan that will ultimately help him get there.
 
"Procrastinating is never the best option and hard work is always worth it in the end," he says.
 
On the court, Adams racked up the fifth-highest point total in team history with 583; notched the fourth-most service aces (38) and stuff blocks (130); and finished as the most efficient attacker in team history, with a lifetime hitting percentage of .398. He capped his career this season by receiving the Male Academic/Athletic Excellence Award and being named the team's MVP, making him the first Sheridan men's volleyball player to have won both the MVP and Coaches Awards. But as important as medals, awards, individual accolades, and personal statistics are, he points to something much more fundamental as the most important takeaway from his career in Double Blue. 
 
"Teamwork makes the dream work," Adams says. "It’s essential to step outside of your comfort zone if you’re looking to improve in all aspects of life."