(from the CCAA Office)
Ed Welch, who led the St. Thomas Tommies to seven appearances at Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships, will be inducted into the CCAA Hall of Fame in the Coach Category.
Welch guided the Women’s Volleyball team at St. Thomas University (STU) to seven Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) titles from 2001-08. He was named CCAA Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2005 and earned ACAA Coach of the Year honours on four straight occasions (2004-07).
“My time coaching in the CCAA capped off a coaching career that spanned 40 years and took me to every province in Canada and across Europe,” said Welch. “It was the perfect way to end my volleyball coaching career.”
Welch was at the helm of the Tommies program from 1999 to 2013. His squads were crowned ACAA champions six consecutive years from 2001 to 2006 and again in 2008. During his championship dynasty, STU posted more than 100 consecutive regular-season victories in the ACAA.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the competition and comradery that the ACAA and CCAA volleyball community had to offer,” he said. “It was second to none.”
One experience that always stuck with Welch was attending his first CCAA Championship in Grande Prairie, AB.
“It was the first ACAA win for St. Thomas University and first trip to the CCAA Nationals,” said Welch. “It took many hours of hard work on and off the court to win the banner after fighting through a grueling five-set match to get to Grande Prairie.”
Welch’s fondest memories are the beginning of each year, when his student-athletes gathered for the first time and his team held its initial meeting of the season.
“I always told them that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and this was our first step as a team and that our greatest moments will come from the hard work of many,” said Welch.
Prior to his success in the ACAA, Welch earned 13 New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association (NBIAA) Championship titles during a lengthy coaching stretch at Oromocto High School. He also coached the Sunbury Blues, a Men’s Senior Club in New Brunswick, and coached in three Canada Games.
“Over his career in coaching, Ed has given more than 30,000 hours of his time to help young men and women not only become better volleyball players, but better people,” said Stephen Horsman, a St. Thomas University alumnus who was coached by Welch. “His calm demeanor has always been his secret to keeping his players calm during tight matches and for the most part, it worked.”
Welch was inducted to the Oromocto Sports Wall of Fame in 2001 and in 2013, his Tommies teams from 2000-07 were inducted into the St. Thomas University Wall of Fame.
“Ed is an amazing person,” said Michael Eagles, Director of Athletics at STU. “And he was an incredible coach.”
Welch is synonymous with Tommies Women’s Volleyball and is revered around the ACAA to this day.
“As a former player that he coached, and now a great friend, I have taken what he has taught me and brought it to my own coaching style, and way of life,” said Horsman. “You would get no better person to be in the CCAA Hall of Fame than Mr. Ed Welch.”
The 2022 CCAA Hall of Fame Banquet will take place on Tuesday, June 14 in Halifax, NS.