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1960-1969
The 1960s saw a major surge in volleyball throughout Alberta, although the association itself seemed to be faltering since its inception. New hires like Dr. Bob Bratton at the newly established University of Calgary (U of C) (1961) as well as Hugh Hoyles at the University of Alberta (U of A)(1969) brought the game into the teacher preparation curriculums as well as being instrumental in community club organization. In 1961, Bob Bratton, his wife Marilyn, and a friend Bob Hansell were invited to an AVA meeting and came away as president, secretary and treasurer.

By the late 60s, senior men’s and women’s leagues flourished in both Edmonton and Calgary. Western Canadian and Canadian Championship competitions served as incentives for high performance, and teams such as Phoenix (men) from Edmonton and Calgary Cals (women) represented the province and finished in the medal rounds on a regular basis. A men’s team from Calgary was the first team from Alberta to participate in the National Men’s Championships in Toronto in 1963. Open tournaments at both the A and B levels were organized to accommodate club, school, college, and university teams. One of the established tournaments of this era was the University of Calgary International Tournament, which had 44 teams entered one year, with teams from across Canada and the northern United States participating. The social aspect was an important and deliberate part of these tournaments and served to create a fraternity of people working together to build a network for developing the sport both in the province and beyond.

As coach at the U of A Golden Bears during the sixties, Costa Chrysanthou was instrumental in recruiting players and administrators into the game. His influence was felt throughout the province long after his untimely death in 1971. In 1967, the U of C and U of A hosted ‘Second Century Week’, which was a revitalization of the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAU, now CIS). Alberta also selected and trained both men’s and women’s teams to compete in the inaugural Canada Summer Games in 1967.

Volleyball in Alberta was being promoted in a number of ways, usually with a foreign influence. The inclusion of volleyball as one of the sports of the Olympic Games in 1964, and foreign team tours through Alberta helped promote the sport as an exciting, highly skilled game. The USA-USSR tour in 1965 served as a major stimulus. Subsequent team tours by Germany, Korea, and Japan added to this influence. As well, officials and coaches clinics were being organized especially by the Universities of Alberta and Calgary in an effort to spread the sport throughout the province. Most of the early leaders in the sport served in a number of roles including coaching, officiating, administration, and often as players in one of the club teams throughout the province Before the days of on-going national team programs, Alberta athletes were well represented on Canadian teams playing in international competitions. Some of the first Albertans to play on national teams included Erroll Miller, Kit Lefroy, Andrea Borys, June Wilms, Theresa Maxwell, Mavis King, and Carol Lane. In 1968, Canada and the USA joined the Central American and Caribbean Zone (NORCECA) to be represented in international competition

1970-1979t
The early 1970s saw the U of C Dinos (women) represent Canada at the first FISU games held in Turino, Italy under the coaching of Andrea Borys. As well, in 1972, Dr. Bob Bratton took his U of C men’s team on the first international tour of a collegiate team in all Canada. In 1974, a Chinese tour though Canada and Alberta helped reinforce the competitive aspects of the sport. The 70s also saw the introduction of beach volleyball in the West, with a number of Alberta lakes serving as beach venues.

By the mid 1970s, the government of Alberta recognized the need to support recreation and sport in the province, and developed a number of programs to achieve this. In order to access provincial grants, the AVA was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization with the Government of Alberta on June 21, 1974. The provincial government also established the Alberta Summer Games in 1974, to alternate with the Alberta Winter Games. These, along with the Canada Games, served to promoted youth volleyball in Alberta by providing an incentive and venue for high-level competition.

Hoyles, who succeed Sawula as coach of the Golden Bears, had a diverse and prolonged influence on volleyball development over the next decades. In 1974 Hoyles initiated the Jasper Volleyball Camp designed to promote volleyball by skill development for athletes, as well as technical and tactical development for coaches, continuing as its Director until 1983. During the first few years of the program, guest coaches from Japan were a regular feature both to provide a high expertise level as well as to entice participants to the camp. This camp was recognized as one of the best in the country, and continues to be so to this time. Attendance at the camp became something of a rite of passage for athletes who wished to represent Alberta at competitions.

In 1975, Hoyles assumed responsibility for organizing volleyball at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, making it a highlight of the Games by attracting record crowds and record television audiences. He was also the Director (1973) of the O’Keefe Sport Foundation, which in conjunction with the U of A, the AVA and the Canadian Volleyball Association (CVA), was responsible for bringing Hiroshi Toyoda to Alberta and Canada as a means of promoting the Japanese style of play as a lead-up to the Montreal Olympic Games. Toyoda was instrumental in including physical training into the sport that led to the 1964 Olympic gold and bronze medal wins by the Japanese.

As students and players from both the U of A and U of C with a knowledge and background in competitive volleyball graduated, volleyball became more firmly established in schools and at the community level. Individuals such as Lorne Sawula, Hugh Hoyles, Pierre Baudin, Larry Lerbekmo, Terry Danyluk, Gordon Bocock, Howard Rasmussen, Errol Miller, Leigh Goldie, and Dave and Doreen Ross worked to promote volleyball in all aspects in the northern half of the province. The southern part of the province had a similar contingent of individuals dedicated to promoting volleyball, including Bob and Marilyn Bratton, Al James, Myrna Empey, Jim Day, Cor Oewerkerk, Brad Kilb, Theresa Maxwell, and a host of individuals in the school systems working hard to upgrade both their coaching and officiating skills.

To further develop youth competition, Alberta and British Columbia, in conjunction with Washington and Oregon, developed the Can-Am tournament. This competition for both boys and girls served to cement the training of young volleyball players and led to the development of Junior (age class) teams in Alberta and Canada.

Albertans did not confine their volleyball development to the province. Programs for developing coaching (NCCP) and officials were established to keep up with the demand. Individuals including Art Willms, John Plantinga, Duane Tritter, and Kit LeFroy worked as administrators or helped to develop material for the Volleyball Technical Coaching Program. Sawula was instrumental in writing the technical aspects of all the coaching levels in volleyball.

Over the next four decades, Sawula served in a wide variety of volleyball portfolios, from Technical Director of the CVA, to Women’s. National Team Coach, and National Team Program Director. He is considered a technical expert provincially as well as nationally, and has established a stellar international reputation as both a coach and a technician.

1980-1999

After the 1976 Olympics, the CVA determined that a permanent training site for national teams was in order and in 1979, the National Men’s Team Center moved to the University of Calgary with John Paulsen as the team Coordinator, a position he held until 1984. Under his leadership, and the support of the AVA, volleyball became the first sport in Canada to institute support systems around the team, including physical training and testing, medical and psychological support. Many of the men who were members of that team made Alberta their home and have continued the development of volleyball in the province. Individuals such as Don Saxton, Rod Walsh, Terry Gagnon, and others have had an ongoing impact on volleyball development in Alberta.

Albertans were prominent in leading our national teams during the 1984 Olympics. Sawula was head coach of the Canadian Women’s team, while Brian Watson served as assistant to Ken Maeda for these games. Not long after, Watson became head coach of the Men’s National team competing in many international events including the inaugural World League season in 1990.

The AVA now took a major role in promoting volleyball throughout the province supported by funding from the government of Alberta. A number of permanent staff hired by the AVA were supplemented by seasonal and program personnel handling different portfolios including coaching development, official development, and elite player development. Volleyball on Wheels provided initiation to the sport in school situations, and became so popular that there was a North and South Volley Van with instructors to teach the basic skills. Camps were established around the province. Volleyball club programs were springing up wherever there was an interest and a coach willing to organize the club. Elite teams, both boys and girls, were selected and trained for a variety of different age groups to represent the province in the competitions supported by governments at all levels, from provincial Summer Games, to Arctic Winter Games, and Canada Summer games. Gail Senkiw, hired as office manager during this period, helped steer the association through its many changes and growing pains for the next twenty-five years.

In 1980, the Calgary women won Canada’s first international gold medal by winning the NORCECA Junior Women’s Championships. Alberta teams and athletes were also performing well at Canadian Championships, Junior Team programs, and National Team Challenge Cup (NTCC) competitions. In 1983 Edmonton hosted the FISU Games resulting in another major boost to the volleyball profile and participation in Alberta. As well the purchase of volleyball sport courts by the AVA made it possible to host competitions in venues that didn’t have sport markings, bring volleyball into convention centers and ice arenas.

Alberta was holding its own in the competitive area of the sport. Besides the NORCECA Junior Women’s gold (Calgary), the Universities and Colleges of the province were winning their share of gold medals. U of C Dinos, both men and women, as well as the U of A Golden Bears and Pandas have won gold medals in the CIAU (CIS) competition. In fact, the U of A Pandas won the first of six consecutive national titles beginning in 1995, under coach Laurie Eisler. As coach of the U of A Bears, Terry Danyluk has been recognized for his coaching expertise on a number of occasions. Mount Royal College and Red Deer College (men) dominated the CCAA gold medal haul during this time period. Alberta volleyball athletes of both genders were regularly selected to National Team Programs to represent Canada at all levels.

A new generation of volleyball enthusiasts were working to make Alberta a leader in volleyball. Instead of a single championship competition, a series of competitions (Premier League) contributed to determining who would own the provincial title. In 1997 Alberta Volleyball instituted the Midget Open tournament. This event was hosted at the University of Calgary Olympic Oval, with over 25 competitive courts in a single venue. The competitive schedule developed for this tournament provided an opportunity for all teams to compete at their own level over a three-day period. The initial event had over 100 teams, some of them from the USA, and has now grown to over two hundred girls and boys teams from all over Canada. The format and structure of this event has been copied for other age group competitions across Canada, although the success of this event has yet to be matched.