Canadian teams will travel to Italy to resume competition in Volleyball Nations League
Competition set to begin May 25 for women, May 28 for men
The Canadian senior men's indoor volleyball team is set for a trip to Rimini, Italy, to compete in the 2021 Volleyball Nations League season that is set to begin May 28.
The women's competition will begin May 25, with Canada's squad having previously been announced by Volleyball Canada.
The league is sticking to its format of 12 core teams and four challenger teams per gender after two successful seasons in 2018 and 2019. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Men's and women's VNL matches will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca. Check the CBC Sports broadcast schedule for further information.
The men's core teams will be Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Serbia and United States. They will be joined by challenger teams from Australia, Bulgaria and Canada.
Slovenia, the winner of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup, and the Netherlands, will be replacing Portugal and China in the competition.
The Canadian team will feature a mix of 2016 Olympic team members (TJ Sanders, Gord Perrin, Steve Marshall, Nick Hoag, Jay Blankenau, Dan Jansen Van Doorn, Graham Vigrass and Blair Bann), in addition to those who have competed in the Olympic qualifiers, while also welcoming some fresh new faces to the squad.
The men's team has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics based on its early 2020 win of the NORCECA zone tournament. The Olympic roster is set to be released at a later date.
Canadian roster
TJ Sanders (London, Ont.)
Gordon Perrin (Creston, B.C.)
Steven Marshall (Abbotsford, B.C.)
Nicholas Hoag (Sherbrooke, Que.)
Jordan Pereira (St. Catharines, Ont.)
Stephen Maar (Aurora, Ont.)
Jay Blankenau (Sherwood Park, Alta.)
Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.)
Daniel Jansen Van Doorn (Langley, B.C.)
Lucas Van Berkel (Edmonton)
Sharone Vernon-Evans (Scarborough, Ont.)
Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.)
Graham Vigrass (Calgary)
Blair Bann (Edmonton)
Arthur Szwarc (Toronto)
Brett Walsh (Calgary)
Danny Demyanenko (Toronto)
Head Coach: Glenn Hoag
Assistant Coaches: Daniel Lewis, Gino Brousseau
