Ottawa Fusion coach makes his mark in the volleyball world

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From Nigeria to France to the United States and now Canada, Sam Ojie has traveled the world and seen first hand how countries embrace their leading sporting passions.

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In Africa and Europe, it was soccer. In the US, it was football. In Canada, of course, it’s hockey.

Somewhere in all that, though, he hopes there’s room for volleyball — particularly women’s volleyball — to grab a small piece of the spotlight.

“Of course, the first thing I noticed is this is a hockey country,” says Ojie, who has taken an intriguing, roundabout, globe-trotting route to his position as a volunteer coach for the surprising Ottawa Fusion’s Under-18 women’s squad.

“I love hockey. As soon as I could see the puck, everything made sense. But the bottom line here is we’re trying to grow grassroots volleyball in the city.”

Ojie, fresh from leading the U-18 team to an upset victory at a tournament in Toronto in late February — guaranteeing a spot into the provincial Premier League championships in May — is part of that draw given his background in the sport.

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“That’s a little story of success in our season and Sam’s journey from Africa to Europe to the States to Canada has been so interesting,” says Fusion president Shaun Illingworth. “He has been an absolute blessing, the kindest person you’ll ever meet, with a soft voice but a huge passion for the sport.”

Ojie, 53, was born in Nigeria and played for the national team. From there, I have played on a series of professional club teams, winning championships in the Ivory Coast, France and England.

That success was great, but he longed to complete his schooling. When the opportunity opened up to serve as both a mature full-time student and coach at New Orleans’ Tulane University, he jumped at the chance to switch gears.

He completed his degree in media arts and applied business in three and a half years.

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“One day, I would be in classes with freshmen and the next day I would fly to California to recruit players,” Ojie says, with a hearty laugh.

The NCAA Division I coaching path took him from Tulane to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Georgia Bulldogs and the LSU Tigers. Naturally, along the way, he got a feel for football fever in the south.

It’s also where he met his future wife, Leslie Robertson, who was playing volleyball at the University of Southern Mississippi.

After 15 years of coaching in the NCAA, Ojie moved to Ottawa to start a new life with Robertson.

“It was best to move here, where she could be close to her family,” says Ojie. “I’ve been here since 2014. I started from scratch. I know what I can do and that’s coach. I’ve been a volunteer coach for the Fusion for the past 6-7 years.”

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As for the day job, Ojie runs Master Volleyball Training. As a former pro in Europe and long-time NCAA coach, he has the expertise to offer up private lessons and clinics to players of all ages who want to enhance their skills beyond their club or school practices.

Illingworth says the model is similar to former pro hockey players who run hockey camps and skill sessions, while also volunteering their time to coach junior or minor hockey when they’re not conducting clinics.

He acknowledges that it’s unusual for a relatively small club to have someone with so much experience around.

“The Board of Directors are all volunteers, either parents or people doing it for the fun of the sport and it’s all a non-profit, cash in, cash out,” said Illingworth.

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“I asked him how we could make it work. He wanted to start a business and coach a couple of teams and we are doing what we can to promote his company from him.”

In terms of the club success, the under-18 women’s team has climbed the long ladder from being effectively nowhere in the provincial rankings to now being part of the top nine that will compete for the Ontario title.

The further the team goes, the more the players receive attention from interested universities and colleges.

Meanwhile, the Fusion’s men’s under-18 team has also advanced to the provincial final tournament.

“It’s all about hard work with this group,” says Ojie. “They’ve thrived in extreme adversity. For six weeks after Christmas, there was nothing going on (due to COVID-19) and they competed against all the big teams in the province.

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“This team that nobody thought much of is now making some music, with lots of hard work.”

He’s especially proud of their resilience in rallying from behind to win the final match of the last tournament.

“They destroyed us (in the first set),” he says. “But when people get punched, they’ve got to throw back. We played defense and defense wins championships. We found a way to grind it out to the end.”

As for why he has spent much of his career coaching women and girls, Ojie jokes that it’s “target marketing”, going where the need is greatest.

“It’s what works best for me,” he says. “I have five sisters. I just understand how to coach girls.”

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