Wilson makes Team Canada coaching debut

Reece Wilson moved away for volleyball, thinking he would eventually move away from volleyball.

However, the fiery libero channelled his passion for the sport into coaching the next generation, and that passion burns as bright as ever.

Wilson completed his bachelor of arts in criminal and social justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, but has shifted his path to full-time coaching.

The Brandonite made a big step in his career this spring and will make his Team Canada debut today as an assistant coach for the under-21 national team.

“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity. This is the first time I’ve got to wear the Maple Leaf and it’s an honour to do so with this group,” Wilson said via phone interview from Calgary, before flying to Guatemala City for the NORCECA Pan American Cup.

“With Mike (Hawkins) and Graham (Vigrass) as the two other coaches, two Olympians, they have lots of experience and I have lots to learn from them.”

Wilson grew up in the Brandon Volleyball Club system, learning from his father and Brandon University head coach Grant, and his players.

The five-foot-11 libero was part of a dominant Neelin Spartans group that won both the AAA varsity volleyball and basketball provincial titles in Grade 11 and 12 from 2016 to 2018.

He joined the College of the Rockies men’s volleyball team in Cranbrook, B.C., and competed in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association ranks until UFV made the jump to Canada West and head coach Nathan Bennett brought him along.

Wilson completed his career with the Cascades while dipping his toes into the coaching scene with the Junior Cascades program.

He planned to use his degree and enter the police force or work in a similar capacity, but something changed.

“When I began coaching club is when I realized I did have a passion for coaching and I could see myself doing it for a career,” Wilson said.

“Grant’s a big Ted Lasso fan and he loves the line, ‘Be curious, not judgmental.’ I’m always curious and open to new opportunities to learn and grow as a coach.”

He assistant coached at UFV after exhausting his eligibility, then got an offer from Thompson Rivers head coach Pat Hennelly to work as a paid assistant in Kamloops, B.C., for the 2025-26 Canada West season.

Wilson worked behind the scenes with budgeting, had a bigger role in practice planning and ran the team’s block defence.

“It was sweet,” Wilson said. “Pat gave me lots of really good opportunities to have my hands on a lot of the details, which was really cool.

“Good experience for me, just building relationships and connections with the players we had on the roster, as these are much older players than I had previously been coaching.”

His last position with the Junior Cascades was with the 17U boys, but when he moved to Kamloops, he assisted Hennelly’s wife Heidi, coaching the Kamloops Volleyball Academy 15U girls.

Naturally, he learned a lot.

“Back to the basics with a lot of stuff,” Wilson said.

“They’re still learning how to play the game, lots of skill acquisition and trying to teach them how to play the game.

“With the older groups, you’re still trying to teach them how to play the game but it’s just at a different level and a different speed.”

Wilson has taken to his dad’s advice of seizing every coaching opportunity he can, though it was a quick, easy decision when he got the Volleyball Canada call.

Hawkins, who coaches the UBC men’s team and has watched Wilson develop as a player and coach, was certainly excited to find out he applied.

“You can tell with the way he carries himself and even when he played and was early in his coaching career, he understands what it means to be a high-performance coach,” Hawkins said, adding other applicants may have had more national team experience, but that didn’t deter him.

“Considering this is a short stint, a one-off summer, it was important for me to give Reece the opportunity to get his foot in the door with the national team because he’s a guy who projects to be a great coach for a long time. He’s already a great, young coach.”

• • •

Wilson had his first chance to head coach university athletes last month at the TeamUp Cup in Loma Plata, Paraguay.

Trinity Western women’s soccer coach Graham Roxburgh founded the initiative, which combines high-performance sport with community outreach, a few years ago. His son, Tayler, a former Trinity Western libero, asked Wilson to coach the team, which featured a handful of his WolfPack players, three Spartans, a few other U Sports players and three from Manitoba’s Providence Pilots.

Wilson knew former Bobcats JJ Love, Liam Pauls, Philipp Lauter and Paycen Warkentin had taken part in the past and had good experiences, so he gave it a shot.

“It was super cool, really happy I got asked to be a part of that. I had a lot of fun on that trip,” Wilson said.

“Volleyball was sweet, honestly surprised me a little bit. I was not expecting it to be as good as it was and as competitive as it was. The roster we took down there was quite legit and we were in good, close matches with some of the other teams there.”

Off the court, they worked on a local soccer field, building a backdrop fence to prevent errant shots close, and planted 150 trees to provide much-needed shade for the facility.

They added light posts to the main road to the pitch and painted at a local school and church.

Of course, they also ran volleyball camps for local kids.

“Really seeing how much of an impact we can make over there with the stuff we did was awesome,” Wilson said.

• • •

This week, his focus is on helping Canada win.

The team, which includes BU’s Ethan Baraniuk and Matt Siebenga, starts Group B play today against Nicaragua.

Canada faces Costa Rica on Wednesday and Guatemala on Thursday.

The top team in each group of four earns a bye to the semifinals, while second and third cross over for Friday’s quarterfinals.

The final is on Sunday.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com