Del Cleland began coaching volleyball sideways and by happenstance. He never played as a kid but he played baseball, basketball and football. As a young, new teacher, he took on the role of Volleyball Coach as a way to impress and get a permanent contract. He had to learn the game one step ahead of his players and made himself available to attend many coaching clinics, reading manuals, and watching other successful and more experienced coaches. Del coached Volleyball for an impressive 34 years at W.R. Myers in Taber, positively impacting numerous students during this time. His teams went to provincials countless times winning 3 gold (1979, 2001 and 2002), 4 silver and 2 bronze. During his time coaching at W.R. Myers, he won 20 South Zone Volleyball Championships out of 29. Del was the quintessential player’s coach - he was tough and demanding, but personable, fun and well loved by his athletes. He tended to have teams with a small roster size but he made sure those teams were the most fit and athletically conditioned of any team in the province. Practices were long and intense and always ended with conditioning. These practices made you bond as a team - everyone was going through the same thing.
“Coaching is not just imparting technical skills in practice, and managing game situations. That’s maybe a third to half of the role. The other half, is managing the psyche of the team collectively, and of the individual athlete.” ~Jordan Cleland, Del’s son
“The team was blessed with the wisdom and insight you gave us as a coach” ~Amy Nyce
“We ran stairs, did thousands of push ups and climbed ropes till our hands bled but never did we do it alone, Del was always there leading us, doing everything he asked of us” ~Robert Layton
“Almost every aspect of my life has been influenced by Del Cleland. He is true to who he is. He lives life to the fullest and will bring along with him any and all that want to join in…he is a man who has dedicated his whole life to health, fitness and education.” ~Robert Layton
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