Sky is the limit for Canada with valuable FIVB support

The women’s national team of Canada had a really successful 2022 season, probably the best ever in the team’s history, but the 2023 season started even better. To a great extent, the growth has been credited to the financial support Volleyball Canada has received from FIVB’s Volleyball Empowerment programme.This valuable assistance is also seen as a guarantee for future growth; allowing the team to aim high both in the short and the long term.

After earning the right to compete in Volleyball Nations League 2021, the Canadian national federation applied for support from the Volleyball Empowerment programme, which aims to enable national teams to reach their full potential. The assistance initially helped the National Federation hire Shannon Winzer as full-time head coach, a move that proved instrumental to the success that followed in 2022 - Canada’s highest ever placement in the VNL (12th place) and the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championships (10th place). At the start of the 2023 season, the team did even better in the VNL, finishing 10th, and rose to number 12 in the FIVB World Ranking.

Winzer previously served as Volleyball Australia’s women’s national team head coach. During her time in the country, she was named Volleyball Australia’s National Coach of the Year for 2016-2017. She had also served as an assistant national team coach and as the women’s U23 team coach. She also coached at Melbourne University and various elite teams and clubs. Winzer is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, where she played on the varsity team. She also played professional volleyball in Europe. After a move to Australia, she joined the Women's Australian Volleyball League (WAVL), captained Melbourne University Blues for almost four years and played on the Australian national team in 2008 and 2009.

At the helm of Canada, she extended her coaching success in a profession still largely male-dominated, even for women's national teams.

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“We didn’t choose to go hire a female coach. We hired the best available coach at the time, who could develop our programme and work in Canada as well as the world,” Volleyball Canada President Mark Eckert told FIVB.com. “We hired her to coach in our development system, so when the head coach position came up, it was a no-brainer that Shannon would become the head coach. The bigger story is not that we hired a female. It is that we hired a coach who isn’t a full-time pro coach and part-time national team coach. We believe that we needed to put in a lot of system building things in the country and we needed someone dedicated to that full time. That’s why Shannon was the right person. We are exceedingly happy. Now that she is in that position and being successful, we will use that as a platform to remind people that female coaches are coaches and can do a great job too.”

The 2023 national team have their sights set on the NORCECA Championship, which Canada will host in August and September, before making the trip to China for the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier Pool A tournament from 16 to 24 September, when they will compete with another seven teams for two tickets to next year’s Olympic Games.

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“We are working towards Olympic qualification. That goal is clear. It is both a short-term and a long-term goal at this stage in the 2024 quad,” Winzer pointed out. “This summer we improved on last year’s VNL result, and we will be looking to finish top two at our continental championship and be ready for a peak performance at the Olympic qualifiers in September, so we can continue to climb the World Ranking towards Paris 2024. There has been a shift in mindset throughout our programme, and there is a clear commitment to a culture of excellence, which was made possible through the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme.

“Volleyball Empowerment funding will continue to help us achieve our goals by supporting us to increase meaningful international playing experience across this current playing group, increase the depth of talent across our development pathway, improve coach development across the country and invest in athlete monitoring and load management.”

That commitment to a culture of excellence among the players is clearly visible in national team setter Brie King’s thoughts as she shared with FIVB.com.

Winzer and King alike pointed out that Volleyball Empowerment support helps them maintain a long-term outlook in their jobs and work with more confidence towards their long-term goals for the future.

“Being a part of this team in this specific moment has changed the trajectory of my career as a professional athlete,” said the 25-year-old playmaker of the Canadian national team and Brazil’s Sesc RJ Flamengo Rio de Janeiro, who became the third best scorer of the VNL 2023 Preliminary Phase. “Canadians are becoming more respected because we are showing we can compete with the best teams in the world. Because of the support of the FIVB, our programme is able to function at a high level, which has resulted in a lot more opportunities for athletes like me.”

“The potential for Canada to qualify for an Olympics and become a strong volleyball nation has been the single biggest factor in my move home to work for Volleyball Canada,” concluded coach Winzer. “I have only ever seen possibility, and while I never look at a project short term, having the financial support from the FIVB definitely allows us to work with more confidence in what we are trying to build.”