A coach is back where he learned the game of volleyball.
Matt Armstrong was on the sidelines giving instructions and encouragement to the Foothills Falcons in their 2-2 tie with the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in a senior high school boys volleyball exhibition game at the Comp on Friday.
“I started when I was in Grade 11 — six years ago I didn’t even play volleyball and now I am here,” Armstrong said with a smile. “It’s a really an awesome opportunity. We have a really strong group of guys willing to work and they have a really high ceiling in terms of development.
“We’re really excited.”
Back in 2010, Falcons volleyball guru Corey Cowper noticed a rather big Grade 10 six-foot-four lanky-armed Matt Armstrong sitting in homeroom.
The rest is history.
Armstrong played middle for the JV team in 2011 and finally Senior in 2012. Not surprisingly he was selected Most Improved Player both years.
The Falcons’ assistant coach this season is Brett Carter, who played with Armstrong with the Falcons senior varsity squad in 2012. However, Carter was no Johnny-come-lately to the game. He was an all-star setter and a former Falcon MVP. He is currently on a work-experience program in Calgary as part of his kinesiology studies at the University of Waterloo.
“I heard Matt was coaching and he hit me up and asked me to be an assistant coach and here I am,” said Carter, who played college ball at College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, B.C.
He has no problem being an assistant to the former raw rookie Armstrong.
“If anybody was going to be the head coach it should be Matt,” Carter said. “Look how much he progressed in the few years he has been playing. It’s just incredible. He had to start from the ground up, so he had to learn all the tactics, the game — he knows the game well… Matt has the knowledge and I can help with the skills, especially with the setting.”
Carter coached some club ball while playing in Cranbrook.
“I assistant coached a U16 team in B.C., I just love helping with the kids and sharing what I have learned from the game,” he said.
Armstrong shares that passion. After graduating from the Comp, he coached and played with the Foothills Volleyball Club, soaking up knowledge as he worked his way through the ranks.
A few of those club players are playing with Armstrong again as Foothills Falcons, Eric Meyer, Matt Greenshields, Kyle Tarasoff and David Kent-Canalejo.
“We have a deep team this year,” Armstrong said. “Eight guys who can really put the ball away and we have a great supporting cast… It’s a real respectful group.”
Armstrong is hoping he can have as big an influence on the young Falcons as his former coaches Virgil Green and Cowper had on him.
“Virg was awesome in making things stress free, he was very good at narrowing things down for me — do my job,” said Armstrong, a computer science student at U of C. “Cowper has had a huge impact on my volleyball career. He is a full-on skills coach. He sees everything. Very detailed… It’s good to take everything from all the coaches I had. I use drills that Corey used to use when Brett and I played.
“I hope my players can benefit from what I have learned from the five coaches I have had.”
He would love to see the Falcons use that knowledge beyond their high school careers.
“We also want to help kids to get to the next level,” Armstrong said. “It’s awesome to represent our school, but we also want to think what is next afterwards.”
