A naturally gifted athlete, 14 year-old Natalie Peech gradually worked her way over to the volleyball court, with stops in track & field and basketball garnering much of her attention in her youth.

“I played competitive basketball for about three years but after I suffered a badly sprained ankle, Richard Breault suggested I might want to try to Northern Chill volleyball club…and I’m very glad that he did” said the 5’10” student at Chelmsford Valley District Composite School.

“I was very much in love with basketball, but volleyball has now become my passion” said Peech, who adds that she has no regrets about the injuries to her ankle that would have made it prohibitively more difficult pursuing a basketball career.

“The physiotherapy wasn’t correcting the problem so my mom and I made a decision to move to volleyball.” Projected to some day reach a height of 6’2”, Peech is a natural at a variety of volleyball positions, having played primarily as middle in her younger days before making the move over to the left-side (power) in club ball this year.

“I find I hit a little harder from the power side – you tend to start your approach off the court. My hitting has really developed this year”, said the Oshawa native who moved to Dowling at the age of two. She was a member of the Chelmsford Flyers Midget Girls team that captured the city crown last fall before also hooking up with the Northern Chill U-14 girls who enjoyed their first year of provincial play.
 

Natalie Peech, Chelmsford Valley District Composite School
 

“I was very much in love with basketball, but volleyball has now become my passion”