Frank Enns
Builder (2004)
Volleyball
Frank Enns has coached volleyball for all ages and enjoyed outstanding success with University of Saskatchewan Huskie seniors and juniors, with three Saskatoon teams which won Canadian juvenile women's championships, and on six assignments with Team Canada in international competition.
Frank was born in Portage La Prairie and was drawn to sports action at an early age. He played hockey for the Oakville Chieftains, who were silver medallists in the Manitoba midget playoffs in 1967-68. He played fast pitch with a Winnipeg team, the Terry Balkan Yu Betchas, who won the Manitoba championship in 1976.
Frank came to Saskatoon in 1982, serving as coach of both the University of Saskatchewan men's team and as a coach with the Saskatchewan Volleyball Association. The Huskies had a remarkable run during the 1985 season, winning the Canada West championship, and then qualifying for the national finals where they finished second against the Manitoba Bisons and took silver medals. Brian Gavlas, current Huskie coach, was the setter for the Saskatchewan team.
He was also coach of the junior Huskies where they won gold in 1984, going undefeated at the Canadian junior men's nationals, never losing a match or a set, a feat, which has never been duplicated by any other team. He was coach of Team Saskatchewan twice at the Canada Summer Games, in 1985 at Saint John New Brunswick, where his team won the gold medal, going 6-0 in matches and 18-0 in games, another feat which has never been equalled. He was at the helm again in 1989, when the tournament was held in Saskatoon, and Saskatchewan took the silver medal.
He has coached at all age levels, from the peewees under 12, to the juniors and this team, the Saskatoon Volleyball Club, were the provincial under-18 champions and Canadian champions in 1993.
Frank built a team of girls through bantam and midget ranks and then, by 1998, they were strong enough to win the Canadian juvenile women's championship. Some of the Saskatoon girls also qualified for the 1998 Canadian junior women's team where they were bronze medallists at the North America, Central America and Caribbean zone playoffs, losing only to United States and Mexico.
There was another measure of success with the RCVC teams, including this one in 2001, when they won the Canadian juvenile women's championship and then many of the girls were on the same team, which repeated in 2002.
Frank has also coached Team Canada men's teams at World University and world junior tournaments, spent a year as a coach with Dueren in Germany in 1999-2000, and is now a mentor with East Washington Eagles in Cheney, Washington.