Sanford named to post with prestigious sporting organization

Posted: March 28, 2013 9:15 a.m.

Cougars women's volleyball head coach Melanie Sanford (right of number 13) has been appointed to a position with the International University Sport Federation. She will remain head coach of the Cougars. Photo: U of R Photography

University of Regina women’s volleyball head coach Melanie Sanford has been appointed assistant technical chair for women and men’s indoor volleyball by the International University Sport Federation (FISU). The FISU is the second largest multi-sport event next to the Olympic Games.

“I am very excited to have this opportunity to work at this level with FISU,” says Sanford. “I have several connections to FISU not only as part of the technical area but I have competed in these Games as a national team player and I have coached in this event as well. So I have experienced all sides of it. Being a part of the FISU community is special and I love the international experience.”

This is Sanford’s eleventh year as head coach of the women’s Cougars volleyball team.  She holds Cougars records for most conference (88) and playoff (6) wins as a coach. She guided the Cougars to a fifth-place finish at the 2010 CIS Championship, the program's third appearance at a national tournament.

Her role with FISU will be to assist with technical aspects of the men and women’s indoor events. The women's event is a 16-team tournament and the men's event is a 24-team tournament.

Sanford was a five-year member of the University of Saskatchewan's volleyball team that won three CIAU championships. She was a three-time CIAU first-team All-Canadian, a three-time Canada West first-team all-star, and a two-time conference second-team all-star. Sanford was also a member of both the junior and senior national teams.

She is a member of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, and the University of Saskatchewan Wall of Fame. She began her CIS head coaching career at Concordia in Montreal, where she coached from 1988 to 1999. She was an assistant at the University of Alberta from 2001 to 2002 before accepting the head coaching position at the University of Regina.

Despite all her accomplishments Sanford still draws a lot of satisfaction from coaching at the collegiate level. “The best thing about coaching is working with student-athletes and seeing them grow, develop and mature,” she says. “Having the opportunity to coach within the university environment is very important and special to me.”