Caledon Citizen’s Student Athlete of the Week: Malaya Loberg is a “force to be reckoned with” as blocker and hitter for the Senior Girls Hall Wolfpack Volleyball team

April 10, 2025 · 0 Comments

By Jim Stewart

Grade 11 Honor Roll student-athlete Malaya Loberg is coming off a satisfying season as the on-court leader of the Hall Senior Girls Volleyball team.

The star blocker and hitter was pleased with the Wolfpack’s 2024-25 performance.

“Even though we didn’t place first in ROPSSAA, I am very proud of how far we competed in the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals in front of my school. From the long rallies, quick time-outs, and multiple games and practices each week, it was a long journey, but we made it through successfully.”

Wolfpack Volleyball coach Tania Knappich nominated Loberg as a Student-Athlete of the Week because “Malaya is a highly skilled volleyball player who also plays Rep Volleyball for Georgetown Impact.”

“Beyond her high level of skill, she has become a great leader on the team, exhibiting a high level of commitment and a great positive attitude.”

Coach Knappich described Loberg’s academic diligence at Robert F. Hall: “Malaya’s teachers describe her as conscientious, hard-working, and an overall great student. She is a great role model in the school.” What impresses Coach Knappich most is “Malaya’s ability to juggle school volleyball, rep volleyball, school, and work.”

The veteran volleyball coach could not isolate one key performance to highlight. Instead, she pointed out her star player’s consistent excellence throughout the season: “Every game, she was a force to be reckoned with as a middle blocker and hitter.”

Malaya Loberg took time from her second semester studies, her rep volleyball commitments to the Georgetown Impact, and her preparations for the provincial championships with the Impact Crush 17U squad to answer our interview questions:

Caledon Citizen: What qualities did you demonstrate in your sports season to earn Student-Athlete of the Week honors?

Malaya Loberg: “I have demonstrated a variety of qualities throughout my Senior Girls Volleyball Season of 2024-25. I am a very dedicated player on and off the court, putting in my highest effort at all times in order to constantly improve my abilities and ensure I am performing at my highest potential. As a teammate, I am extremely supportive and loud on the court. I always make sure to support my teammates throughout the game and constantly communicate no matter what the score is. If someone is lacking confidence, I am able to cheer them up and encourage them to keep playing and move on. Lastly, I am a very competitive player. I am extremely dedicated to winning and am not someone who will back down when the game gets tough. I am able to push myself hard to score points, and assist my teammates in every way possible.”

Caledon Citizen: What were your key statistics and performance moments from the 2024-25 season that you are most proud of?

Malaya Loberg: “I was most proud of being able to keep my mental game strong, especially when we were playing weaker teams. Most players tend to play down to a team’s level when competing, but I was able to show up to every game and play almost every set, blocking out that struggle, and continue to play to my highest potential and win the game, even if it got tiring. An accomplishment I shared with both of my setters that I was most proud of was practicing and eventually learning to run quicks with them in the middle. This stood out to me because it is a difficult job to adjust to running these plays with different setters, when being used to playing with my club setter, but I was eventually able to achieve this when I hadn’t with them in the previous season.”

Caledon Citizen: In addition to your high school sports teams, what other community teams do you play for and at what level?

Malaya Loberg: “In addition to my high school volleyball team, I also play for the Georgetown Impact, and the team I am on is Impact Crush 17U – A Team. In April and May 2025, I am attending Provincials in a Champion Division, and then Canada’s Nationals.”

Caledon Citizen: How would you describe yourself as a student at Robert F. Hall? To which sports teams and clubs do you belong? Honor Roll?

Malaya Loberg: “As well as a hard-working athlete, I am also a hard-working student. I am able to manage my extracurricular activities and balance them with my academics. I have been an Honour Roll student since my first year in high school, and still continue to put in my best effort to achieve 80s and 90s in my classes. The sports team that I belong to at Robert F. Hall is the Sr. Girls Volleyball team and I have been an athlete at Hall in volleyball since Grade 9.”

Caledon Citizen: What are your post-secondary plans regarding prospective academic/athletic destinations?

Malaya Loberg: “I have a goal to go into business marketing. I am very interested in this field and want to work with it in my future, mainly to be a marketing manager for a personal business, or for a professional sports team. I’ve been looking to take an undergraduate degree for marketing at universities in Ontario, but as well as achieving a scholarship or a spot on a university volleyball team so that I can continue to experience playing on a team after high school.”

Caledon Citizen: Who is your role model in terms of the person you admire the most?

Malaya Loberg: “An individual I look up is Michael Jordan. He is a big inspiration in my life because of his amazing success he has in life. I was never a big basketball fan, but he is a person who stood out to me because I’ve listened to podcasts and media of him speaking on how he failed multiple times in his life, which is why he succeeded in the end. He never gave up on his goals and I use his image as a reminder that nothing is impossible with hard work. His leadership and competitiveness in his sport stands out to me and seeing his outcome in life influences me to do everything in life with confidence and strength.”

Caledon Citizen: How do you feel about being nominated as The Caledon Citizen’s Student-Athlete of the Week?

Malaya Loberg: “I am very proud that I have been nominated as The Caledon Citizen’s Student-Athlete of the Week. I am proud that I was recognized as an athlete at Hall and I am grateful as well as excited for the opportunity to represent my school and our Sr. Girls Volleyball team.”