Beloved local volleyball coach and pioneer of the sport in Grande Prairie, Leigh Goldie has been inducted into the Alberta Volleyball Hall of Fame.
Goldie boasts a storied career filled with accolades across the different teams and leagues he has coached in over the past 50 years and now serves as Board Director of the Grande Prairie Regional Sport Connection.
Before his time at the GPRSC, Goldie began his coaching career in GP as Head Coach of the Grande Prairie Regional Men’s Volleyball team in 1975. Since then, Goldie led the team to numerous provincial championships and earned three Coach of the Year awards in the process.
The humble coach took a moment to thank the hundreds of players, coaches, and officials he has interacted with over the years.
“It’s very nice to be recognized like that, for participation for a long time, but I think in terms of personal recognition, it’s also a recognition of the number of people I’ve worked with and the team I’ve had with me through the years,” he says.
Goldie says a number of highlights jump out at him when he thinks of his long career in Grande Prairie, especially in his early days as a coach.
“One of the things that stands out is when we came to Grande Prairie, it was certainly a lot smaller then, and there were lots of great people and you could really do things here, and we were able to help facilitate some things that helped Grande Prairie become known as a volleyball community,” he says. “One big highlight was hosting the Canadian College Athletics Association Nationals for five years in a row in the early 2000s.”
Goldie founded the Wolves Volleyball team in 1984, so the question of what could be next for the well-established coach was answered simply when he said- “I guess just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
“Personally, I teach a lot of coaching courses in the National Coaching Certification Program, both in multi-sport and volleyball, so we’re able to continue contributing that way,” he says. “There’s still lots to do and there’s lots of people I get to interact with so it’s great.”
Goldie joined three other inductees, one player, and one coach, and was recognized in the Hall of Fame’s “Builder” category.
