The World ParaVolley Board is pleased to announce that Nicole Ban (CAN) has been appointed Team Leader of the Coaches Commission. Nicole has been the Head Coach of Team Canada’s women’s sitting volleyball team for 7 years and in that time has achieved considerable on-court success, including a recent 4th place at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. She has been a volleyball Instructor at several universities for many years and holds a Masters of Coaching Graduate Degree. Nicole is currently the full-time Head Coach of the Canadian Women’s Sitting Volleyball Program.
WPV President Barry Couzner OAM, said, “We are fortunate to have had several great people leading the Coaches Commission in the past, including Jouke de Haan (NED – dec.) and Steve Jones (GBR) and I have every confidence that Nicole Ban will follow in their footsteps as an effective leader of this Commission. It is an extremely important role as I personally regard coaches as integral to the fundamental and overall development of the sport – if we have experienced and qualified coaches, we have better teams and athletes.”
The Development Director of WPV, Anton Raimondo said: “It is a great pleasure to have Nicole Ban join us as Team Leader for the Coaches Commission and I look forward to working closely with her in the Development Department. Nicole will bring a fresh perspective and impetus to the Commission as we look to further develop our existing coaches and expand the sport with new coaches.”
Nicole Ban said: “Thank you to World ParaVolley and the WPV Board Members for the appointment of Team Leader of the Coaches Commission. I look forward to working with, and learning from, the elite-level coaches who are current members of the Commission, while also adding new coaches as we continue develop and improve sitting volleyball across all zones. I am passionate about this Commission as coach education and development has the ability to further grow the game world-wide. At the end of the day, sport is about the athletes and with the best possible leaders around them, athletes will continue to thrive and showcase how truly incredible sitting volleyball is.”
Following a recent change by the Board, the Coaches Commission forms part of the Development Department headed by Anton Raimondo (RSA) that also includes the Development Commission headed by Helena Skogstrom (FIN).