Congratulations and thank you to our 2012 Volunteer Award Winners!  Please see the profiiles of our winners below:

18U Coach of the Year: Dan Huzar

Dan has been highly immersed in coaching volleyball at all levels for the past several years. He has assisted at the university level with both UBC and SFU, won Gold with BCO 18U Elite at the 2011 provincial championships and Bronze at 2011 18U National Championships. Dan has also been an active part of Team BC acting as the head coach of the Western Canada Summer Games 17U Women’s program, where Dan guided the squad to a Gold Medal finish. Dan aspires to continue to improve as a coach as his quest for knowledge is never satisfied.

16U Coach of the Year: Kim Or

Kim epitomizes what it means to be a dedicated coach. He puts in countless hours coaching both boys and girls at the school and club level. Kim’s infectious dedication, combined with his intensity for the sport of volleyball brings him a great deal of respect from the athletes he coaches. Kim has always strived to improve his knowledge and skills as a coach and takes pride in teaching his athletes to be better on and off the court.

A very successful CIS coach once said “a highly determined team will win over a skilled team”. If you coach against Kim, then your team had better bring their “A” game because Kim’s teams are determined and skilled.

14U Coach of the Year: Dave Risso

Dave Risso has been a very committed volunteer in the volleyball community for over 20 years.  He has  coached both boys and girls on many school and club teams.  Volleyball BC thanks Dave for his extensive commitment to the development of young volleyball athletes.

High School Boys Coach:  Al Carmichael

For the past 28 years Al Carmichael has worked diligently as a volunteer, building the sport of volleyball in the Greater Victoria region.  In addition to volunteering as a coach, Al has worked tirelessly as a volunteer with the Victoria Volleyball Association, establishing a high-performance framework linking the high school and club volleyball seasons.  His greatest coaching strength is his amazing ability to inspire and motivate young athletes to set personal goals, work hard and develop to their true potential.  Above all, Al is the perfect balance of coach and educational leader; he engrains a value system into his volleyball programs; stressing the link between hard work and success.  Al’s athletes develop a fundamental understanding of true success and the significance of achieving both athletic and academic excellence.  Several of Al’s former athletes have continued playing volleyball as members of Team Canada and as professional athletes.  Al has had many highlights in his volleyball career, but one of his fondest memories is winning the 2011 BC AAA Championships with his Oak Bay high school team.

High School Girls Coach:  Tony Sodaro

Tony has been coaching in BC for almost 20 years and his passion for the sport is evident within seconds of seeing him in action.  His enthusiasm for the sport is only matched by the strength of his voice as he teaches his players his favorite sport.  In 2011, Tony won the BC AAAA Girls Volleyball Provincial Gold Medal.

Athlete Development Coach of the Year: Bryan Gee

Bryan Gee has been coaching youth Volleyball in the Coquitlam area for the past 15 years. He has had success at many levels, including: high school, club and Team BC. Besides coaching multiple teams each season, Bryan has been running clinics and camps year-round for athletes of all ages. Bryan also mentors several coaches in the Coquitlam Ducks Volleyball Club.  Last weekend Bryan’s 18U team won a silver medal at the provincial championships and many of those athletes were introduced to the sport by Bryan at a very young age.

Local Official of the Year: Tanner King-Nyberg

Tanner has shown interest in all aspects of refereeing and has refereed at many youth events in the Nanaimo area.  Tanner has been a linesperson at several college exhibition matches and he did an excellent job working at the CCAA National Championships this past year at VIU.  We see great potential in Tanner and look forward to watching him mature as an official.

Provincial Official of the Year: Tommy Le

Tommy has recently obtained his Level 2 and has enthusiastically taken on more responsibilities including allocation duties for the Vancouver and the Independent Leagues.  He has also showed considerable growth as an official and has given back to the officiating community by improving the Lower Mainland Volleyball Officials website, making it more user- friendly, posting a referee’s blogs and starting a social media segment on the website.  His selfless and caring personality makes him well liked and respected throughout the province.

Regional Official of the Year: Jannik Eikenaar

Jannik has shown great improvements in the 2011-2012 season.  Jannik refereed many CIS and college matches, as well as high school matches, proving that he has earned the title of National Candidate.  Jannik attended the National Theory Clinic this past fall, where he was a great representative for BC.  Jannik has also assumed the responsibility for level one and level two development for the Okanagan, where he has shown that he is a great mentor for new and upcoming referees.

National of the Year: Liz Yoon

Liz is emerging as a very positive role model for referees in BC. Through her hard work and persistent efforts, she has developed to become a very strong referee. In the past couple of years, she has taken on various roles within the Volleyball BC Referee Executive Committee and has been the Women in Officiating chair. With that role, she has been active in working to help develop female referees in BC, giving feedback and acting as a mentor to referees, both in the Fraser Valley and throughout the province. Finally, Liz has represented BC at the past two Women’s CCAA National Championships as a major official and while working at this past championships, had the honour of being assigned as the first referee for the Gold Medal match and did an excellent job. Congratulations Liz on a great season.

Tony Lee – Beach Official of the Year:

Tony had a busy season in 2011, spending a good part of his summer weekends on the beach somewhere making a beach volleyball tournament better. He was the head referee at the Western Canada Summer Games, worked medal matches at the Vancouver Open and capped off the season with a trip to Toronto for the Beach Nationals, where he proudly represented BC as a referee.  Tony is being acknowledged for his commitment to the sport of beach volleyball.

Vale Savege Development Award: Glenn Wheatley

For the previous seven years, Glenn Wheatley has acted as the Regional Officials Chair for BC. During that time, he has been instrumental in providing direction in a great number of areas. During his tenure, the number of registered referees in BC has grown, as have the number of high level referees. He has worked as a referee supervisor at a number of tournaments, including National Championships. Since stepping down as ROC, Glenn has only increased his skill set by attending the national referee evaluator training session in Edmonton this past winter, which will further his abilities as a developer of referees.

Volleyball BC Founders Award: Doug Skinner

The Founders Award acknowledges an individual who has been involved with and has contributed to Volleyball BC programs for a minimum of 15 years, with a focus on contributions made towards the development and delivery of volleyball in their zone.

Doug Skinner started coaching volleyball in 1974 at the elementary school level and won numerous city championships and two Junior High Island Championships from 1975-1988.  In 1992 he and his wife Lisa started the Powel River Volleyball Club.  At its peak he had over 100 players and over 8 coaches.  Doug’s teams won numerous gold medals, its best year being 1996 when Powell River VC won bantam, midget and juvenile gold medals all in the same year!  Doug also coached the Max Cameron boys to two BC gold medals in 2000 and 2001, plus gold and silver with the same group of boys in provincial club championships.

Doug retired from teaching and coaching in 2007 but recently he came back to coach when he heard that the Henderson elementary girls volleyball team needed a coach.  Doug quickly implemented an excellent program and in 2011 won the elementary championships.  Doug has also started up a 13U program and already has 21 players from Powell River.  The countless hours Doug puts into every aspect of planning, encouraging, practicing and inspiring these young children is incredible.  Many of his past players comment on the positive influence that he has had on their lives.  Doug’s passion is clearly evident in all that he does in the sport of volleyball.  Congratulations Doug and thank you for your dedication to our sport.

Community Sports Administrator Award: Carol Hofer

The Community Sport Administrator Award recognizes the contributions to community sport programs made by a dedicated volunteer, who has given countless hours of time so that coaches and athletes can enjoy the benefits of well-organized sport.

For the past 19 years Carol Hofer has poured herself into the development of Volleyball in BC on every level.  She started as a provincial team coach from 93-97, taking a year break then coming back again in 1999.  During those years she earned BC several gold medals at Midget Western Elites and NTCC.  She also won a silver at the 1996 Canada Games.  During this time Carol earned her NCCP level 4 at the National Institute in Calgary and is one of a handful of female coaches that has earned their level 4.  She was also the head coach at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford from 93-95.  In 2001Carol was hired as the head coach of the women’s program at Trinity Western University.

List of accomplishments:

1. In 2001 she founded, directed and administrated one of the most successful clubs in the country (Fraser Valley Volleyball Club).
2. She has been a NCCP Level 1 & 2 course conductor since 2000 and has mentored and developed countless coaches at these clinics, through FVVC, and through the program at TWU.
3. She has grown the TWU high school tournaments from a 12 team tournament to a Sr. tournament of 48 schools and then a Jr. at 32 teams.
4. She was the Fraser Valley Regional coach from 2006-2008
5. She founded Valley Volleyball Academy and Spartan Volleyball Camps that have helped the development of countless athletes.

Carol has been the driving force behind the FVVC.  In the past 12 years she has poured countless hours into its development and growth of the men’s and women’s side of the club.  She has been the executive director from 2001 – present and the club administrator from 2004 to present.  She also was the FVVC boys administrator from 2004-2010.  Congratulations Carol and thank you for your long time commitment to our sport.