When it is all said and done, Janelle Rozema might be the most prolific coach in UFV history. She’s already the school’s best volleyball coach in program history. Her 61-23 head coaching record decides that on its own. But she’s also the program’s pioneer. Rozema guided the Cascades through their transition from PacWest to U SPORTS in 2021, and is now the league’s reigning coach of the year. Rozema’s emergence as one of the top coaches in Canada has been defined by her work ethic, which all stems back to one place.
There’s no specific formula to farming (which I seem to be writing about a lot lately). All that seems to be guaranteed is that it takes absolutely everyone to chip in to keep a farm afloat. Rozema grew up the middle child in a family of six kids, meaning there was a lot of teamwork being divvyed up amongst them. She was a natural athlete, as were her older siblings, and her foundation built upon drive, competitiveness, and work ethic easily translated into sports.
“When I was playing college volleyball, there were some drills that were really hard, where you feel your legs burning and your chest is burning because you’re breathing so hard, and I’d think back and be like, nothing is as hard as picking rocks,” said 2024-25 Canada West coach of the year, Rozema.
There’s no character-building task that feels quite as tedious, or like it never really makes a difference anyway, than picking rocks.
“Sometimes you just have to do things, even though you aren’t loving doing it,” Rozema explained. “I think that really translated into some of the competitive spirit, and the resiliency I had as an athlete. It’s really easy to play the game; that part’s fun. But doing the other stuff that’s not as enjoyable, but just making sure it [gets] done even though you’re not enjoying it. I think that kind of came from my farming upbringing.”
Rozema was a multisport athlete playing both basketball and volleyball as well as participating on the track team. She called herself an angry basketball player, while she had more emotional control in volleyball, making it more a natural fit for her personality. Rozema had a lot of interest from recruiters to play basketball, but a smaller pool of options to play volleyball. She landed at Briercrest College and Seminary as a walk-on, evolving into an influential and skilled player, who was also named captain in just her second year.
“I do remember my college coach telling me, you’ve got a coach’s brain, I think you should be a coach one day.”
She didn’t have to wait long to get her feet wet in the coaching industry, either, taking over the head coaching gig at Columbia Bible College one year after graduating as a player. After that, she transitioned into an assistant coaching role with the prestigious University of Alberta volleyball program to learn from the winningest coach in program history, Laurie Eisler.
There were extremely high expectations for Alberta volleyball at the time, and even though the team won six medals at nationals during Rozema’s tenure, the outcome was below their standard.
“If you really look at those medals, we had five silvers and one bronze, so we never actually won gold. But then when people look back at it, like at UFV I have still yet to even qualify for nationals, let alone medal. So I think we should be proud of those medals, but it’s really hard to feel it when it’s not gold, and I wish I had that perspective back then to celebrate those silvers a little bit more than we did.”
Getting UFV to nationals is certainly a goal for the entire program, let alone Rozema, but another goal for herself individually was to coach at the international level. Last summer while she coached the Next Gen Senior B team with Volleyball Canada was the first time Rozema got to wear a maple leaf logo in another country and hear the national anthem, a special moment for the Sherwood Park native.
Despite a record breaking season last year, UFV is always a school in “prove it” mode. Some might call them underdogs, but not Janelle Rozema.
“The type of athletes that I have been able to work with for the last five years have all shared the vision that I have, that we don’t really jive with the underdog vibe. I think we want to be top dog. We don’t make excuses. We take everything as an opportunity, and we try to use the resources we have. I believe, and my athletes believe, that everything we need to win a championship exists here at UFV.”
