history of eavc 

When I moved to Provost, I began coaching girls high school volleyball. I felt the area had an exceptional passion for women’s volleyball and I was impressed by not only the quality of volleyball in Provost’s Schools, PPS and STA but the communities we would often compete with.

EAVC hit the courts in 2010, with Provost Public School as its home base. There were some smaller club programs in the area which participated in one or two exhibition tournaments during the club season.

Reflecting on my Club experience and school experience I felt there were two different opportunities, one, develop a strong program at the school level, with my goal to be the top high school girls program in the zone, but secondly, I questioned what if I could bring in the top talent from the area and gave these athletes the opportunity to not compete against each other but to play with each other? What could we achieve? I felt that by bringing the top athletes I could provide an avenue for prospect athletes to build their skills and experience and possibly make post secondary volleyball programs, let the talent of each athlete enhance the level of play of each athlete and to represent the regions passion for volleyball.

As a coach, I also had personal goals. I wanted to coach a high level of volleyball and challenged my ability to take a grassroots program and climb the ladder in competitive Club ball.

Our first team had bright yellow T-shirts. I tried to bring in players from the area, but the momentum wasn’t there. Each local program had close ties to their schools and I feel the idea of separating school and club wasn’t supported. The first EAVC was almost all provost panthers. We attended all three AVA premier tournaments and provincials. We struggled. We were humbled. Our first tournament as a Club, we placed dead last in the lowest tier. Not the best start but we had fun, and even though the win column was not good, we did grow as players and as a team.

Over the next few seasons, I began to see athletes travelling into the community for tryouts. The caliber of play quickly grew as many of the top players from the region were now coming to the gym. There were players from Provost, Chauvin, Coronation, Macklin and Cutknife on the last team I coached for EAVC. The highlight of that season, and my time with the Club was winning u18 division 2 girls volleyball at Rally Pointe in Calgary.

It is extremely rewarding to see the EAVC brand going strong today. I take a lot of pride in seeing the many coaches I have shared the Provost Public school gymnasium with, take lead and share our passion for volleyball.