The developmental Programs run during the Club season, Jan to May and are skill development programs designed to teach and improve the basic skills of Passing, setting, hitting, blocking, digging, serve receive, and serving. The coaches for these programs are:

#7 Rayel Quiring
Rayel has played for The UBC Thunderbirds for the past three years capturing 3 consecutive National Championships. Prior to UBC Rayel was a member of Team BC at the 2009 Canada Summer Games. She played for Team BC before that and was the U18 team captain for two seasons. In club volleyball Rayel led the Fraser Valley Blitz to a gold medal at both the BC Provincial Championships as well as the National Championships in 2007 and was named a National Championship all-star. In High School she led Walnut Grove Secondary team to a second-place showing at the Fraser Valley Championships and was a 2007 BC high school all-star.

#5 Jackie Tait
Jackie currently plays for Trinity Western University coming from Vancouver Island University where she played in 2009 and 2008 taking the National title in 08. Jackie played at Thunder up until her U18 year when she transferred over to the Fraser Valley Blitz grabbing the gold medal at both the BC Provincial Championships as well as the National Championships in 2007. Jackie is also a adamant Beach Volleyball player and in 2009 was the U24 Canadian National Beach Champion at only 18, (Her partner was older).

#1 Amber Brown
Amber is an outside hitter and libero for the TWU Spartans. She attended Prairie Christian Academy, where she named the school’s 2007 Female Athlete of the Year, and was also named the school’s volleyball MVP for both the 2007 and 2006 seasons. In 2007 her Canucks Crew club team won the U17 Alberta Provincials, and went on to finish fifth at Nationals. She was also a member of the Prospects Canadian Team that finished eighth out of 100 teams at Volleyball Festival USA. Amber is also a keen Beach Volleyball player.

Gordon Tait
Gord has been coaching Volleyball for over 12 years and before that was involved in coaching many other sports. Gordon initiated and was the ‘Special Programs’ Coordinator for the Thunder Volleyball Club since its inception. This program has now been designated as the “Thunder Volleyball Academy”. He also is the founder of “Thunder Beach” that is in its fourth year. Gordon is a Level 3 Technical Certified coach for Indoor volleyball and is currently finishing his Level three for Beach volleyball. Gordon has coached all levels in both indoor and beach. He has coached the BC Summer Games Beach Volleyball teams in both zones 4 and 5, since 2006. Gordon started the senior Volleyball program at Vancouver College where he coached the Senior team in 2007 and 2008. During this same time he was also the senior Defensive Coach for Little Flower Academy. He also coaches for Volleyball BC in both indoor and Beach and was nominated for the 2009 CABC Coach of the Year Award in the Recreational/ Grassroots category. Gordon is currently running the only hitting clinic of its kind in Canada with the use of the Solo Spike Machine and the Dartfish Video System, teaching athletes the 9 step technical sequence of the attack, as well as “perfect pass” skills. His coaching specialty is individual skill development and he works with the Thunder Volleyball Club promoting individual skill development with teams as well as players who miss the cut for club volleyball and wish to continue training. Gordon is currently working with the UBC Men’s team as well as the Trinity Western University’s Woman’s team helping with individual skill development using the Dartfish video system. He also offers these programs for outside athletes, high schools teams and other clubs.