In his two years spent under the tutelage of Chris Wandler, head coach of the Olds College Broncos women's volleyball team, Rob Meckling won two straight Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championships.
It's now his turn to try and carry that success over to the men's program.
On Aug. 18, Meckling, formerly an assistant coach on the women's team, was unveiled as the new head coach of the college's men's volleyball team, one that has not made the playoffs since returning to the ACAC in 2012.
Meckling described the lessons he learned from Wandler about running a team.
“Determination for success, sticking to a vision and a plan,” Meckling said. “Ensuring that you provide something that's well scripted visually on paper that you can demonstrate to athletes, and certainly to a college that the people involved in the program will buy into.
“Following that path and sticking to it, not allowing the challenges and obstacles that come along the way for that deter you from trying to achieve that final goal.
“I think he's done a really good job of setting that tone,” he continued. “That's something I will look at with the (men's) program. Trying to have the same hallmark to follow.”
Tryouts for the team are scheduled for Sept. 4 and Meckling said he wants players to focus on strength and conditioning for the upcoming season.
“We bring in great technical players, great kids with great size, but if we don't invest in the physical part of the game, we don't have success on the court,” he said. “So that's something that's going to be instilled immediately.”
While he does not want to set the bar too high for the men's team, Meckling wants to close the gap in success between the women's and men's teams.
“I think it was disappointing for those athletes the last two years that they didn't achieve some sort of success,” he said. “And certainly running a volleyball program with men and women where there's such a difference in performance probably is very disheartening and challenging for athletes to stay committed and focused.”
