by Kris Kotarski

It’s been a long road to the volleyball court for Jon Pendlebury.

At 25, he’s probably one of the oldest rookies to don a U of C Dinos jersey.
There’s a good explanation though – despite his prowess at volleyball, for Pendlebury, school has always come first.

“ I’ve always wanted to pursue the dream of medicine and I simply couldn’t play volleyball and get the good undergraduate grades I needed to get into the program,” he says. “I wanted to play all those years as an undergrad, but I just couldn’t balance the time.”

Two years after completing undergraduate studies, Pendlebury has finally found the time.

He took to the hardwood for the first time with his Dinos teammates last week, at the 17th annual Husky Dino Cup.

Pendlebury is now a second-year Masters Student in the U of C’s Faculty of Medicine and it looks as though his decision to postpone volleyball has paid off.
He is well on his way to becoming a doctor after obtaining a BSc in Biology and he won the starting job on Head Coach Greg Ryan’s ultra-competitive squad after a red-shirt year.

Pendlebury’s time wasn’t occupied solely by his studies; he also kept busy volunteering; he gave his time to the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, the Mustard Seed Homeless Shelter and Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“ Volunteering has taught me a lot about the world and a lot about myself,” he says. “It has given me the ability to re-evaluate my life and to attack my problems from a different perspective.”

On November 7 the Dinos will host the University of Alberta in their season opener. And while the Dinos didn’t win this year’s Husky Dino Cup, there is a lot of confidence in Pendlebury’s voice as he explains why the Dinos will be in the Canadian elite.

“ This team will come together,” he says. “This year’s team is amazing – it’s a brand new starting line-up, but we have a very tight group and we can go all the way.”