The Province

Nick Del Bianco is too young to know about the Beach Boys, but if things go as planned over the next few months for the most decorated player this season in B.C. boys high school volleyball, he'll be strolling onto the campus at Langley's Trinity Western University in September with a tan and some sand between his toes, humming something off the surf group's classic Endless Summer album.

That's because the 6-foot-4, left-side hitter from Surrey's Fleetwood Park Secondary, fresh off a wonderful winter in which he earned MVP honours in leading the Dragons to their first-ever B.C. senior boys Triple A title, is headed back to the beach with high school partner and friend Ben Chow.

The pair finished ninth on the globe at the FIVB Under-19 world beach championship last summer, and this time around the plans are even more ambitious.

In fact, if it all works out, the star recruit of the CIS finalist Trinity Western Spartans will be absent when classes begin in September.

First come the tryouts for the Canadian Under-19 team, which Del Bianco made a season early last summer. If he makes that team, he'll head to Spain for training, then go to Portugal for the World Championships.

But he and Chow are also determined to try out for the Canadian Under-21 team, and should they earn selection there, well ...

"If we make them both," laughs Del Bianco, "I am going to be in Turkey in September."

If that scenario happens, a tanned and happy Del Bianco will have about two days to make it back home before the start of the fall solstice.

Talk about an endless summer.