The Richmond Olympic Oval will soon be home to the national women’s volleyball team.
Volleyball Canada announced Tuesday the program will be re-locating to the Oval next January, after spending the past 25 years in Winnipeg. The multi-purpose world class training centre is already home to several national and provincial sport organizations. Among them is the Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence which currently includes about 50 up-and-coming players.
The sport’s national governing body making a further commitment to Richmond comes after receiving bids from provincial volleyball associations from across the country.
“This has been a three to four year process for us,” said Debra Armstrong, president of Volleyball Canada. “"It was a difficult decision for our committee, with several quality bids. It was especially important for us to ensure the individual athletes and the program had the optimal training environment for all them to continue their goal of success on the international scene.
“The bid put forward by the group here — the City of Richmond, the Oval, Volleyball B.C. and the Pacific Volleyball Society — I can say excelled in every phase. They are providing an exemplary environment to support our women’s program as they move forward.”
The Oval was one of five bids from communities received by Volleyball B.C. when it decided to pursue the women’s national team.
“As a group of volleyball enthusiasts, we sat around a table and started thinking how do we bring a national team to our province?” said Volleyball B.C. president and bid committee co-chair. Tom Jones. “The important thing too was the four bidding communities endorsed our decision to go with Richmond.”
“The Oval staff have proven over and over again to support high performance sports. This is what they do and they do it well. They created a bid that puts athletes first and fits their needs for balance and a quality of life. Now we have a chance to build on what Winnipeg has done for the last 25 years.”
The national team’s current 20 player roster features seven players from B.C. — Brittany Page (Vernon), Marisa Field (Kelowna), Kyla Richey (Robert’s Creek), Lucy Charuk (Tsawwassen), Shance Marcelle (Victoria), Dana Cranston (Fort St. John) and Jennifer Lundquist (Surrey).
The move to Richmond will coincide with launch of the next four-year cycle leading up to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Toyko.
Canada just missed out on a spot in the 2016 Games in Rio — falling at last month’s NORECA Olympic Qualification Tournament in Nebraska.
