Nathan Bennett knew that 2012 was going to be his last year as a professional volleyball player, but it didn’t turn out the way he envisioned.
The Athabasca native and 11-year veteran of the pro circuit was finishing up his final year in one of Europe’s many volleyball leagues while simultaneously preparing for his bid for the Great Britain national team that will compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics. His chances of making the team and competing on sport’s grandest stage were looking good until early April, when he suffered a knee injury that required surgery right before national team selections.
Suddenly (and painfully) the door on a long-held dream had been shut.
“It wasn’t really a long recovery, and the coach told me he wanted me on the team but it was too big a risk. That was that.”
The turn of events was undoubtedly an unfortunate one, but Bennett was already prepared for life after volleyball. He had planned on wrapping his playing career with the Olympics anyway, so the injury actually offered him a chance to get a head start on the next phase of his life and career.
“It was a blessing in disguise.” He can say that now after being named the new head coach of the men’s volleyball program at Capilano University in North Vancouver. Bennett had long eyed coaching as the next step in his career, and circulated his impressive resume throughout the volleyball world. He was willing to remain in Europe if necessary, but the chance to coach in Canada was one he couldn’t pass up.
“Coaching has been the idea since I was 19 years old,” he said. “I like the opportunity there; the opportunity to grow as a coach, and for the program to develop and be very successful.”
One day he would like to coach in Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS), where he once played with the University of Alberta. That’s a rung up the ladder from the coaching he’ll be doing at Capilano, and while there he’ll be able to learn the finer points of coaching at the university level.
Though he has worked extensively in volleyball camps (including his own Impact Volleyball Camp) this will be his first tour of duty as a full-time coach of a program. But after years of playing the sport at the highest of levels, he’s ready to give it a shot.
“There are two types of coaches; the coach who has learned from the book, and the coach who has experienced it. (But) the coach who has experienced it can also learn from the book,” he said, noting that a coach who has never played at the level he is coaching at can’t make up for that shortcoming. He’s confident he has seen every challenge the game of volleyball can produce, from the on-court perspective. His challenge now is to adapt to the off-the-court perspective.
“Once we get into jams in matches, I’ll probably be frustrated that I can’t help physically. But that’s why they hired me; I have a lot of experience, I’ve seen pretty much every situation and I know how to deal with them.”
Despite the disappointment of coming so close to an Olympic experience, Bennett was ready to close the book on his days as a professional athlete. Through his work at the university, he is ready to continue on with the sport that he loves from a whole new perspective.
