Arcola's Eugene Brown has coached 30 seasons of volleyball and has led both teams and individual players to competition at the provincial and national levels during his career. Brown reached another coaching milestone this summer when he was selected to head one of Team Saskatchewan's two 16U girls volleyball teams, who competed at the National Team Challenge Cup in Richmond, B.C., July 13 to 17.
The vice-principal of Arcola School says his next volleyball-related goal is to coach the sport at the post-secondary level after retirement, adding: “I use the internal motto: 'When you're through learning, you're through.'”
“I really believe in GRIT,” he says. “That's Grace, Respect, Integrity and Team. And GRIT is as much about character as it is about volleyball. Honesty and integrity on the court means honesty and integrity in life-as does the opposite.”
“I'm a competitive guy and I like to win, but not at any cost. I actually encourage our players to be multi-sport athletes. I do that so they will love volleyball for the rest of their lives, instead of getting burnt out. I want them to embrace a long-term healthy lifestyle. In their futures, they might not always have access to a volleyball court, but I hope I've encouraged them to explore other healthy activities.”
Brown has been coaching and teaching at Arcola School since 1993, when he, his wife, Joy and their family moved to the community.
“I grew up playing football, basketball, hockey and baseball-but no volleyball. And when I moved to take my first teaching position in Arcola, the school needed a senior boys volleyball coach. So I was a rookie teacher and a rookie volleyball coach.”
“I knew nothing about volleyball, but I like to do things right,” he says. “I took some National Coaching Certification Program courses and earned my technicals in three sports.”
“In my second year of coaching-or as I call it, trying to coach-senior boys volleyball, I had a nephew from Alberta who moved out here to work. His name is Archie Lepine and he was one of Alberta's top volleyball players. He told me: 'You can have all the theory you want, but you've got to put those courses on the court.”
“He worked with our team that season and I was able to act more like an assistant coach,” adds Brown. “I had a lot of hands-on experience in a lot of sports prior to that, but not in volleyball. So that year was like a transformation for me.”
Since then, Brown has continued to coach the Arcola Panthers senior boys volleyball team- “I have for my entire career”-and the team has played their way to provincial competition numerous times, including during Brown's first year as their coach.
'And about four years ago, I started coaching some girls from throughout the area who wanted to play volleyball, but needed a coach,” continues Brown. “They were a 16U club team who became the Southeast Vipers.”
“The girls train out of Arcola and that original group started as a 16U team. We saw those girls out the top. The next year, we ran two teams, and this fall, we'll be running a 17U team-which I'll coach with Kelly Running-and we'll have 15/16 U team with different coaches, too.”
Brown's pride in his teams is evident.
“The boys really put their all in that first year they made it to provincials,” he says. “And the team has been there lots of times since. The Panthers' best finish has been around fifth place, but they've played their way to that level of competition and earned every bit of it.”
“With the Vipers-which is club volleyball-you're up against the city schools and you compete against whatever they want to throw at you. Hundreds of kids are streamed, so the competition's tough. Right now, the 16U Vipers are in Division Two, Tier One, in 7th place, but they're behind some larger centres, who often have a much larger pool of players to draw from.”
Most recently, Brown was selected to coach one of the province's two 16U women's volleyball teams at the National Team Challenge Cup in Richmond, B.C.
“The Nationals were held in July,” says Brown. “I found out in April that I was selected to coach. It was sort of a surprise to me, because I had expressed interest in coaching one of the teams for the Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan and the Saskatchewan Volleyball Association (SVA) asked if I would coach a team going to Nationals, instead.”
“I'm not a fully-certified Level III volleyball coach,” he says. “And that's usually what's required. I have everything except my practical Level III. But Don Laing of the SVA observed some Vipers practices, and I think he recommended me for the job.”
Brown says the experience of coaching one of the province's teams at the national level was a learning experience for both coach and team.
“There were three (tryout) camps-in Regina, in Saskatoon and in Lloydminster. One hundred and fifty girls tried out for 24 slots-two teams of 12. They went through skill drills, strategic drills and technical and tactical drills,” says Brown. “But one of the most important parts of picking an ahtlete-besides their talent and skill level-is determining if they handle adversity well.”
“A lot of people think these teams are pre-determined, but absolutely not!” says Brown. “There are always some players that are on the radar, but there are no guarantees.”
“We look at things such as a flushed face, the look in a player's eyes or if they do something physically to express frustration.”
“An athlete can get past that, if they're willing. That's where mental training comes in.”
“The first day we were in Richmond for Nationals, about half of the team were pretty overwhelmed and were playing quite tight. As a coach, you're there to get them to use that mental training, to relax and to help them focus on the present competitive moment.”
“In a competition like that, there are so many distractions for players-both negative and positive.,” adds Brown. “A positive example would be if their family is in the stands and they just really want to perform well for their family.”
“By getting them to concentrate on the present competitive moment, you're helping them to deal with what's happening on the volleyball court. And at that moment, that's all a player can control. That other stuff-whether it's negative or positive-they can deal with after the game.”
Brown says of Team Saskatchewan's experience at the NTCC in Richmond: “It was a pretty tough pool. We played seven five-set matches and only ended up winning one, but we had two that went to five sets. Our other sets were close battles.”
“Sometimes the ball drops for you and sometimes the ball drops against you.”
“I like to win, but it's still just a game and the important thing for me as a coach and for our players is to never give up and keep learning as players and as people.”
“After all my years coaching, if I go to a clinic and learn a few new things, I consider that a success,” says Brown.
“The most important thing is to maintain a positive mental attitude. I believe in that so strongly that I have some lists of quotes on my phone that I send out to our players everyday.”
“And the reason I send them by text is because I've learned that the easiest way to be ignored by young people is to call them on the phone,” laughs Brown. “So I text them, instead.”
“They taught me that. So really, you never stop learning.”
