Bisons women's volleyball – learning, leadership and giving back
Over his 36 years at the U SPORTS level – including six national championships – women's volleyball head coach Ken Bentley has maintained a commitment to club volleyball. He's the only Canadian coach to have won championships at the 14U, 15U, 16U, 17U, 18U, 20U and Senior AA age categories, beginning in 1983. A significant number of athletes who've come through the club system choose to commit to UM. This is partly because of the long-term relationship they've established with Bentley and the rest of his coaching staff.

In 2019-20 for example, six of Manitoba's recruits played Junior Bisons volleyball. From that group, liberos Julia Arnold and Jordan Hamm (the longest-tenured member of the roster in her third year), along with setter Katreena Bentley and outside hitter Light Uchechukwu all played together beginning at age 11, winning a national championship at the 17U level.

Uchechukwu, along with middle Jaidyn Spencer were named to the Canada West All-Rookie team in their debuts, while Uchechukwu earned U SPORTS honours as well. 
With the 2020-21 season cancelled due to COVID-19, teams across the country were forced to build relationships and communicate with their teams in unconventional ways. Bentley was lucky in the sense that he already knew the work ethic of his squad, who "killed it" in the first term of classes.

"I've coached a lot of kids for eight, nine, ten years. This group will be the longest group that I have ever coached," noted Bentley. "It certainly was the most accomplished group that I've brought to a university team since probably 2006. That was a pretty accomplished group. The majority of that 2006 group that played, I coached in club for three years, and we were ranked number one that first year. This group is certainly all of that. It might look like they're young, but they've got a fair amount of experience behind them.

For me to continue to move them along and continue to help them to improve and stay motivated and stay engaged – to do all those things, I mean, it's no easy task, I have to work pretty hard at it. But I know who they are. I know them and they know me, so that part of the relationship is obviously a nice advantage I think."

Navigating COVID
Bentley's Bisons added four big-time recruits to their roster this offseason in middle, Brenna Bedosky (Collège Jeanne-Sauvé (CJS)), libero Deluca Klatt (Transcona Collegiate Institute, former club provincial all-star), setter Angela Lawrence (St. Mary's Academy) and left side Soleena Vasquez (Collège Sturgeon Heights Collegiate).

All four athletes have Junior Bisons ties. Notably, Klatt played for the club for five years, while Bedosky started at 15U and was also a part of CJS' MHSAA AAAA varsity titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The earlier of those titles also featured big-time contributions from Arnold and Bentley.

"They joined us when we officially set out the new group in June," Bentley noted of the 2021 class. "We started our training and had some Zoom projects. We did a book review, we did some things that were really engaging and good. And then we finally got together to do some circuit work outside in August, socially distanced. They were just excited to see each other again."

The previously mentioned book review was on Legacy. It details the success of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, and the role that leadership and team culture played in their long-term consistency. The team was put in pairs, and they each had a couple of chapters that they had to present to the group.

"People in business read [Legacy]. It's a bestseller. You have to be part of a team to appreciate, understand what it brings and how leadership and culture ebbs and flows if you're not being diligent with it. It was really good," noted Bentley.

"It was a good exercise. We were together for almost three-and-a-half hours going over this thing, and it spurred a lot of really good discussion. It was a really enjoyable early part of the season for our team. I certainly love what the book review brought to the team and the discussion it brought. And I'd certainly thinking about making that a yearly event where we pick a book and then go ahead and explore it. I thought it was a great exercise and I'd be inclined to do that for sure."

In the fall, the team was able to get into the gym as well as the weight room. Code orange shut things down at the end of October, however they still got some competitive six on six going just prior. Bentley noted that the team's overall skill level was fairly consistent across the board.

Leadership group
Perhaps the most interesting part of the fall sessions was the formation of a leadership group. All of the players on the team, including the rookies, are around the same age, and so Bentley took a different approach. Members who wanted to be in the running had to apply, and they then presented their vision to the team.

"I got this idea from a clinic I went to in the States. The topic was leadership. I kind of stewed over it a bit. I thought it was a really good idea, because this literally put skin in the game," noted Bentley.

"The people that applied and presented, they did a brilliant job and it was clear they took it seriously and they knew that they would be evaluated based on the job they did. Once you've got some skin in the game, it changes things a little bit. And so I thought was a really good process to go through. I would certainly recommend other coaches think about doing it."

Arnold, Bentley and outside hitter Keziah Hoeppner – all second-years – were selected by their teammates to lead the way, which wasn't a surprise.
"They've all had that role for a number of years on other teams they've been on and they take it pretty seriously," says Bentley. "As far as leadership goes, I think probably the unanimous component of the three of those kids is that every day in practice, they're throwing down. You can't ask someone to throw down with you if you're not doing it first. So, you know, I think that was a quality that each of those kids have in spades."

On and off the court, the leadership group, along with rest of the roster, did an excellent job integrating Bedosky, Klatt, Lawrence and Vasquez.

"They felt at ease right away and part of things right away. And they weren't afraid to have a voice in some of these conversations, which is really good," mentioned Bentley.

"They're good players. They improved. But what was probably more important to me in the end and to the team was how they felt. And they felt really welcomed. You're coming in nervous enough, right?

I mean, you're full of nerves coming on to university as a rookie. And so I thought this group did a really nice job of easing those fears as much as they could and making them feel welcome."

Giving back and looking forward
Bentley acknowledged that the second lockdown was difficult on the players and staff, as they'd just gotten into the swing of things and were developing great chemistry on the court. Instead of dwelling on their circumstances however, the group chose to give back to the community.

In November, they, along with the rest of the Bisons sports teams, participated in a blood drive for Canadian Blood Services. They've also been collecting old coats, toques, mittens and any other clothing items that people aren't using to give to the less fortunate.

"They're just doing that on their own to give to people that really need it," says Bentley.

"They're taking time out of their schedule. Keziah literally came by an hour ago to pick up some stuff from our house for that. They've been doing stuff outside of UMAC council, which has been great. I'm really proud of them for doing what they can given the situation they're in. They did a good job with the hampers and other stuff at Christmas too. It's been really good."

Amidst COVID-19, Bentley has continued to stay busy on the recruiting trail. He's secured the commitment of Andi Almonte and Eve Catojo, both out of the Shock Volleyball Club in the city, as well as versatile outside hitter Ella Gray, a BC native who played for Academy Volleyball Club.

"She's taking a gap year right now. She graduated last year, but she's training with former assistant coach Mike [Neil] that runs Academy Volleyball Club," the head coach noted of Gray.

"She's a real, real good kid who's big and strong. She would join Andi and Eve, and that's really our class for next year, which is I'm totally happy with. You know, we've got three really, really good athletes.