When he was a senior volleyball player at David Thompson, Coleman Chan, then 17, was coaching the youngest boys at the school on the Grade 8 team.
He graduated and eventually started working as a chef at Cactus Club but didn鈥檛 abandon his connection to the East Side school鈥檚 volleyball program. He coached the same group of boys in Grade 9 and would have coached them again this year on the junior team 鈥� except he took a different offer.
The players asked him to coach them on the senior team.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have done it if they hadn鈥檛 asked,鈥� Chan said two weeks ago at Magee secondary as the Trojans celebrated winning the city championship in three straight sets.
鈥淭hey came up to me and said, 鈥楬ey Coleman, can you coach us?鈥欌��
Since the junior team was severely short of players, they opted to fold and merge with the senior team. Three Grade 10s play on the senior team alongside four Grade 11s and six grads. The previous coach didn鈥檛 return this season and Chan, who is known to the players by his first name, stepped up.聽
鈥淗e鈥檚 there as a friend and as a coach,鈥� said Jonathan Lee, a five-foot-three service specialist who鈥檚 mastered a strong, deceptive floater. 鈥淢ost of us, we knew we weren鈥檛 going to have a junior team and asking him to coach was a good thing.鈥�
Victor Yung, the team captain and setter, had trained with another coach for four years since Grade 8 and while losing that connection had its own disruptions, he said Chan brought in a new atmosphere and intensity. 鈥淚t鈥檚 different but it feels great,鈥� Yung said. 鈥淭hat changed our whole game completely.鈥�
Yung is two years younger than his coach, but no one gets hung up on age. Besides, the setter is learning essential skills.聽
鈥淎s a setter my main job is to connect to everyone and run different plays. Coleman really helped me mentally 鈥� if my mental game isn鈥檛 there, their mental game isn鈥檛 there. If we don鈥檛 connect, then we can鈥檛 get hits,鈥� said Yung, 17. 鈥淐oleman basically just keeps pushing us, pushing us to work hard [set] plays and we eventually get used to them.
鈥淲e definitely respect him as a coach.鈥�
The team鈥檚 sponsor and David Thompson teacher, Irving Lau, remembers Chan as a student-athlete.
鈥淥n the courts he had always been a leader and captain,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e always strive for our kids to show leadership [and] want them to take on responsibility for themselves and pass that on the general community.鈥�
In fact, the school has an impressive history of relying on alumni to support its athletic programs. Chan, who also trains in mixed-martial arts, is one of the few to get his start when he was still a student.
The Trojans aspire to win the Lower Mainland zone tournament, on this week at various 麻豆传媒映画secondary schools. The top four teams qualify for the provincial championship, held in two weeks in Kelowna at UBC Okanagan.
鈥淲e want to win Lower Mainlands,鈥� said Yung.
鈥淎nd then provincials,鈥� added Lee.
鈥淓ven though [Chan] is younger than most coaches, he鈥檚 an excellent coach,鈥� said Yung. 鈥淗e motivates us when were down and makes things work. That鈥檚 all we can ask for. He does his job and we do ours.鈥�
The Lower Mainland championship game is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 15 6 p.m. at David Thompson.
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