The fact that Dan Jansen vanDoorn is representing Canada at a major international tournament and then embarking on a professional volleyball career could come as a surprise considering where he was just a few years ago.
“Dan was slow, unmotivated and out of shape,” said Ben Josephson, who coached Jansen vanDoorn for five years with the Trinity Western Spartans volleyball team.
“His first two years, he never really bought into some of the training. He was getting better and working hard in practice, but away from the court, he wasn’t doing all the things that it takes to be great.”
Jansen vanDoorn came to the realization he needed to make a change.
“I knew that I was capable of a lot more if I really put in the work,” he said. “And I wanted to see how far that would go.
“I was just so sick of underachieving and sitting on the bench. I was looking at another year of being third on the depth chart (and) I decided that wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
So Jansen vanDoorn spent the summer hitting the gym every day after work. It soon became a habit and eventually a lifestyle.
By the time he showed up for fall camp for his third year at TWU, Jansen vanDoorn had dropped 20 pounds.
“All his hard work, he changed his diet, his sleeping habits, it paid off in a beautiful athletic body and then he just continued to blossom as a volleyball player,” Josephson said.
“He put himself in a position where we had to play him.”
Jansen vanDoorn, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound middle blocker, took on a bigger role with the team that season and helped the Spartans win the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national title. They also won the championship his fourth year and came sixth at nationals in 2013. His eligibility is now done and Jansen vanDoorn graduated this spring with a degree in business administration.
It was after the 2011 season that he thought playing for Canada was a possibility.
He has been training in Gatineau, Que. with the national team program since May, something he also did last year.
And on June 27, Jansen vanDoorn made the final cut for Canada’s entry at the 2013 Summer Universiade (World University Games) in Kazan, Russia. The team is scheduled to leave Sunday (June 30) for the Games, which run July 6 to 17.
Over the past two months, 49 players battled for a spot on the 12-player roster. Jansen vanDoorn is one of four former or current Spartans on the roster, alongside Marc Howatson, Steven Marshall and Lucas Van Berkel.
Jansen vanDoorn is relieved to have made the final cut, calling it the “ultimate goal.”
The next goal is to help Canada find the podium.
Chasing this dream has not been without consequence either, especially being away from his home.
“My family is going through some really fun times right now,” Jansen vanDoorn said, talking about his brother and his wife and their new baby daughter.
There was also the wedding of his sister, Kara, and his roommate, Regan Davis. Jansen vanDoorn was the best man, but because of his Team Canada commitments, he flew home for the wedding and was gone 24 hours later.
Following the Games in Russia, he will return to Langley for a few weeks.
“I am going to take every minute and try to make the most of it,” Jansen vanDoorn said.
He will then leave at the start of August to embark on a professional career with Tourcoing Lille Métrople of France’s Pro B league.
The team was relegated down from the Pro A league and Jansen vanDoorn said they are motivated to get back to the top division.
He will know one player on the roster, Chris Hoag, a fellow Team Canada player.
And Jansen vanDoorn will also have some family a few hours away, as his sister, Dayna, lives in Germany, where her husband, Jake Doerksen plays professional basketball.
Jansen vanDoorn can’t always believe just how far the game has taken him, especially considering what stage his game was at back in high school.
“I was an awful volleyball player before Grade 12, I think,” he laughed.
“I grew really fast and was pretty unco-ordinated.
“I think I played alright, but looking back now, I was pretty tragic.”
It was encouragement from a pair of his high school coaches, Jesse Zuidhof and Joel Jansen, at Langley Christian that first encouraged him to stick with it.
“They told me I had a ton of potential,” Jansen vanDoorn said.
“I don’t know if I completely believed them.”
But with his older sisters in the national team program — Dayna with indoor and Kara with beach — he figured maybe he could do it too.
“I figured it was in the blood a little bit,” he said.
Josephson is confident his former player will succeed.
“Sometimes it takes a young player a few years to figure out what it takes to be a pro and a national team type player,” Josephson said. “Once he got it, the sky was the limit and still is for him.”
“He has the work ethic and drive (and) his physical tools are unbelievable,” he added.
