Former Olympic volleyball player to head up LVC skills camp

By Lethbridge Herald on June 12, 2025.

SUbmitted PHOTO Graham Vigrass is pictured hitting the ball with the national team.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Former two-time Canadian Olympic volleyball player Graham Vigrass will  head coach at Lethbridge Volleyball Club’s Co-ed Skills next month.

The camp focuses on the development of skills on an individual level and breaking them down to a bare bones level and working on building them back up to be game ready.

“It’s fun to see volleyball across the country,” said Vigrass.

“It’s just fun to see how different clubs and different cities and towns are all helping develop athletes and people.”

Vigrass time with the players have a skills and volleyball possibilities component.

“Then a lot of it will just also be talking about what’s possible in volleyball and what that looks like,” said Vigrass.

Vigrass has been removed from competitive international play since retiring in 2022 after a nine-year career  and spoke about how he can bring his experiences from his playing days at the University of Calgary, where he currently coaches the men’s team, and internationally to the younger athletes.

“I can relate pretty well to our guys at U of C about what’s necessary to make it to the next level and the importance of discipline and dedicating yourself to getting  better at something and that’s a common message I have with whatever age I’m working with  ,” said Vigrass.

Vigrass is a Calgary product  and won a USports national title in 2010 with the Dinos where he  was named  most valuable player for the championship, as his average kills per match was at 21.

It was a year later that Vigrass helped U of C to a  ninth Canada West title in team history and in  the process broke the blocks record in the program, was named USports Player of the Year and named Canada West Player of the Year for all sports.

In 2012, he finished out his university career as a two-time U Sports All-Canadian, led the team to a national championship for a third straight year and finished with 844 kills to sit second in program history.

Immediately after U of C, he then joined the  Canadian Senior Men’s national team after already participating with the national youth and junior programs while in University and prior to then .

“It shaped who I am and how I see the world and my friends and people I stay in touch with,” said Vigrass.

“It had a huge influence on myself as a  person (and) the challenges and successes we had as a team (and) individuals.”

Vigrass had the opportunity with Canada’s senior team to play in Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) events, the Pan American Games in 2015 where  he won bronze and represented Canada at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics in Rio and Tokyo respectively.

He helped Canada to a fifth place finish in Rio.

Vigrass though the  highlight of his international career  was in 2016, which was the first time the Canadian men’s  volleyball team made it to the Olympics  for the first time in a long time.

“We wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t (for) a generation before us who fought and worked super hard to increase the world ranking,” said Vigrass.

He also played in some of Europe’s top professional leagues.

There are two separate camps with one for the U15 and U16 level and another for U17/U18 level from July 14-18 at the LVC Building.

The U17/18 camp has 18 spots left, while  there a couple of spots left  for the U15/U16 level and the registration can be done through Lethbridge Volleyball Club’s website.