A pillar of Arkas in fulfilling the company’s vision “Everything Starts with Dreaming”; Glenn Hoag, the coach of Arkas Spor Volleyball Team since 2010, is willing and able: “Arkas has given me the chance to fulfil my dreams” We talked about the last decade and his future plans.
Turkey League Champion twice, Turkey Cup Champion once, and the Second Rank in Europe GM Capital Challenge Cup once… The first male Turkish team to have made it to the finals in CEV Europe Champions League in 2012… Olympics experience with the National Team of Canada… Plus, the mission of training young talents for A team… Lots of success in 10 years…
Canadian Glenn Hoag has been the coach of Arkas Sports Club since 2010.
Expressing that the mutual trust that has been built over years is what matters most, the experienced coach Hoag summarizes the value of Arkas Spor for himself as follows: “Using our energy for the development of children, young and adult athletes, and supporting their advancement.”
How did you end up at Arkas Spor?
It was four final period in the European Champions League in Poland. I was the coach of Slovenian Ach Bled Team. One day, Bahadir Osman, Board Member of Arkas Spor, approached me. That was the first step for Arkas Spor. He told me that they weren’t just offering a coach position for Arkas Spor Club A Team, but also they wanted me to train the young, and that they dreamed of the success they’d achieve. Lucien Arkas is a person who dreams, and goes on to pursue those dreams. Arkas Spor has contributed a lot to İzmir. My dream is to make both the National Team of Canada and the young that we train for Arkas Spor, champions. And both have let me fulfil my dream.
This is your 10th year in Arkas Spor. What is your drive for spending such a long time here?
I believe that the most important drive is the structure you work in and people you work together. Loving your job and working in a team where you can use your creativity and add value are very important. We have such an environment at Arkas Spor. All these factors went for the better over years, so I wanted to stay. I love training athletes very much. We train athletes here and development of these athletes is very well. We have also trained many athletes that play in good clubs in Turkey apart from our A team.
What are the advantages of such a long-term relationship?
I think establishment of a mutual trust is what matters most. Working together, presenting projects and developing them once they are approved. We have developed projects in Arkas Spor and made physical changes in the club. Arkas Spor already had a strong reputation in volleyball in Europe but we wanted to perform projects that would make a name for Arkas Spor worldwide. For instance, we prepared the documents necessary for athlete development in long term, and made a research on jumping volume of players with the Institute of Qatar. Such changes have allowed us to do a more efficient training with the athletes.
What does Arkas Spor mean to you?
Arkas Spor is a constitution which enables the children and young get engaged in sports, supports the young people in becoming better Turkish citizens and must also be supported by sports lovers. We also train successful players for the National Team in Arkas Spor. The players we have trained before played in the national team and we will keep working on that.
How far advanced do you foresee Arkas Spor in the middle term?
I think Arkas Spor is one of the best clubs that has the structure necessary to raise athletes for the future. We must always develop and keep our vision of following the changes closely and training athletes.
What was the best moment you have experienced here?
Success is temporary and so are the titles; but seeing the development of athletes and contributing in such development is what makes me happy as a coach.
You are pretty much a resident of Izmir now. Will you live in Izmir after retirement?
I don’t know about the future but Izmir is a great city; I really love Izmir. The people are amazing, we really enjoy living here and have got familiar with the culture. We, of course, love our own country Canada, too. But İzmir has been our home for all these years. We have friends here. I really love my colleagues and the institution I work for. We are very happy here. And our son married to a Turkish girl. So there are a lot of reasons for us to stay here. We will see that in time…
When the National Team of Canada was qualified for the Olympics, you were a part of the team. Once as a player, and then as the coach. You got a call from them two years after you left the Canadian team, and you got behind the wheel again. What contributed in that decision?
The coach of Canadian National Team, Stéphane Antiga, who is a former player of mine, was not able to go on with the team due to some health problems. Therefore they wanted me to go back to the team as a coach but there were just nine months until the qualifying tournament for Olympics at the time. It was going to be quite difficult to change the coach at that stage. I assessed the situation with Canadian Volleyball Federation and returned to the national team. After all, all the players I had worked with for many years and the organization would stay the same. I returned back and continued to lead the team upon mutual agreement.
Having played in the Canadian National Team as a volleyball player in 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Hoag also got the honour of taking part in 2016 Rio Olympics with the Canadian National Team led by him. Canadian National Team achieved the success of taking part in the Olympics 24 years later under the leadership of Hoag who was serving as a coach this time, not as a player. Having served as the Coach of Canada Men’s National Volleyball Team for 11 years between 2006 and 2016, Hoag had left the Canadian National Team after the Rio Olympics. Experienced trainer was invited back to his duty in Canadian National Team in 2019, and Canada got the chance to take part in Tokyo Olympics in 2020 under the leadership of Hoag.
Hoag continues to train athletes for Arkas Spor and the Turkish National Team in his 10th year.