Volleyball Canada is sending 12 players who won a bronze medal at the FIVB World League in early July to the prestigious Jerzy Wagner Tournament in Poland from August 11th-13th. The tournament has been held every year since 2003 in memory of the legendary polish coach Hubert Jerzy Wagner who led the team to the 1974 World Championship, the 1976 Olympic gold medal, and the 1975 and 1983 European Championships.
ANnually, Poland invites 3 other teams to play in its tournament – most commonly from Europe, though in almost every year there’s been one non-European team.
Last year was one of the rare exceptions, where in Krakow, Bulgaria won the tournament, followed by Serbia, Poland, and Belgium. Poland has won the tournament 6 times – more than any other country.
Teams play in a single round-robin tournament, and a standard wins-points-sets ratio-points ratio formula is used to determine the winner.
This will be the 2nd time Canada participates in the tournament. The event will be one of the most high profile in memory, as it features the World League gold medalists France, the World League bronze medalists Canad, 5th-place finishers Russia, and the World League’s 8th-place finishers Poland.
Canada’s roster includes 12 of the 14 players on the bench for Canada’s historic 3-1 win over the United States in the bronze medal match. One of the exceptions is rather notable – Gordon Perrin, who led Canada with 13 points in that match, won’t play Also absent is Stephen Maar. There are plenty of powerful returnees though – Sharone Vernon-Evans, who might be the most exciting male teenage hitter in the world, and middle blocker Graham Vigrass will both be in Poland. The two new faces will be opposite Bradley Gunter and backup libero Bryan Duquette.
The event will be televised on Polish TV on polsatsrpot.pl.
Match Schedule:
All times list in Krakow Time, GMT +1. Toronto time, subtract 6 hours. France time is the same. Moscow time, add 2 hours.
| Date | Time | Home | Visitors |
| 8/11/2017 | 17:30 | Canada | Russia |
| 8/11/2017 | 20:30 | Poland | France |
| 8/12/2017 | 15:00 | Poland | Canada |
| 8/12/2017 | 18:00 | France | Russia |
| 8/13/2017 | 15:00 | Canada | France |
| 8/13/2017 | 18:00 | Poland | Russia |
Canadian Roster
1 – TJ Sanders, London, ON (setter)
3 – Steve Marshall, Abbotsford, BC (outside hitter)
4 – Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC (outside hitter)
9 – Jason DeRocco, Winnipeg, MB (outside hitter)
10 – Sharone Vernon-Evans, Scarborough, ON (opposite)
11 – Daniel Jansen Vandoorn, Langley, BC (middle blocker)
12 – Lucas Van Berkel, Edmonton, AB (middle blocker)
13 – Ryley Barnes, St. Paul, AB (outside hitter)
15 – Bryan Duquette, St. Thomas, ON (libero)
17 – Graham Vigrass, Calgary, AB (middle blocker)
18 – Bradley Gunter, Comox, BC (opposite)
19 – Blair Bann, Edmonton, AB (libero)
20 – Arthur Szwarc, Toronto, ON (middle blocker)
21 – Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB (setter)
Head coach: Stephane Antiga
Assistant coaches: Dan Lewis, Georges Laplante
Therapist: Melissa Healy
Statistician: Lionel Bonnaure
Team manager: Julien Boucher
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