Bobcats add Saskatoon libero Flaman

Hannah Flaman wanted nothing more than to follow in her big sister’s footsteps, even though she wasn’t sure it would happen.

The five-foot-five libero from Saskatoon dreamed of playing U Sports volleyball but wasn’t hearing back from coaches. Flaman took matters into her own hands and contacted a few, including Brandon University head coach Kailan Robinson.

Robinson recognized her name, watched her film and has decided to add her to BU’s rookie class for the 2026-27 Canada West season.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Flaman said. “There was a while where I didn’t think it was going to happen for me, so it just feels so good that it really is.”

Flaman was in town for the Bobcats’ first win of the season, a five-set thriller over UBC Okanagan on the last weekend of November. She practised with the team beforehand, and stayed after for Saturday’s match as well.

It sure didn’t take long for Flaman to feel Brandon was the right fit.

“I could just feel the sense of community within the city. There were signs about Brandon volleyball and even the Wheat Kings; there were signs everywhere,” Flaman said.

“Then the campus, it’s super nice, I like the smaller size, and I think the team also has a really strong sense of community. They all love playing with each other … and I really like the environment there.”

Flaman grew up in a volleyball family, so she’s been around the game for a long time. Her mother coached her and her older sister, Gabi, was named to the U Sports all-rookie team as a member of the Saskatchewan Huskies last season.

Gabi transferred to UBC and is redshirting this year.

“I really look up to her in terms of volleyball, because she’s just so good and has had so much success in her career,” Hannah said.

“It’s really inspiring to me because she only switched to libero for her last two years of club.”

Hannah said Gabi has taught her a lot about the mental side of the game, helping her accept the fact that errors will happen and learn to shake them off quickly.

It helped as her Holy Cross Crusaders high school team finished second in the Saskatoon city championship, losing the final to St. Joseph’s.

Holy Cross qualified for 5A provincials and barely made it to the quarterfinals but avenged that city final defeat and made it to the gold-medal match, where it fell to Swift Current.

“It was really cool to see the team come together, like we really came together for that last run,” Flaman said. “It wasn’t how we wanted to finish, but it was definitely better than we could have expected.”

Flaman brings a ton of energy to the floor, and said her biggest focus right now is taking better control of the court, recognizing that her team can play better when she owns the first touch as much as possible.

Robinson feels she’ll get there.

“She came out to a practice and she did well,” Robinson said. “She looked good in our gym, so it was a pretty simple decision to say, ‘You’d be a great fit.’”

Flaman joins Vincent Massey product Zoe Redekop in the rookie class.

The Bobcats are off to Winnipeg for the Wesmen Classic on Dec. 28-30, then return to regular-season play on Jan. 9-10 at Fraser Valley.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com