Pascal Clément, who guided the Titans de Limoilou to four Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship titles, was inducted into the CCAA Hall of Fame in the Coach Category.
Clément was an assistant with the Men’s Volleyball team at Limoilou for one season before his promotion to head coach in September 1986.
“Before Pascal took over, the team had won three national championships in a row, but he rose to the challenge and won three straight CCAA National Championships of his own,” said Jean-Noël Corriveau, Athletic Director at Cégep Limoilou.
Clément received the CCAA Coaching Excellence Award (now Coach of the Year) for Men’s Volleyball in 1989. And after settling for CCAA silver in 1991, Clément added a fourth National Championship title with the Titans in 1992.
After six seasons with Limoilou, Clément became head coach of the Laval Rouge et Or, where he remains today. Clément has more than 400 career wins and is a three-time U SPORTS Coach of the Year (1994, 2001, 2010). He has led the Rouge et Or to two national championships (1994, 2013).
“Pascal is an organized and dedicated coach who is very demanding of his student-athletes,” said Corriveau. “A photography and video enthusiast, he excels in the art of creating end-of-year highlight videos that focus both on the sport and human side of the game.”
Clément recalls his first CCAA Nationals experience as a head coach at the 1987 CCAA Volleyball Championships in Red Deer, AB. Limoilou drew the host Kings in the semi-finals.
“It was a small gym and it was jam-packed,” said Clément. “The hosts had a powerful team, much taller and more athletic than ours.”
The Titans were in big trouble early as Red Deer took the first set convincingly, 15-0.
“Their hitters jumped really high and we were having all the trouble in the world just touching the ball – let alone blocking,” said Clément. “After the first set, I remember telling the players to be patient, that we had to adjust our block jump and make sure to at least touch the ball.”
After some adjustments, the game turned around for Limoilou, which went on to win the next three sets before defeating Mount Royal College in the CCAA final.
“It was an amazing tournament and my players gave it everything,” said Clément. “It was my first national title, in my first year as head coach.”
As Clément worked toward his degree at Université Laval, his tenure with the Titans in the CCAA served as an invaluable learning experience in the early stages of his coaching career.
The success he experienced at Limoilou opened up development opportunities for Clément, including coaching Quebec at the Canada Games and taking part in internships abroad such as in 1989 when he travelled to China.
“The collegiate sector was a great laboratory for me where I was able to work with talented and dedicated athletes to apply the knowledge that I was learning at University,” said Clément.
“I sincerely believe that without passing through the CCAA, I would probably not have had the success that I did in my coaching career.”
