TRU WolfPack alum Riley Brinnen prepares to receive a set from a teammate while practicing with Team Canada's sitting volleyball team/via TRU WolfPack
Just over a year-and-a-half after a fatal car crash left Riley Brinnen with life-altering injuries, the former member of the TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball team is back on the court and competing at the highest level.
“It’s pretty incredible, just thinking back to after the accident to where I am now,” said Brinnen, who played four seasons with the ‘Pack and was an assistant coach with the team this past year. “I feel really good about myself, I did struggle a lot with confidence throughout this process, so this feels almost like a rebirth moment.”
“It’s sort of like I’m shedding my old skin and moving into this one,” added Brinnen.
Brinnen has earned a spot on the Canadian men’s sitting volleyball team and is now preparing for an upcoming international level tournament in the Netherlands.
“Having my last name on a national team jersey is incredible and pretty emotional, to be able to throw that jersey on in the Netherlands will be a pretty big moment,” said Brinnen.
Riley Brinnen sitting courtside as an assistant coach as WolfPack played the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. (Photo via TRU WolfPack)
Brinnen’s road to making the sitting volleyball team started back in September when WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly brought up the possibility while the two were coaching together.
“I was in this lost state, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to compete,” said Brinnen. “I liked being around the guys on the TRU men’s volleyball team, but I was watching them compete and I was really just craving that opportunity myself.”
Despite having no experience with sitting volleyball, Brinnen was invited by the head coach of team Canada to a tryout and training camp in Calgary in late April.
“I just got thrown right into the deep end, some things transfer over but there are some rules and movements that are different,” noted Brinnen. “It’s all about figuring out how my body works and what movements work best for me.”
After receiving an invitation to join the squad on a permanent basis, Brinnen says the decision was easy.
“It was a really interesting process and as a kid your dream is always to represent your country through playing a sport, so I knew that as soon as the head coach offered me a spot on the team that I was in 100 per cent,” said Brinnen.
Riley Brinnen and Rick Hansen at the GF Strong Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver. (Photo via GoFundMe)
While Brinnen and his teammates will head to the Netherlands for a tournament in early July, the product of Kelowna is already setting his sights on the World Championships next summer in Hangzhou, China and the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
Brinnen was one of three TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball team members who were in the same vehicle which was slammed into at high speed while they were parked at a stop light just outside the University’s gates in November, 2023, leaving Brinnen with paralysis.
The crash killed Brinnen’s teammate Owyn McInnes, while leaving fellow WolfPack player Owen Waterhouse with life-altering injuries as well.
–Courtesy TRU Wolfpack, with files from Paul James
