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Teams & Coaches
Canuck Stuff Volleyball Club has a long history of developing both great young volleyball players and great young people.
Since 1998 Canuck has had over 4000 male and female athletes play high level volleyball here with the Volleydome facilities as our home . Many have gone on to play at colleges and universities all over North America as well as in Provincial and National team programs. Many of them contributed to the numerous Provincial and National Championship banners that hang in the Volleydome and the GYM.
A number of factors are responsible for this success, but probably the largest amount of credit should go to the amazing group of coaches and technical resource people that are the backbone of Canuck Stuff. Our current coaching staff has an unprecedented number of former national team and Pro volleyball players, all anxious to pass along their experience and "Love of the Game" to the next generation of hard working athletes. Listed below are the teams and respective Canuck Stuff Coaches for the season.
One of the distinct advantages of a club like Canuck is the high caliber of coaches it attracts because of its history and reputation for developing great athletes, and great young people. We know each team will not only benefit from great coaching but will be exposed to the wealth of knowledge and experience of our Technical Committee consisting of a group or former CIS, National Team and many Pro volleyball players, as they help with the selection process, assist at team practices and offer positional clinics to Canuck athletes throughout the season.
Club Founders and Technical Directors: Don and Mylene Saxton
Don's volleyball career as a player started nearly 45 years ago, when after 2 years of playing Basketball at U of S he saw the light and switched to Volleyball, winning CIAU Gold in 1979. Don went on to play a total of 8 years with Team Canada earning a second place finish at the FISU Games, a third place finish at the Pan Am Games, and a forth place finish at the 1984 Olympics. Don played Pro Volleyball with the Dutch team in 1980, and in Spain from 1989 to 1991. He started the Canuck Stuff Volleyball Club in 1991 as a men's team which won 7 Canadian Championships and 1 USA Open Championship. During the next 15 years he enjoyed playing and winning in the masters and seniors categories, earning 4 more World Titles.
Don's coaching career started with a couple of seasons as an apprentice and assistant coach with Team Canada and his first youth club team was a group of 13 year old Bantam boys most of whom had never seen a volleyball before. Since that time Don and Mylene have run programs for players of all ages including the very popular adult co-ed leagues, Volleyball Academy and Dome Club for kids grade 3 to 11, School and Club Tournaments and of course the Canuck Stuff Youth Volleyball Club for male and female players between the ages of 13 and 18. Don was awarded the Tachikara Coach of the Year Award in 2008 after taking a group of U18 girls on an unexpected journey which ended with a Silver medal at the Canadian Open Juvenile Championships. The next season he led a group of U14 guys to a National Championship in Abbotsford and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame again, this time as the recipient of the Sport Builder Award. Don has continued to enjoy sharing his Love of the Game with young athletes and is looking forward to starting a group of U14 boys on their Volleyball Journey in the 2023 season!
Mylene played at the University of Ottawa where she was awarded the CIAU Most Valuable Player Award in 1980. She played 1 year with the Jr. National Team and then went on to play six years for Team Canada, mostly as a middle blocker.
After moving to Calgary, Mylene taught and coached volleyball at St. Mary's High School. Mylene has developed many great young volleyball players through the Canuck Stuff program winning two Canadian National Championships in 2003 and 2005. Mylene has enjoyed coaching our younger athletes working with the U14 age group and winning back to back provincial championships in 2012 and 2013. Mylene continued to coach and develop so very many young women until she stepped away from active in 2020.
The Saxton's contribution to the game of volleyball can only be described as "immeasurable".
Please take a minute to look over the impressive Bios of the Coaching Staff that call Canuck Stuff and The Volleydome "home".
Below is a list of our Teams and Coaches for the upcoming 2020/2021 season. Please be patient as we are updating these as we confirm this year's rosters.
2023/24 Teams and Coaches
For more information on specific age groups please scroll down.
U18 Women
Coaches: Jason Crellin, Milou Saxton and Isabala Lima
Contact:
U17/18 Women
Coaches: Brian Gullekson, Diego Perez and Candace Greves
Contact: Diego
U17 Men
Coaches: Brian Gullekson, Bill Knight, Jon Isaacs, Jeremy Sadleir and Ashley Meyer
Contact: canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U16 Girls
Coach(es): Shane Kozak, Chad Magus, Morgan McKale and TBD
Contact: canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U15 Boys
Coaches: Don Saxton, Fauve Welsh and TBD
Contact: canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U15 Girls
Coaches; Diego Perez, Sothy Pich, Joelle Savard and Claire Laurie
Contact: repsoldop729@hotmail.com
U14 Girls
Coaches Kate Nugent, Brian Quach, & Carlee Thorsen
Contact: canuckstuff@volleydome.net
Coaches : Brian Gullekson, Bill Knight, Jon Isaacs, Ashley Meyer & Jeremy Sadleir
Brian Gullekson
2024 will mark Brian's 25th season coaching volleyball at Canuck Stuff, although it also marks his 44th year involved in competitive sports as either a coach, official and/or sport administrator. Brian has spent the last 24 years coaching Canuck guys and girls club teams and has thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He is a Level 2 NCCP certified coach in both Softball and Volleyball and has completed all the training for his Level 3. Brian is also an Advanced Coach Developer and Evaluator. He spent 16 years officiating Basketball at all levels including community, ACAC, CIAU and the World Basketball League. Brian believes strongly in the lifelong benefits children gain when they participate in competitive sports as witnessed in his own children as well as many others in his years in sports. Over the years Brian's teams have earned several championship banners and many of the athletes he has coached have gone to play at the post secondary, national and professional levels, but his greatest pride is in watching these young athletes grow to become great young men and women and in some cases return to coach at Canuck or the Volleydome.
Bill Knight
Over the past 40 years Bill has been a player, official and coach in different sports. He has coached Volleyball, Basketball and Soccer over the last 25 years. He was a 10 year member of the Canadian men’s national team, 1992 Olympian and he finished off his volleyball career with Canuck Stuff National Championship in 1995. Hanging up the playing equipment and picking up the whistle changed his focus in the sport to development of the players and the referees to better improve the overall level of the game. He was involved with the original Volleydome operations and has returned to coaching volleyball the past number of seasons starting with the younger kids at Dome and then into provincial club system where has has guys and girls teams fom the U14 to U18 age groups. If you do not see him on the court as a coach, you may see him on the referee stand, as he officiates many weekends and at all levels which gives him a different perspective and insight to the game.
Ashley Meyer
Ashley has also been around Canuck and the Volleydome for many years. She started her playing career at Canuck at the age of 14 and started coaching when she was 16.
Ashley is a Phys Ed teacher with the CBE and has completed her NCCP level 2 coaching certification. She has coached both guys and girls teams at all age groups from U14 to U18 both here at Canuck and with LVC in Lethbridge, as well as her high school and junior high teams. Ashley enjoyed helping the U15 boys this past season and is excited about getting back to coaching them again this year as U16's after having a couple years off to raise a pair of twin girls and newborn baby.
2023/24 Team Roster
Rylan Schebesch
Brandon Yee
Ethan Chan
Peter Mackie
Cash Doss
Robert Davis
Evan Mosley
Derek Monette
Erik Solomon
Roberto Cherivi - Rincon
Evan McClain
Jason Guo
Carter Merchant
Kieran Genge
Abhijeet Sigh Deol
Fernando Munoz Campos
Connor Donegan
Cooper Sadleir
Kaden Tran
(4-6 spot still Available for U17 program)
Looking for a Setter and potentially 2 middles.
Team Info
Canuck is planning to run 2 competitive juvenile men's U17 teams for the 2023/24 season.
For more information on the U17 program please contact Brian canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U17 Men
Image Courtesy of Alysha Sladek.
www.alyshasladek.com
Image Courtesy of Alysha Sladek.
www.alyshasladek.com
Coaches : Jason Crellin, Milou Saxton and Isabela Lima
Jason Crellin
Jason grew up playing Volleyball in Strathmore under the coaching expertise of Randy Moncks, and went on to play with the University of Calgary Dinos Club Volleyball team, as well as the Alberta Provincial Team. Jason played for 5 years with the University of Calgary Dinos Men's Volleyball Team winning a national Championship in 1993. After university he continued to play with the Men's Canuck Volleyball Club and has coached with Canuck back in the 1990s. He has had the opportunity to Assistant Coach at the College level both at Mount Royal and SAIT for 4 years, as well as for the Alberta Provincial Team for 3 years, along side current University head coaches Rod Durrant and Dan Ota. He has been teaching with the Rockyview School Division for the last 18 years, coaching both the high boys and girls teams for 16 years. He has seen many players that he has coached move on with successful club, University, National team and Professional careers in Volleyball. He feels that Volleyball is a great life long sport and can teach athletes the importance of hard work, competition, team work, leadership and fairness in all aspects of their lives.
Milou Saxton
Milou, being the first of the four Saxton children, started playing volleyball at the age of 10 and spent 7 years playing with Canuck Stuff club - winning a couple of Provincial Championships and 2 Nationals Championships before going off to Connecticut University for 5 years as a Division 1 setter/rightside in the NCAA and pursuing her interests in graphic design.
Milou’s passion for coaching started when she was about 16 years old running the Volleydome summer camps for kids and she has been actively coaching ever since. Over the years she has coached all age groups for both guys and girls. Milou has also really enjoyed sharing her experience as a high level setter over the past few years by running setting sessions for our juvenile women’s setters. Add to that her passion for the beach game and the fact that she spends her summers coaching beach volleyball to club athletes as well as on the Provincial Teams, Summer Games teams and most recently the Western Canada Summer Games team.
In her “spare time” she works full time running the Volleydome's Youth programs and somehow still finds time play in the competitive women’s and co-ed leagues. Not sure where she finds the energy, but we are sure grateful for all she brings to our club and the volleyball community in general!
2023/24 Roster
Committed so far:
Charlotte Anderson
Leni Blanke
Keira Crellin
Ava Fontaine
Maria Rawlek
Anna Timmerman
Averi Penner
Cate McLaughlin
Grace Hanson
Rory Bell
(2 spots still available)
Team Info
The Canuck U18 Team will be running a drop-in session on Thursday, June 15th from 4:30 to 6:30pm to look at athletes for open roster spots.
Please contact Jason Crellin jcrellin@rockyview.ab.ca to register.
Canuck will run 3 Competitive Juvenile Women's teams for the 2024 season. A U17 Women's team, a U17/18 team and a U18 team.
We currently have large number of strong returning athletes committed to play for the 2024 season and looking forward to an exciting competitive season.
For more information Please contact Brian at Canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U18 Women
U17/18 Women
Coaches : Brian Gullekson, Diego Perez and Candace Greeves,
Brian Gullekson
2024 will mark Brian's 25th season coaching volleyball at Canuck Stuff, although it also marks his 44th year involved in competitive sports as either a coach, official and/or sport administrator. Brian has spent the last 24 years coaching Canuck guys and girls club teams and has thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He is a Level 2 NCCP certified coach in both Softball and Volleyball and has completed all the training for his Level 3. Brian is also an Advanced Coach Developer and Evaluator. He spent 16 years officiating Basketball at all levels including community, ACAC, CIAU and the World Basketball League. Brian believes strongly in the lifelong benefits children gain when they participate in competitive sports as witnessed in his own children as well as many others in his years in sports. Over the years Brian's teams have earned several championship banners and many of the athletes he has coached have gone to play at the post secondary, national and professional levels, but his greatest pride is in watching these young athletes grow to become great young men and women and in some cases return to coach at Canuck or the Volleydome.
Diego Perez
Diego has been coaching boys and girls here at the Volleydome for past 13 years and has enjoyed coaching a group of young women starting at U14 five years ago, staying with this group with many of them playing in our U18 program last year. He head coached the U14 girls program and also helped coach U16 Girls team last year and will continue with some of them this year on the 17/18 Women's team.
He played for eight years in the A1 Club League in Mendoza Argentina and is very passionate about volleyball and loves helping the kids improve their skills and knowledge of the game. Diego is a level 2 NCCP Certified Coach and is working on completing his level 3. This will be his seventh season with Canuck, coaching U14 and U15 boys when he first joined our staff, as well as coaching school teams at Masters Academy and St. Jean Brebeauf school.
Candace Greves
Candace played in the Alberta club program as well as the Team Alberta representatives to the Canada Games in 1989. She played at the University of Calgary as a power hitter in winning the CIAU Championship in 1989. She and her teammates went on to add another in 1994. Candace was awarded the "Mikasa U16 Coach of the Year" in 2011 after winning the Provincial Championship and taking her team all the way to play in National Final Candace and Kent have continued that trend ever since, taking their current boys team to the provincial and national final year after year. Their track record coaching here at Canuck is truly amazing when you consider their win/loss record and the look at the caliber of athletes they have developed in their programs!
For the past 3 years Candace has helped coach in the girls program moving along with a group from U14 to U16 and now working with the U17/18 team!
2023/2024 Roster
Committed so far:
Abbey Stannard
Rebeca Agoston
Payton Shafer
Georgia Strangemann
Sophia Haag
Madison Abougoush
Alivia Sladek
Rachel Eykelbosh
Jamie Miller
Ally Doty
Georgia Minneman
(1 Spots available)
Looking for potentially 1 more middle
Team Info
Canuck will run 3 Competitive Juvenile Women's teams for the 2024 season. A U17 Women's team, a U17/18 team and a U18 team. We currently have large number of strong returning athletes committed to play for the 2023/24 season and looking forward to an exciting competitive season. U17/18W currently looking for a Setter and a Mid/OH
For more information contact Diego Perez at repsoldop729@hotmail.com
U17 Women
Coaches : Graham & Toby Gent and Brian Quach
Toby Gent
Toby grew up in Calgary and attended Bowness High school and played her youth club volleyball through the Dino’s and Elite West programs and was a member of Team Alberta. After high school Toby played for the University of Manitoba Bison’s Women’s volleyball team as a middle blocker from 1995-2000. Toby is keen on using her experience and skills to coach and mentor young women as they grow through the Canuck program.
Graham Gent
Graham grew up in Calgary and attended Dr. E.P. Scarlett high school and played club volleyball through the Dino’s program and was a member of Team Alberta. He attended the University of Calgary and played for the Men’s team from 1995-2000 as an outside hitter. Following university Graham played Senior Men’s Volleyball with the Canuck Stuff Club and is very excited to be back coaching with the competitive Canuck stream.
2023/2024 Roster
Committed so far:
Ashlyn Gent
Brooke Fermaniuk
Brooke Bergstrom
Isabella Tano
Jade-Alexis Gauthier
Kallie Komori
Lauren Robertson
Lexi Jones
Leyton Balint
Paige Hanzel
Jessica Yang
Nicola Gamlin
Team Info
Canuck will run 3 Competitive Juvenile Women's teams for the 2022 season. A U17 Women's team, a U17/18 team and a U18 team.
For more information contact Graham Gent at gent13@telus.net
U16 Boys
Coaches : Greg Barthel Tom Chau and Melanie Gukert
Greg Barthel
Greg Barthel is a well known and respected post secondary coach having coached in both the ACAC and CIS conferences. He played volleyball at King's University College, before taking on the role of Assistant Coach and finally Head Coach there from 1999-2007. Greg went on to lead his team to a bronze medal in 2002 and again in 2005. He was named both the ACAC Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year as well as the CCAA Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year for the 2003/04 season. Greg went on to head coach at the University of Regina from 2007- 2018 and also worked with the Junior, Youth & Regional Excellence programs with Volleyball Canada during that time. Greg is an NCCP level 3 coach who has been working with the Mount Royal College Men’s team for the past 3 seasons. He joined our Canuck coaching staff two years ago taking on the U14 Boys Program and followed them into U15 last year. Greg also coached the Canada Games men’s team last year leading a number of Canuck alumni to a silver medal. We are excited to have Greg work with the U16 guys this season.
2023/2024 Roster
Committed so far:
Erik Barthel
Koen Chau
Devan Duong
Gavin Gukert
Aiden Hiebert
Ben Mangat
Jordy Munro
Anton Semaka
Chase Walker
Poon Thiraworn
Joel Tiedemann
Elias Yajure
Luka Ivancevic
Will Malaschuk
Owen Murray
Mehki Nguyen
Enzo Salazar
Colten Wagstaff
Samuel Wong
(5 spots still available)
Team Info
Canuck had two strong U15 Boy's teams last season and is looking to run two competitive U16 Boys team for the 2023/24 season.
For more information please contact Brian at canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U15 Boys
Coaches : Don Saxton, Fauve Welsh and TBD
Don Saxton
Don's volleyball career as a player started over 40 years ago, when after 2 years of playing Basketball at U of S he saw the light and switched to Volleyball, winning CIAU Gold in 1979. Don went on to play a total of 8 years with Team Canada earning a second place finish at the FISU Games, a third place finish at the Pan Am Games, and a forth place finish at the 1984 Olympics. Don played Pro Volleyball with the Dutch team in 1980, and in Spain from 1989 to 1991. He started the Canuck Stuff Volleyball Club in 1991 as a men's team which won 7 Canadian Championships and 1 USA Open Championship. During the last 15 years he has still enjoyed playing and winning in the masters and seniors categories, earning 4 more World Titles.
Don's coaching career started with a couple of seasons as an apprentice and assistant coach with Team Canada and his first youth club team was a group of 13 year old Bantam boys most of whom had never seen a volleyball before. Since that time Don and Mylene have run programs for players of all ages including the very popular adult co-ed leagues, Volleyball Academy and Dome Club for kids grade 3 to 11, School and Club Tournaments and of course the Canuck Stuff Youth Volleyball Club for male and female players between the ages of 13 and 18. Don was awarded the Tachikara Coach of the Year Award in 2008 after taking a group of U18 girls on an unexpected journey which ended with a Silver medal at the Canadian Open Juvenile Championships. The next season he led a group of U14 guys to a National Championship in Abbottsford and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame again, this time as the recipient of the Sport Builder Award for all he has done to benefit the volleyball community over the past 40+ years! Don is looking forward to building another strong group of boys this year at the U15 age group!
2023/2024 Roster
Team Info
Canuck is planning two competitive U15 Boys teams for the 2022/23 season.
For more information see the "News" page or contact Brian at canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U15 Girls
Coaches : Diego Perez, Sothy Pich, Claire Laurie & Joelle Savard
Diego Perez
Diego has been coaching boys and girls here at the Volleydome for past 13 years and has enjoyed coaching a group of young women starting at U14 five years ago, staying with this group with many of them playing in our U18 program last year. He head coached the U14 girls program and also helped coach U16 Girls team last year and will continue with some of them this year on the 17/18 Women's team.
He played for eight years in the A1 Club League in Mendoza Argentina and is very passionate about volleyball and loves helping the kids improve their skills and knowledge of the game. Diego is a level 2 NCCP Certified Coach and is working on completing his level 3. This will be his seventh season with Canuck, coaching U14 and U15 boys when he first joined our staff, as well as coaching school teams at Masters Academy and St. Jean Brebeauf school.
Sothy Pich
Sothy has been around the Volleydome for a number of years coaching Dome Club as well as Sr. Boys volleyball in High School. He is a fully certified NCCP Level 2 coach and working on his Level 3 Performance Coaching certification. He has also coached girls club teams of all ages at Canuck, SAVC and Rampage over the past 10 years. Sothy enjoyed working with the U14 Girls this year and is excited to move up to U15 next season.
2023/2024 Roster
Team Info
Canuck will run two competitive U15 Girls teams for the 2023/24 season.
This group had a very successful season this past year and will have a number of players resign with Canuck for the 2024 season.
For more information see the "News" page or contact Diego at repsoldop729@hotmail.com
U16 Girls
Coaches : Shane Kozak, Chad Magus, Morgan McKale and TBD
Shane Kozak
Shane grew up in B.C. where he played 5 years for Team BC and was captain of the 1995 Western Canada Summer Games championship team. While growing up Shane also played for several competitive club teams throughout BC where he twice captained and represented Canada at the US Junior Olympics. Shane also played at the U of C and Mt Royal College. While playing for Mt Royal College during the 1998-1999 season Shane captained the team to a National Championship title and was named to the "All-Canadian Team". Shane has coached the West Ridge School team the previous three seasons, including going undefeated during the 2019 season, and is very excited to be coaching with the competitive Canuck program again this year with U16 Girl's Programs this year!
2023/2024 Roster
Committed so far:
Kaitreanne Chojnacki
Jade Davis
Megan Deveaux
Ava Kleiner
Mila Kosoric
Jennaea Kozak
Aimee Layzell
Katherine Li
Kate MacPherson
Esme Magus
Gracie Moffet
Isabella Murrin
Yalda Rezaei
Adriana Shaw
Sarah Thompson
Madison Yee
Vicky Chen
Brooklyn Clemens
Jordan Ding
Amelia Fan
Isabella Haag
Krisztina Varsanyi
Team Info
Canuck is planning two competitive U15 Boys teams for the 2022/23 season.
For more information see the "News" page or contact Brian at canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U14 Boys
Coaches : TBD
2022/2023 Roster
Team Info
Canuck will run 2 competitive U14 Boys team for 2023/24 season. These teams will be selected during the tryout period at the end of November. Registration information for tryouts will be posted in October.
The Volleydome will be running a fall program starting in September for athletes interested in playing club volleyball either with Canuck Stuff or Dome Defenders.
Registration information will be posted later this summer.
For more information please contact Brian at canuckstuff@volleydome.net
U14 Girls
Coaches : Kate Nugent, Brian Quach, Carlee Thorsen and TBD
2022/2023 Roster
Team Info
Canuck will run 2 competitive U14 Girls teams for 2023/24 season. These teams will be selected during the tryout period at the end of November.
The Volleydome will be running a fall program starting in September for athletes interested in playing club volleyball either with Canuck Stuff or with Dome Defenders. We will post registration information on our website this summer.
For more information please contact Brian at canuckstuff@volleydome.net
