Barrhead is known for developing strong volleyball teams and players.
In recent years, Barrhead Composite High School’s (BCHS) teams have gone on to win provincial championships and its players have gone on to star at college and university as well as national level.
Cameron Gelderman is one of those players.
On Nov. 19, Gelderman, who plays for the King’s University in Edmonton, became the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) all time career dig leader, when he recorded his 1,013th dig in a game against Concordia University of Edmonton. The old mark was 1,012, held by Thomas Regier, who played for the University of Alberta-Augustana team from 2011 to 2016. A dig is a defensive technique in volleyball where a player stops the ball from hitting the floor on your side of the court after it is spiked or served.
Gelderman, who grew up in Neerlandia and graduated from BCHS in 2012, is currently in his final year at the university.
At the same time he has been working towards his Bachelor of Commerce degree specializing in Human Resources and Management, he has also been playing with the school’s Eagles Volleyball team where he has earned a reputation of being a strong defensive player.
Eagles head coach Philip Dixon said Gelderman is a fierce competitor who leaves everything out on the court.
“For a while, Cameron and Thomas were neck and neck with each other, exchanging the lead,” he said. “Cam currently has 1,080 career digs (before the Feb 3 and 4 games), which puts him at an astonishing 2.99 digs/set over his five-year career at King’s University.”
In addition to holding the ACAC career digs record, Gelderman also holds the single season digs record with 337 and is the all-time dig record holder.
Gelderman credits a lot of his success to growing up in Neerlandia and Barrhead, saying it is only because of the support and coaching he received in junior and senior high school that he was able to go on and play at a strong university level.
“I was lucky to be part of some very good teams and had some really great coaches and teammates,” he said, adding both his older brothers were strong volleyball players.
In fact, he said in an interview with the Leader in 2015, if it hadn’t been for his older brother William he might not have decided to attend King’s University.
Although Gelderman received a partial scholarship to play volleyball he said the real reason he chose to attend King’s University is to play with his brother.
“I really wanted to play with William before he ended his college career. My first year on the team was William’s last,” Gelderman said.
William Gelderman is a strong volleyball player in his own right. He played three seasons for the Eagles and in 2013 he was named to the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Canadian team.
Gelderman is also quick to acknowledge how much his teammates both past and present, have contributed to his development as a player.
“Although it has been really awesome getting all the dig records, the statistics and analytics only tell part of the story,” he said. “There’s so much more in me getting credited for each dig. I’m just one link in the entire process, from the coach drawing up plans and setting up our defensive line and blocking systems to my teammates who have sweated just as much, if not more to attain each one of those stats.”
As for what the future holds, he said currently he is preparing for life after university.
Last spring, Gelderman started his own company Raindrop Windows, a window/building siding and gutter cleaning business.
“I have always been interested in the small business sector and it is something I want to continue to do in some form,” he said, adding his first venture has been a great learning experience.
Gelderman said after graduation he hopes to be able to continue his volleyball career in some fashion.
“After university, I assume my career as an athlete is coming to a close and I think I am at peace with that. I would like to be involved to some extent. I’m not sure what that would look like right now, perhaps coaching at some level, but I do plan to be involved in the sport in some way in the future.”
