Providence is teaming up with Niverville to host a national volleyball championship in 2025

The Providence Men's Volleyball Team is currently in Victoria for the CCAA National Championship, a tournament they will host alongside the Town of Niverville next year. 

Russell Willms is the Athletic Director for Providence. He notes they are a part of the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference, or MCAC which only became a member of the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association a few years ago. 

As a result, he notes “this is the first time Manitoba has hosted the CCAA National Championship, and so I think this event in general will certainly raise awareness of this conference and the level of sport in this conference.” 

Willms says the CCAA has approximately 100 member schools, so hosting the Men’s National Volleyball Championship is a real honour. 

“The first year that the MCAC participated in the men's volleyball nationals, it was in Quebec City. Last year, it was in Toronto, and this year it's in Victoria and in 2025 it will be in Niverville, and so it's just cool to see 8,000-population-Niverville on the map with those major Canadian centers.” 

The tournament will be held at Niverville’s relatively new Community Resource and Recreation Centre.  

Warren Britton is the Director of Recreation & Wellness for the Town of Niverville. He says this is the first time Niverville has been selected as the host of a national championship. 

“It is fantastic that the CRRC has been selected as the host facility for the 2025 CCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship.” He adds, “Our cutting-edge Fieldhouse is designed to comfortably host events just like this, and we are excited that CCAA has recognized this. It puts Niverville and the CRRC on the map as a viable host for further national championships.” 

Willms agrees, noting it is very exciting but there are also some nerves attached to it.  

“You want to showcase both your school and your conference well. So yeah, I'm going into Victoria to kind of shadow the 2024 tournament, to watch what the chair is doing and take some ideas of what were the strengths of this tournament, what could be improved and then to bring those into our planning.”