Happy 50th birthday Volleyball BC!
In 1965, one year after volleyball became an Olympic sport, the BC Volleyball Association was founded by Rod Bell, Sid Evans, Ray Lepp, Vic Lindal, and Les Heron.
These volleyball pioneers created an organization that would grow for the next 50 years and provide volleyball experiences to hundreds of thousands of people. On this very special anniversary we’d like to thank everyone in our volleyball community who has dedicated their time to make 50 years of Volleyball BC possible.
Here’s some Volleyball BC trivia for today –
Did you know?
- Founding members of the BC Volleyball Association (now Volleyball BC) in 1965: Rod Bell, Sid Evans, Ray Lepp, Vic Lindal, Les Heron.
- 1st provincial development camp for volleyball players and coaches in BC began in August 1966 in Winfield, BC – the first volleyball camp in N. America.
- In 1967, BC volleyball athlete Helen Hunt made history as the 1st Canadian woman to compete in two different sports at the Pan Am Games. She won gold in swimming at the ’65 games.
- In preparation for the 1972 Olympic Games, the Canadian National Women’s Team trained in Vancouver as the nucleus of the team and head coach were based in BC.
- 1st Pacific Rim Championship was held in 1973 as an annual training opportunity for Team BC Gold against AUS, JAP, KOR & USA teams.
- Vic Lindal aka “Mr. Volleyball” developed the first Provincial Team volleyball program. Several other sports followed this model, which is largely the same today.
- In 1980, the first permanent beach volleyball posts were installed at Kits Beach in Vancouver by Jim Clive, Shane Donen, and George Mueller.
- Vale Savege was the first female volleyball official to referee an international tournament at the 1981 Pacific Rim Tournament.
- With the help of summer students, 1982 was the beginning of “Volleyball for Fun” which started the summer outdoor leagues Volleyball BC still runs to this day (still with the help of summer students).
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