The Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) is excited to announce the selection of the 2025 Canada Games indoor assistant coaches for both the boys and the girls teams.
Congratulations to John Nguyen and Amy Wilson who will be working alongside Jen Neilson with the girls indoor team until the 2025 Canada Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Amy Wilson
Amy was the CAC Aboriginal Apprentice with the girls team at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. She has coached many teams at the club and Team Ontario levels over the years in addition to acting as an assistant coach for the University of Waterloo’s women’s team. Amy was the head coach of the team that represented Ontario at the North American Indigenous Games in the summer of 2023. She has received many coaching awards such as the 2021 Sandy Silver Female Coach of the Year and most recently, the 2023 Coaches Association of Ontario Coaches Excellence Award.
John Nguyen
John is entering his 23rd year coaching at various levels with Maverick Volleyball in Ottawa. He has played many roles within the Team Ontario pathway over the last five years including Head Coach of Team Ontario Black and Team Ontario Elite. In the summer of 2023, he supported the Team Ontario Red coaching staff and shared his experience as they prepared for the Canada Cup. John is a Coach Evaluator in the NCCP Development and Advanced Development context. He is currently working on his Performance Coach certification.
We are happy to welcome Matthew Harris and James Gravelle as the 2025 Canada Games indoor boys assistant coaches. They will be assisting Ian Eibbitt and supporting the team towards the 2025 Canada Summer Games.
James Gravelle
James is the head coach of the University of Windsor’s men’s volleyball team and was named OUA and USPORT men’s volleyball Coach of the Year in 2023. In the past eight years, he has assumed various roles within the Canadian High Performance pathway including a head coach position with Team Ontario Black. He brings international experience from his role as an assistant coach on the Senior National B team in 2015. James understands the reality of major multisport games having been the head coach of the men’s volleyball Canadian FISU team in 2017.
Matthew Harris
Matt has been coaching at the USport level and has been involved with Team Ontario for over a decade. He was the Head Coach for the boys Team Ontario group that won gold at the 2017 Canada Games in Winnipeg. Since then, he has played several roles on National Team programs including the National B Team. Most recently, Matt acted as a mentor coach with the 2023 Team Ontario Black coaching staff while they were preparing to compete at the Canada Cup.
The Canada Games are the largest multi-sport event in Canada. There are over 5,000 athletes competing in over 20 sports. They are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter games. The last summer games were held in the summer of 2022 in Niagara Falls, Ontario.