Entering his 13th season as head coach, John Richard holds down the fort behind the women’s volleyball team bench, while also being the Assistant Director of Athletics.
Prior to becoming the head coach he was a volunteer assistant coach for three years and a student-athlete for three years. Richard brings knowledge to this program that is valued by his peers. This year he has shown he can work with players being injured and help coach his team to a 5-1 record at this point in the season.
Brunswickan: What experience do you have as an athlete yourself? Where did you play and for how long?
John Richard: I am originally from Nova Scotia where I played high school, club and provincial team volleyball. Then I came here (UNB) to play and do my undergrad. I basically had the same decision that most male volleyball players have in Atlantic Canada, which is DAL or UNB; I played for three years and haven’t left since.
B: What do you look for in a player when deciding on your roster?
JR: One of the first things is physical attributes. Some people may say they want someone for personality or their behaviour. For sure that is front and centre for me as well, but they also need to have the physical attributes to play certain positions at the CIS level. The close seconds would be commitment, attitude, behaviour, how they act with their teammates. I like to see when recruiting how they interact with their teammates when they’re challenged or losing a match. I also look for leadership qualities as well.
B: What is your fondest memory as a V-Red coach?
JR: I would say hosting CIS Nationals here at the Aitken Centre for two years. Some may expect me to say winning a conference championship and that was pretty high for me too, but bringing that level of volleyball to this end of the country as CIS women’s volleyball nationals hadn’t been in Atlantic Canada for 25-plus years, so being the host for two years was pretty special.
B: Prior to a game what do you do to get your players prepared for the matchup?
JR: I’ve always believed you need to eliminate as many distractions as possible. You try to be as prepared as possible. We try to paint the picture of what the atmosphere is going to be like, what the other team may do, so we try to prepare them as best as we can. I am not a big rah-rah guy. I pride myself on getting my team prepared and then hope that our athletes and other coaches can be there to give them the push motivation-wise. We have been fortunate to have real motivation driven athletes, so usually we have two to three people in the room that do that in the room.
B: How do you gauge the success of your season separate from the wins and losses?
JR: We sit down as a team and have team goals, academically, athletically and in the community. Achieving those goals would probably be first and foremost for us. The goals a lot of times aren’t drive by wins and losses, even the athletic ones are driven by getting a bye in the first round. Another goal we have this year is to be playing Sunday, Feb. 20, which is the day the AUS final is being played. If we’re playing on Sunday we have a chance to win. In the community we have the goal of doing one community outreach program, non-UNB per semester. We buy into their stuff too, but this semester our whole team participated in Run for the Cure this term and next semester we are doing the Think Pink Weekend for breast cancer weekend with the women’s basketball team.