It is completely understandable that Dolly (Beausoleil) Basso views her recent induction into the OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) Hall of Fame as a shared award.

Her journey through to volleyball stardom was travelled, virtually every step of the way, with her brother, her coach, her friend, all rolled into one.

It was only fitting that Dale Beausoleil should accompany his little sister to the induction ceremony earlier this month in London.

The siblings represent half of the children of the Beausoleil clan - Donna is the eldest, while Dolly shares "twin" status with her brother Stephen - a family for which athletics, and much more specifically volleyball, were always second nature.

"Dale had set up a net in the backyard and we would play grass volleyball when we were young," explained Dolly of the homestead in McRae Heights in Valley East. "It was fun."

"There would always be a group of kids, especially at this time of year, but we wrecked the septic system," she added with a laugh. Thankfully, her father and a family friend were not about to deny the kids their passion, blasting out part of a mountain and building a beach volleyball court in the far corner of the lot.

While Dolly readily acknowledges her love of sport, she defers to her brothers, at least initially, when it comes to the roots of the Beausoleil competitiveness.

"The boys were way more competitive than I was," she noted. "They were always at each other - they're guys." Over time, that would change. A very skilled ringette player in her youth, Basso dabbled with volleyball among a host of other sports, throwing herself more fully into her court pursuits during her high-school career, split between Marymount Academy and Confederation Secondary.

By then, older brother had taken on the reigns of the women's volleyball program at Cambrian College and Dolly was soon smitten.

"I was 15 or 16 years old, going on road trips with the Cambrian women's team," said Basso. "It was so much fun. They included me like I was one of the team, so you get the itch. These girls were amazing athletes, so it was easy to follow."

While deciding to enroll at Cambrian and suit up with the Golden Shield might have been something of a no-brainer for Dolly, the move to setter, where she ultimately would rise to OCAA prominence, was much moreso sheer happenstance.

"I played left side (power) in high school," she explained. "Dale had recruited a girl from Quebec who was a really good setter. She was practicing with us, because we didn't play until after Thanksgiving, but she quit."

"She couldn't handle being away from home, and he (Dale) didn't have anybody," Basso added. "I was a referee, so I understood the game, and Dale had set in university and I had watched him play."

"He must have seen something in me." Indeed. The genesis of a Hall of Fame career that would see Cambrian teams under Basso's leadership earn OCAA medals in three of four seasons, with the setter dotting the league all-star teams on a regular basis, had begun.

As brother and brilliant coach had duly noted, Basso was ready for the positional change. "To set was so much more exciting," Dolly explained. "And it was time to learn that. Dale and I would talk all the time."

Even when they weren't talking, the correspondance continued. "We have a connection, a non-verbal thing," she said. "He's a very, very smart man and he taught me a lot."

If volleyball is an inherent part of the Beausoleil DNA, so too is the concept of teamwork. "You wanted to win for each other and not just yourself," Basso stated.

"What I got out of playing at Cambrian was a sense of family." And family pride. Dolly recounts, with vivid emotion, the excitement that she and Stephen felt a few years back as Dale and his team qualified for nationals.

One senses that it is that very same emotion that ran through the veins of the celebrated coach as he attended the Hall of Fame ceremony in London, watching his little sister enshrined with countless greats who have blessed OCAA competition over the years.

"Playing for Dale was really hard, sometimes, because he is my brother, and I think sometimes he thought he was my father," said Basso. "But we sure worked well together."