The Central Alberta Queens Volleyball Club has reached a point in its development where it simply can’t get any bigger.
The Queens have 18 teams from the U13 to the U18 level and could be significantly larger.
“Last year, we had 100 girls try out for our U13 program, and we had only four teams,” explained Jeff Anderson, who is in his 12th year as Queen's president.
“Last year, I expanded it to six teams because it just broke my heart that we had so many girls who couldn’t play.”
This year, they had to cut back to four teams mainly because of gym space and coaching.
“We had to say sorry and limit it to four teams,” said Anderson.
“We have girls at all levels who would like to play but we just don’t have the teams. A lot of the extra girls go to smaller communities like Sylvan Lake or even pop-up teams in Red Deer.”
Gym space is the main problem area, as the Queens and the Central Alberta Kings Club have 30 teams combined.
The Queens have grown considerably since Covid.
“The last three years, it’s been truly overwhelming at times,” said Anderson, who has four teams at both the U13 and U14 levels, three at U15 and U16 and two each at U17 and U18.
As its name implies, the club represents Central Alberta.
“We do have a number of players from Red Deer, but we have girls from Rocky Mountain House to Drumheller, from Stettler to Ponoka, Clive and Three Hills,” said Anderson. “We also have one girl coming up from Calgary.”
The Queens Club originated in the 1990s under the direction of RDC Queens head coach Cor Ouwerkerk. Talbot Walton joined in 2000 when he took over from the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame coach as the Queens head coach.
The idea was to put together a program for girls to continue to develop after their brief school seasons were done.
The girls club program in Alberta has exploded over the years and is now second only to Ontario when it comes to the number of players involved.
“Our program is a chance for younger girls to grow and to prepare to eventually move on to play at the post-secondary level if they so desire,” said Anderson, who was first involved with the Kings program in 2005 before switching to coaching with the girls and eventually moving into the administration level as well.
The Queens has seen an impressive number of players go on to play in the college, U Sport and in the States.
As well two former players — Julie Young and Jamie Thibeault — played for the Canadian National team.
The six-foot-two Young, who led the Lindsay Thurber Raiders to three consecutive provincial titles, before playing libero with the National team, is coaching with Team Canada.
Last year’s edition of the RDP Queens had eight former members of the Club program on their roster.
Besides finding gym space to practice, Anderson has to find the coaches.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Anderson said. “Even with the incredible level of athletes coming into the program we have a high level of coaching at all levels.”
Still they need to find certified coaches.
“Volleyball Canada and Alberta are requiring more and more certified coaches and have to have a beginning of NCCP levels.
“We have at least two coaches with all the teams and are blessed to have an incredible lineage of former players and parents who call Central Alberta home.
“It starts with Keith Hansen, who is one of the most incredible coaches in North America, in my mind, and it goes on from there.
“We have a number of incredible players who now have children in the system and are now giving back.
‘They can be younger individuals, they don’t have to be an old grey-haired coach like me,” Anderson said with a laugh.
The top two teams in each category are the Extreme and Ultimate and are some of the best teams in the province.
“Last weekend the U16 and U13 teams both finished second in their Premier tournament,” said Anderson. “We feel the top team in each division is ranked in the top 10, or even top 8, in the province. We feel they could all challenge when it comes to the provincials.”
Volleyball Alberta is using the Red Deer facilities every weekend for a Premier level tournaments, both boys and girls.
“Teams love coming here as it’s closer for a lot of the teams and we have excellent facilities,” continued Anderson, adding there will be a number of provincial championships here.
The girls U18 and boys U13 championships are set for April 12-13 with the U14 and U12 boys April 26-27 and the U19 boys May 3-4.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter and member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame who can be reached at danrode@shaw.ca
