Female Apprentice Coach Program: Janes

The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is proud to announce its 2020-21 participants in the annual Female Apprentice Coach Program (FACP) for the sport of Volleyball:

Douglas Royals, PACWEST

Apprentice: Cambria Janes
Mentor: Jeff Ross

After eight years of volunteering as an assistant coach, former Douglas College student-athlete Cambria Janes is set to continue her volleyball coaching endeavors at the collegiate level.

She is being mentored this season by Douglas Royals head coach Jeff Ross in the CCAA’s FACP.

Janes, a former recipient of the CCAA National Scholar Award, suited up for the Royals in the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) for three seasons before transferring to The University of British Columbia (UBC).

She is appreciative of the opportunity to continue to gain knowledge and grow as an individual once again at Douglas College.

“I had the privilege at Douglas of meeting many committed coaches and players and learned many skills from dedicated athletes,” said Janes.

She completed her education at UBC, through a Douglas College transfer scholarship, and specialized in Food, Nutrition & Health and Kinesiology, where Janes gained an academic background to complement the skills she acquired as a player.

“Many of the skills I learned from volleyball have translated into useful skills both in academics and my career,” said Janes, who is employed at WorkSafeBC. She is also working toward a Project Management Associate Certificate at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Prior to her graduation from UBC in 2014, Janes began volunteering as a coach with the Ducks Volleyball Club, gaining experience at the grassroots level by coaching aspiring and developing female athletes from the U13 to U18 levels.

Now back at Douglas, Janes continues to mentor and develop young athletes.

“Cambria possesses a lot of intangibles for success through her leadership and work ethic,” said Ross. “Her hard work, dedication and loyalty are the cornerstones for her ongoing success.”

This is Ross’ fifth season as Head Coach of the Royals. In the summer of 2019, he was an assistant coach for the Canadian Senior Women’s team and travelled to the Champions Cup in Colorado Springs. He has coached elite youth volleyball in Vancouver for the last 10 years with the Thunder Volleyball Club and has also worked with Team BC Volleyball for a number of years.

“However, more admirable is his authentic sense of obligation to give back to his heritage and culture through the sport of volleyball,” said Brian McLennon, Director of Athletics & Recreation at Douglas college.

In 2019, Ross served as the Manager/Mentor on Team British Columbia’s North American Indigenous Games U19 Women’s Volleyball program. During the summers, Ross also travels to remote indigenous communities in his home province of Saskatchewan, Northern BC and the Yukon, delivering volleyball sport development clinics for youth.

Ross has also previously mentored two other former student-athletes in the CCAA’s FACP.

With all 2020-21 CCAA Championships cancelled, this season is obviously like none other in CCAA history. This year however, coach education and training – which is key to the CCAA’s FACP – is being further supplemented via the FACP Leadership Development Program. This Leadership Program is developed by former CCAA student-athlete and current CCAA Head Coach and Doctoral student Danielle Cyr, who has been facilitating the mentorship process.

In addition to participating in the Leadership Development Program, Janes was heavily involved in the Royals’ inter-squad practices throughout the first semester and provided skill specific feedback to the student-athletes.

The goal was to develop her coaching presence, while fostering coach/student-athlete relationships.

“We are still working on finding Cambria’s voice,” said Ross. “Cambria is getting better at communicating and getting out of her comfort zone and the athletes have requested more input from her so that’s a really good sign of her communication skills and her conversations with the athletes.”