STELLARTON, N.S. – Having coached volleyball for the better part of 45 years, Keith Melanson is finally slowing down a bit at age 73.
“I’m going to miss coaching the kids,” he said at his Stellarton home, which he shares with Beverly, his wife of 50 years. He coached the NRHS Nighthawks’ team last season, which he expects will be his final coaching gig.
“I’m not saying I wouldn’t throw a bunch of kids together and coach them, but I can’t see me doing all that travelling.”
A graduate of Stellarton High School (class of ’63), Melanson coached hockey, high school rugby, track, and even basketball early in his coaching career. He began coaching volleyball at East Pictou Rural High School, where he wound up teaching for 31 years. Melanson is a member of the Pictou County Sports Hall of Fame, as is the boys’ team from the mid-1970s, which went undefeated for three straight seasons.
“He’s somebody that hasn’t received the recognition provincially,” said Jeff Green, who has known Melanson for decades and has, in the past, lobbied the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame to consider Melanson for induction.
Green said what’s particularly impressive about Melanson is the coaching record he accumulated over a long period of time.
“He’s got a pretty impressive track record and had a lot of success at pretty high levels.”
Among his numerous accomplishments: Melanson has coached nine players who made Canada Games squads, 12 who went on to play university volleyball, and with the old Fox Volleyball Club (based out of Sutherlands River), his teams won more than 20 provincial, Maritime and Atlantic championships. That’s just a partial list.
“It all comes down to being a teacher,” he said. “I tell other coaches – be a teacher first. When the kids have solid fundamentals, then you have a solid team.”
Melanson claims he wouldn’t have achieved all that he has without the athletes he worked with over the years; he has taken teams to tournaments in every Canadian province – with the exception of Saskatchewan – and has studied and conducted clinics in Moscow, Belgium and other far-flung places.
“The success of the kids put me in Russia, Sweden, England and all over Canada as a coach. If not for their dedication and hard work, you don’t get there.”
