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Christian Redmann - President/FounderChristian was a professional beach volleyball player who competed for Canada on the World Tour for 15 years. Some of his accomplishments include:
• 2 X Canadian National Champion • Top 10 world ranking • 2011 PanAm Games • Represented Canada in multiple World Championships • 2014 Continental Champion • 2012 – Qualified a spot for Canada in the London Olympics • Canadian National Team for over a decade He has also been coaching youth volleyball for 15 years. Christian has coached club volleyball at just about every age and level from 13/14U developmental teams all the way up to 18U Provincial Champions, and National Medal winning teams. He was the Head of the Volleyball Program at Havergal College in Toronto for 10 years where the school won more than 25 Independent School Championships from 13U up to 20U and a Provincial Championship. Ten years ago Christian and 3 time Olympian and Olympic Medalist, John Child started up Leaside Volleyball Club. The club has a competitive side that has won numerous Provincial Championships as well as a house league side that has over 1000 kids playing annually. He now lives full time in Vancouver with his wife, Olympic Snowboarder and Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dominique Vallee. Christian is now the head coach of the top Canadian Men’s beach volleyball team, 2016 Rio Olympian Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman. To get to know Christian better you can click on his social media icons below. |
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Gabrielle Attieh - Head Coach Beach Day CampsGabby has been a member of the UBC women’s volleyball team since 2016. She is an all-round player who ranges from playing middle to right-side to left-side. At the university, she studies English Literature with hopes of becoming a teacher one day. With nearly 10 years of experience playing volleyball both on the beach and indoor side, and a passion for teaching; Gabby comes to us as a knowledgeable, inviting coach
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Zechariah Johnson Zec is entering his fourth year as a setter for the UBC men’s volleyball team while taking a dual specialization in finance and entrepreneurship at the UBC Sauder School of Business. He is a 4x Club National Champion and a U-Sports National Champion.
Zec is the Director and Founder of BC Summer Volleyball, a coaching business he created after his first year at UBC. He also was an assistant coach for the BC Summer Games Zone 3 team in 2018. Zec has a phobia of smiling for head shots for their UBC Men's Volleyball pictures. He tries to look tough but is actually a very friendly and helpful coach that has a great amount of volleyball knowledge. |
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Jeremy BednarJeremy played three seasons with the UBC Men’s volleyball team as a libero and a U-Sports National Champion in his second year. Jeremy is now training beach volleyball with the Pacific Elite group, and hopes to compete internationally in the future.
At UBC, Jeremy is in his last year of schooling, studying business, and is planning on pursuing a career in accounting. To get to know Jeremy a little more, check out his Instagram by clicking on the icon below. |
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Tim StubbsTim is an NCCP certified coach with over 10 years experience coaching volleyball. As an athlete, Tim spent three years competing in the CCAA, playing with and against some of Canada's top performers. Tim continues to compete in volleyball, dedicating much of his time to studying and practicing the beach discipline. He is currently pursuing a career in teaching.
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Jonathan LeeJonathan grew up in East Vancouver and played for Apex Volleyball Club during his high school career before moving onto playing libero for the Capilano University men’s volleyball team. There, he earned multiple all-star awards in his three years with the varsity team before transferring to play for the UBC men’s volleyball team for his last two seasons. He is going into his fifth and final season with UBC while working towards finishing a business degree.
Jonathan is a NCCP certified coach who has been coaching for 6 years. He has coached at David Thompson Secondary School (his old high school), volleyball camps during the summer for BCSVC and the Vancouver School Board, and BCO Volleyball Club. |
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Jordan DeshaneJordan played many sports growing up, including winning the National Championship in baseball in 2011. Jordan started playing volleyball at age 16 and quickly became a star. He went on to play 5 seasons with the UBC Men's Volleyball team and was a U-Sports National Champion in 2018, as well as the team captain in the 2019/2020 season. Next year, Jordan will be heading to Germany to play professionally for SWD Powervolleys Duren in the German 1st League.
Jordan has coached beach and indoor skills clinics for VVL for over 2 years. He also coached at the Team BC selection camp in Summer 2016. Jordan enjoys playing grass and beach volleyball in the summer and is looking forward to continuing to share his passion for the game with the next generation of volleyball players. |
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Zarley ZaluskyZarley played for the University of Capilano for 3 years (2016-2019) and currently plays for the UBC Thunderbirds. While playing for the Capilano Blues, he earned a First-Team All Star in 2017, a Second-Team All Star in 2018, as well as a provincial bronze medal. Zarley has also won a National gold medal as a coach in 2018.
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Danae ShephardDanae grew up playing club in Kelowna for the Jr. Heat, moved to North Vancouver in 2014 to play for the Capilano Blues, and in 2017 she was recruited to the UBC Thunderbirds where she helped her team earn a bronze medal at Nationals in 2018 and a gold medal at Nationals in 2019. Danae continues to compete in beach volleyball events at Kitsilano in the summer and for the indoor women’s volleyball league, "Herleague", in the winter.
Danae has been coaching volleyball since she was in high school herself, volunteering to head coach the OKM Huskies grade 8 girls team for 2 years. Over the past 6 years in Vancouver she has coached at multiple camps, training clinics, and tryouts, as well as assistant coaching the U13 PCVC girls team this winter before the season was sadly cut short by COVID. Danae is very enthusiastic, competitive, passionate, and excited to help inspire and develop young athletes to become their most confident selves. Danae will complete a B.Sc. in Natural Resource Conservation with a major in Science and Management at UBC in December 2020, and is working for SFU Biology researching endangered frogs. |
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Ben HookerBen just completed his 3rd year as setter for the UBC Men's Volleyball team while working towards his Bachelor of Arts. His international volleyball experience includes competing for the Canadian Youth National team and the Senior National B team. Ben has also competed in beach volleyball at a high level, including representing Manitoba at the 2016 Canada Summer games.
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James TakkenJames is an Australian volleyball player with experience at the senior international level in both beach and indoor volleyball. He has played at the Youth Olympic Games and at the Youth Commonwealth Games where he won a bronze medal. He has also a current member of the UBC mens volleyball team where he plays as an outside hitter.
James has also coached at VVL since 2018. He very is passionate about the sport of volleyball and enjoys sharing his knowledge to the next generation of volleyball athletes. When not on the volleyball court you can find him hanging out with friends and exploring the great outdoors. |
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Tessa MayTessa May competed for the SFU Women's Volleyball team for four years. During this time, she started in all but two of 111 matches and led the Clan to four straight winning seasons while registering 1,184 kills and 409 blocks in her career. May was GNAC All-Conference First Team in 2018, 2017 and 2016 after being an Honourable Mention as a freshman in 2015. She was also selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America team for NCAA Division II in her senior season.
Tessa is now an assistant coach for the SFU Women's Volleyball Team and has spent the past five years coaching both indoor and beach for the BCO Volleyball Club. She has extensive experience coaching youth camps and clinics all around the lower mainland. |
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Mengdi CaoMengdi has been an assistant coach with the SFU womens volleyball program since August 2019. She recently moved to Canada after coaching at an elite sport school, Western Academy of Beijing, in China, after a nearly 10-year professional career in Beijing. She was also head coach of Wilson High School in Beijing for one season (2016). Cao was a graduate assistant coach for two years (2013-15) at Emporia State University, an NCAA DII school in Kansas. While there, Cao earned a Master of Science in Health, Physical Education, & Recreation and a Master of Instructional Design & Technology. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education (2008) from Capital University of Physical Education, Beijing, China.
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Heather PippusHeather grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon and recently completed her 4th year as an outside hitter for the UBC Thunderbirds Womens Volleyball Team. Heather helped her team earn a bronze medal in 2018 and a gold medal in 2019 at the USports National Championships.
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