Longtime St. Mary volleyball coach Rene Quintal to be inducted into Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame

Herald File Photo. Rene Quintal (blue jacket, standing) watches on during the boys city volleyball final in 2023.

Rene Quintal has been a major figure in the Prince Albert volleyball community for more then two decades and he will be enshrined into the PA Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions as a builder.

It is the second straight year that Quintal will be recognized by the Sports Hall of Fame in some form. Last year, Quintal was inducted as part of the 1996 Prince Albert Toppers team that finished with a silver medal at nationals.

Quintal says he never thought he would be inducted as an individual.

“I was shocked just to be recognized amongst some of the other recipients in that hall of fame. I never thought I’d be considered in the same caliber as some of the other people that are in the Sports Hall of Fame.”

Before taking up coaching, Quintal had a successful playing career heading to nationals and winning silver with the Prince Albert Toppers in 1996 and taking home a provincial gold medal with the St. Mary Marauders in 1994.

Quintal says he wasn’t yet done with his playing days when he got the itch to coach.

“I got interested in coaching when I was still a player. It was actually the year when we would qualify for volleyball nationals in 1995. One of the club coaches was actually my high school coach, Dale Regel. I was really intrigued by some of the training we were doing and also with the game planning we were doing on the way to winning the provincial championship and winning the silver medal at nationals. When I was in university, I was able to meet the University of Saskatchewan men’s head coach Brian Galvas. I was able to do a practicum with him for one year and he took me on as a paid assistant my final year at university. Between those two, they kind of got me going with perfect motivation to get involved in coaching once I became a high school teacher.”

Quintal became the head coach of the St. Mary Marauder senior boys volleyball team back in the fall of 2002, shortly after moving back to Prince Albert after spending a year living in Calgary. Since taking over the coaching reins, Quintal has led St. Mary to nine Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association (SHSAA) gold medals in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2023.

Since 2015, Mark Phaneuf has served on the Marauder volleyball coaching staff alongside Quintal. Phaneuf says Quintal has a unique ability as a coach to find what works the best for the team he has in any particular year.

“Rene’s commitment is second to none, to the athletes themselves, to the sport but more importantly to being a better coach all the time. He’s always learning new things and his level of expertise really is unparalleled in the province. His attention to detail and his ability to coach the group of kids that he has is what makes Rene special is he doesn’t have a system or a program he uses. It’s always about who we have this year and how we make that work to get the best experience for these kids and hopefully at the same time have the best result for these kids as well.”

“Rene has the ability to see the athletes for the people that they are. Rene is one of the few coaches that if you come watch a student athlete play in their first year with him, whether it’s high school or club, by the time they graduate, other than setters, they may have played two or three different positions because it best fits that student and the team in that particular year. He builds an adaptability into these athletes and it’s exceptional.”

One other major contribution Quintal has brought to the volleyball community in Prince Albert is the Atomic Volley Program which he founded in 2007. The Atomic program focuses on young players from kindergarten through grade 6 and several alumni of the program have moved onto play high level volleyball.

Quintal has also coached the Prince Albert Volleyball Club to nationals at various age divisions on 13 separate occasions, finishing in the top 10 seven times.

Comparing the sport and club environment to when he played, Quintal says the sport has evolved significantly and that Prince Albert needs to be able to train in order to keep up with bigger markets.

“I think compared to when I was playing, the club volleyball scene is a lot more popular (with) about four times more teams in each age category. When I was in high school, we were one of the only centers running a club. We were definitely at more of an advantage compared to other centres. Now, the sport has very much developed throughout this province. I find we have to be a little bit more diligent in our training to keep up with the other centres just from a competitive standpoint.”

According to Phaneuf, part of the reason that Quintal has remained a successful coach over the past two decades has been his willingness to adapt and implement new techniques into his coaching.

“Although he has a top level expertise as a high school coach in not just Saskatchewan, but Canada, he’s continuing to always better himself by learning more. The training methods that we’ve employed over the last few years are quite different from the training methods that Rene would have employed eight, nine, 10 years ago. He’s always seeking out new information. The game has changed and Rene has tried not to hold onto the past. He’s always embraced what the game is today and what the game is becoming tomorrow.”

Phaneuf added that he was thrilled when he heard the news that Quintal will be inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame.

“If I had to describe Rene in very few words, he’s a man that acts with integrity. He’s caring, knowledgeable and he’s just so selfless. He just gives to the sport itself. He’s a builder from the little guys, the small children in the Atomic program to the youth program with the Smashing Bananas club program to the high school kids.”

More than 36 players that Quintal has coached in the past have gone on to play at the university or college level. The 33rd Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet is scheduled for Saturday, May 3 at the Ches Leach Lounge beginning at 7 p.m.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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