Port Coquitlam native Shannon Winzer has been named the head coach of the Women Volleyroos in Australia.
The post will see Winzer lead the indoor Volleyroos during the 2016 international season, including the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Grand Prix that just wrapped up in Colombia.
"Shannon brings both enormous enthusiasm and passion to the Volleyroos campaign, together with significant and sustained success in the WAVL over recent years," said John Boultbee, Volleyball Australia high performance director, in a release. "This stood her out in a strong field of international candidates, and provides a role model for Australian-based coaches seeking to ply their skills on the international stage."
Winzer grew up in PoCo and graduated from Terry Fox secondary in 1997; she played a variety of sports through her high school years but didn't focus on volleyball until she went to UBC, where she moved up the ranks to the varsity team and earned an athletic scholarship.
After graduating from UBC in 2002 Winzer travelled to the United Kingdom, where she played in the Division 1 National League for the Polonia club for about three years. She also met her Australian husband, who drew her back to the land down under in 2005.
"I think I always knew I was going to coach," Winzer told The Tri-City News in an email.
She joined the Women's Australian Volleyball League (WAVL) and captained the University Blues for almost four years, and was on the Australian national team in 2008 and '09.
"When I started to have a family I knew I didn't want to walk away from the high level of competition so I started coaching and I eventually became head coach of the very team I captained," Winzer said. "At first coaching was a way to stay involved but then I started to realize I got the same adrenaline rush from coaching as I did from playing, so eventually my focus became coaching."
And it seems that coaching is a winning fit for Winzer.
After a challenging season in 2012 for the WAVL University Blues Winzer returned to coach them in 2013, kicking off a three-year winning streak.
"I do think that me taking over as coach was a turning point for the team and we have continued success because of the culture and program that was put in place," Winzer said, describing her coaching style as one of hard work and accountability.
"I truly believe the collective whole, the ability of a team will always be greater than the sum of the individual so the team comes first in all that we do," Winzer added. "No player is above the team and so everyone is accountable to not only the coaching staff and the club but also to each other. There are consequences for actions and players also know that we will make the tough decisions to benefit the team, that trust and credibility amongst players then allows me to expect a lot from them and we work them very hard."
In preparation for the FIVB World Grand Prix Winzer coached the Volleyroos — whose players are drawn from camps throughout Australia — one weekend a month from January onwards and then full-time starting in mid-May.
"From the start of our time together we insisted the team play aggressive volleyball and take risks, we were never going to win playing safe," Winzer said, noting the international volleyball stage poses a challenging competition for Australian players. "Even when it got tough for us, the team kept playing aggressive so I have to be happy with that."
After games against Cuba, Colombia and Croatia in Wollongong, Australia earlier this month for the Grand Prix, an annual international tournament with 28 teams competing, the Volleyroos headed to Colombia, where they competed against Mexico, Colombia and Kazakhstan but were unable to secure a seat at the finals in Kazakhstan from June 17 to 19.
"I think our results are not representative of how well we played against some of the teams," Winzer said. "Of course it's disappointing not to win but we pushed and challenged teams like Cuba and Mexico so I have to be happy with that. We proved that we can play at this level, and so if this is the just the start then I'm excited to see what the future holds for this program."
Winzer is now preparing to kick off another WAVL season in July and is aiming for a fourth winning season with the team, and will be visiting Australia's US college players in September.
She also has her sights set on next year's international competitive circuit, with plans to go after another Volleyball Australia contract for 2017.
spayne@tricitynews.com
@spayneTC
