Langley – Volleyball Canada has named Trinity Western men’s volleyball head coach Ben Josephson as the new senior men’s indoor head volleyball coach. Josephson will begin his national team coaching duties in April of 2022.
“A couple weeks ago I was in Disneyland with my family having a great day,” Josephson said. “I received a message from Volleyball Canada High Performance Director, Julien Boucher, asking to jump on a call. We were waiting on the call from Volleyball Canada to find out if I would be the next Head Coach. This is the job I’ve dreamed about my whole career. Excited and nervous I answered the call and was offered the position sitting in a quiet booth in an empty restaurant in Disneyland while A Whole New World played and Mickey Mouse strolled by. The ‘Happiest Place on Earth” got a little happier when I accepted my ‘dream job.’
“When I was hired as the TWU Head Coach it was a dream job to coach my school’s team. There is no other university program I would ever care about as much as I do TWU. Trinity Western has formed me as a man and coach and I will forever have a special place in my heart for TWU. I pause as I think back on my appointment as Head Coach at TWU, I feel very much the same way about this current appointment as the Head Coach of Team Canada. This is my dream job. There is no other volleyball team I would ever care about as much as I do Canada. Canada has formed me as a man and will forever have my heart as a proud Canadian. To be great in anything I believe you need to have passion and joy equal to your purpose. The greater the purpose the greater the passion required to be successful. We have seen this play out at TWU over many years. The new adventure of coaching Canada is even more daunting and a greater purpose, coaching our Maple Volleys around the globe. This purpose will require even more passion and joy than ever before, and I could not be more excited to get started.
“I’ve been a Spartan since 1998 (23 years) but I’ve been a Canadian my whole life. If I have to leave TWU, I’m glad it’s for the ‘Leaf. It’s a dream come true.”
Beginning in April, Spartan Athletics will promote TWU men’s volleyball assistant coaches and former U SPORTS players of the year Ben Ball and Adam Schriemer to the positions of Co-Interim Head Coaches.
Josephson, who lives with his wife, Jen, and young family in Langley, B.C., has guided TWU to five national championship titles, winning in 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019, and has qualified for the U SPORTS championship tournament 11 times. Josephson has also led the Spartans to five Canada West championships, winning in 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020, which includes TWU’s current run of nine straight appearances in the conference final.
Josephson holds a Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree from Trinity Western, and has three times been named both the Canada West Coach of the Year and U SPORTS Coach of the Year, in 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2019-20.
While serving as head coach at TWU, Josephson has developed approximately 30 athletes that have represented Canada on the international stage. He has been involved with Team Canada at all levels of the current development model and had served as the lead assistant coach for the Canadian Women’s National Team in 2019. Josephson was also an All-Canadian with Trinity Western University, where he played for the Spartans from 1998 -2003.
This past fall, his TWU team represented Canada at the NORCECA Men’s Pan Am Cup winning a silver medal.
Josephson takes over from Canadian Olympian Glenn Hoag, who previously announced he would coach the team until Tokyo 2020.
The men’s team, currently ranked 12th in the world, has qualified for the last two Olympic Games, making it to the quarter-finals in both events, and will look toward qualification for Paris 2024.
The men’s team is based in Gatineau, Quebec.
Ball has been part of the TWU men’s volleyball program for 16 years. As a setter he won two national titles and also won three U SPORTS championships as an assistant coach. Ball was named U SPORTS men’s volleyball Player of the Year in 2011-2012. Schriemer joined the Spartans as a student-athlete in 2013-14 and has been an assistant coach with the men’s program for the past three year. Schriemer won two national titles as a player and has won one as an assistant coach. As a setter for the Spartans Schriemer was named the U SPORTS Player of the Year in 2017-18.
