Dave Olynyk is being recognized by Volleyball BC for his success in coaching high school and university volleyball.
Volleyball BC founded its Hall of Fame in 2015 to honour athletes, coaches, teams, officials, and builders who have made significant contributions to volleyball in British Columbia. On Oct. 14, 2026, Volleyball BC announced four new Hall of Fame inductees for the year.
Nominations for the Hall of Fame include a letter describing the individual’s accomplishments in the sport, along with 2-5 letters from other members of the volleyball community supporting the nomination. Hugh Wong, a builder and 2015 inductee, nominated Olynyk. The nomination’s supporting letters came from Rod Belinski, Patrick Hennelly, and Ken Olynyk.
According to Olynyk, the award was a complete surprise to him, as he had spent most of his career coaching high school teams. “Mostly, I’m flattered because I respect the fellow, Hugh Wong, who put in the application,” Olynyk said. “It’s just nice to be included with people I respect.”
Olynyk began coaching volleyball in 1978 at Mount Sentinel Secondary School in South Slocan, B.C., where he was a math and science teacher. Having no volleyball experience prior to coaching, his technical understanding of the game came from learning from successful coaches while attending coaching camps in Williams lake each summer.
With Slocan being a rural area in Southern B.C., the school’s team had a smaller number of students interested in playing, yet they still found success in tournaments, winning four provincial championships in 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1993. Olynyk coached at Mount Sentinel Secondary until he retired in 2010.
“We had to be technically a lot better than other teams, and we had to work harder because we were a lot smaller and not physically as able,” Olynyk said. “It was a real learning experience for me to understand that every kid, given a chance, can do wonderful things.”
Because of the town’s small population, the Mount Sentinel Secondary teams made up most of the region’s club teams, which were also coached by Olynik. The Kootenay Volleyball Club took home multiple provincial titles and won the Western Canadian Midget Championship in 1986 and 1992.
Olynyk has been closely involved with the WolfPack since 2005, when the Men’s Volleyball coach, Patrick Hennelly, asked him to assist. Hennelly attended Mount Sentinel Secondary and played on Olynyk’s volleyball team when they won their second provincial title in 1987.
“When you’re in a rural area, it’s very important to have high school sports. You don’t have the opportunities for community sports as much,” Hennelly said. “He really built a legacy of getting people involved in sport and youth sport.”
When Hennelly first invited Olynyk to TRU, he had few assistant coaches for the men’s volleyball team, and knew Olynyk would be an asset in developing technical skills and giving players more one-on-one coaching. Although he has never officially been on the team roster, Olynyk has stayed dedicated to developing the team each year. While still living in the Kootenays, Olynyk will spend a week in Kamloops a few times a year to help with coaching and individual training sessions. Typically, he visits TRU at the start of the season for skill development and postseason for corrections. Olynyk has also joined the team for exhibition tournaments, again providing an extra set of eyes to find areas that need developing.
“He took a really different view of the game, and when I started coaching, I wanted to be like that,” Hennelly said. “I think he did a really good job of error detection, correction and thinking outside of the box. Even when I bring him to guest coach with my team, he still has a different eye for seeing things, and it’s been really helpful for my program.”
Olynyk has a self-described ‘old-school’ approach to coaching, having always prioritized hard work and developing fundamental skills. After Mount Sentinel Secondary’s weekend tournaments, the team would have a two-and-a-half-hour practice on Monday. According to Olynyk, the training schedule and difficult drills weren’t meant to make players stronger, but to teach them to mentally handle exhaustion during a play.
“It was in the back of my head that if we’re going to be successful, our mind had to be stronger than our physical abilities, so that when the going gets tough, you’re able to focus and perform your skills at a high level, even though you want to quit,” Olynyk said.
Although Olynyk has helped develop successful teams, coaching has always served a greater purpose to him. According to Olynyk, school sports offer kids an outlet to fail, learn from mistakes and keep trying.
“I always keep in mind that the main purpose, I think, of school sports is to give kids a focus in their teenage years that is positive and helps them get through that low self-esteem, low self-respect, Olynyk said. “It wouldn’t have mattered what I coach. The kids themselves are the reason you stay and keep working.”
Although his days of coaching high school and provincial volleyball are behind him, Olynyk plans to continue coaching at the university level and will be a familiar face to the WolfPack for years to come.
This year’s nominees will officially be inducted at the Hall of Fame and Excellence Awards Gala on Nov. 21, 2026.