Another ace for Wesmen’s Voth Volleyball bench boss named to coaching staff for men’s national squad tourney By: Joshua Frey-Sam Posted: 4:57 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 27, 2026 Last Modified: 9:25 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 27, 2026 Updates

Chris Voth is getting bumped into the starting lineup.

The Winnipeg Wesmen men’s volleyball head coach was named to the Canadian senior men’s national team’s coaching staff for the upcoming Volleyball Nations League tournament this summer.

Voth spent five years on the staff of the senior men’s extended roster that trains in Gatineau, Que. That time was spent with Team Canada’s reserve crop, who were young professionals or up-and-coming university athletes.

Now, he’ll help the main roster as it begins its push for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It’s kind of neat now working with the VNL team; it’s basically all the guys that I’ve either played with or have coached previously,” Voth said Wednesday.

Last year, Voth was tabbed to lead Canada’s U21 team at the 2025 World Championships in China. That came on the heels of a historic first season with the Wesmen, in which he led the program to its first Canada West conference title and was named the Canada West and U Sports Coach of the Year.

“It’s great. I’m really honoured to be with this team, and I’ve worked with the head coach, Dan Lewis, before, a couple of years ago, and I think that we have a really good connection, and that things work pretty well with us,” he said.

“He’s incredibly passionate and knowledgeable, and he’s had a lot of success with his professional team in France, the last couple of years, so it’s really cool to kind of see all the stuff that he’s gathered since we worked together last.”

Working with the main national team doesn’t offer the rising coach much in the way of reassurance for the job he’s done with the Wesmen or previous national teams, he said, but there is still plenty to gain from this experience.

“It’s really a dream come true, but it’s not like I sit down and kind of write out goals for myself,” said Voth, who coached pro teams in the Netherlands and Switzerland before coming back to Winnipeg.

“Everything just kind of happened serendipitously. I don’t sit down and try to figure out what the next chapter will be, or the next step I want to make. I’m just trying to work as well as I can with the teams that I’m with, and then whatever doors open, I will graciously walk through those.”

“I’m just trying to work as well as I can with the teams that I’m with, and then whatever doors open, I will graciously walk through those.”

The promotion sets up Voth for a busy summer.

Team Canada will play four matches in Ottawa from June 4-19, then gets a little reprieve before beginning the next stage of the VNL tournament in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the end of June. In mid-July, they are off to Osaka, Japan, for the third leg of the preliminary round, and if they reach the eight-team knockout stage, they will be in Ningbo, China, for the finals in early August.

Voth will return to Winnipeg for a few weeks in August to get the Wesmen season off the ground while simultaneously preparing for the most important tournament in a jam-packed summer: the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Men’s Continental Championship in Montcon, N.B., in September.

The NORCECA tournament will prove pivotal for Canada, as that will determine which four nations between Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Suriname (the United States has already qualified as the hosting country) will battle for an Olympic berth.

“Going from playing to coaching, I think one of the cool transitions is that you go from having to worry a lot about yourself and your performance and how you play to now kind of servicing the needs of others,” Voth said.

“I wouldn’t say it benefits me, but anything that I can take and then transition that into the university program, I think, is kind of a neat benefit.”

It was also announced that former Wesmen libero Darian Picklyk has been invited to try out for the team ahead of the VNL tournament. Picklyk finished his university career in 2023 before launching his pro career in Finland and then in the Netherlands with Voth’s former club, Lycurgus Groningen, where Picklyk currently plays.

Voth coached Picklyk for two summers on Team Canada’s extended roster, and while Voth said he might hold longer odds of making the roster, it figures to be valuable experience for the 26-year-old.

“I keep in pretty good contact with him to see how things are going out in my home away from home,” said Voth.

“We’ve had some great summers together. He’s doing really well. The roster hasn’t been set for the upcoming VNL, but I think it’ll be a difficult task for him to make it, but he’s an amazing person, and I feel fortunate to have worked with them.”

 

Weekes named to Canada’s VNL roster

Former Manitoba Bisons outside hitter Owen Weekes was named to the senior national team on Wednesday afternoon and will join the team for the VNL tournament.

Weekes is headed south to play for Long Island State in the NCAA Division 1 ranks this fall after a pair of standout seasons with the Bisons.

The second-year talent led the Bisons with 219 kills and was eighth in Canada West with 3.32 kills per set last season. He played for Voth at the U21 World Championships last summer.

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