The Camosun College Chargers women’s volleyball team will usher in a new coach courtside this coming semester. Scott Freeburn will be succeeding Brent Hall as head coach during the 2025-26 season as Hall moves into an assistant coach position with the women’s volleyball team at the University of the Fraser Valley.
For 15 years, Freeburn has worked with a range of young athletes as an educator at Claremont Secondary and in local volleyball clubs. Still, he says he looks forward to being challenged by this new role.
“I’m so excited. It’s going to be a big learning curve. I’ve got a lot to catch up on. But I’m really thankful for the coaching staff,” he says. “Everything has been built up, and I’m really excited to get an opportunity to rise to that challenge. It’s going to push me a lot, I think, as a learner. I’m pretty excited about that… I never thought, when I was a little kid, that I would be in a position where I got to run a program like this.”
Freeburn hopes to bring an encouraging morale to the team with his coaching style. He says his attitude and background allow him to support athletes new to Camosun.
“I think typically I’m pretty positive. I’m pretty happy-go-lucky. I like things to be high energy and enthusiastic and engaging,” he says. “It’s not a necessity of the job, but it doesn’t hurt at all that I have an experience in education because I have a lot of experience managing young athletes, and I see the transition in how hard it is from high school. So I think I have a good perspective on that transition period, especially for newer athletes in the program. I haven’t had the opportunity to work with the 22 and older age group yet, so this will be that first experience for me, but I think, hopefully, I can make that transition for high-school athletes into their first and second year a little bit easier.”
Freeburn says this opportunity will allow him to broaden his work with the community. He says that this step is significant toward his personal and professional goals.
“I mean, for me, this is a really exciting next step in my personal development as a coach and as a community leader,” he says. “I have done a ton of work at the school level and built my own community and program at Claremont that I’m really proud of with the help of just an outstanding community out here. And so this is the next big challenge for me, is to continue that at a larger scale, not just at a post-secondary level, but expanding that whole little community to the entire lower island, really embracing that community that’s here.”
Chargers women’s volleyball outside Erica Bolink says that the team is eager to familiarize themselves with Freeburn this season. She says the change brings with it several different emotions.
“I think everyone’s feeling a little bit of a mix of curiosity and excitement. Like, any time there’s a new coach, it always brings some unknown, and that can always be a bit nerve-wracking, where there’s a big change like this,” she says. “But I’d say we’re pretty hopeful. People are ready to show up, work hard, and get to know this new coaching style. And personally, I’m really looking forward to seeing how he can push and challenge us in new ways.”
Bolink says while it is difficult to lose former coach Hall, she and the team are proud of the next steps he is taking.
“I think it always comes as a little bit hard. It’s definitely hard to lose a coach, especially,” says Bolink. “We’ve been with him for a couple of years and Brent did so much for his program, but he’s moved on to [University of the Fraser Valley], which is really good for him, and we’re all super excited to see his career excel and see him go further. I think he’s going to do amazing things there.”
Freeburn says his intention with the women’s volleyball team is to maintain the foundation that has been formed. He says that he’s inspired to be a part of a developed program.
“My vision long-term for the program is to continue the tradition of success and excellence that has already been established,” says Freeburn. “It’s been a very good program for a long time. It’s such an important feature for volleyball in Vancouver Island. I want to continue to live up to that legacy and add my flavour to it here and there where it works. Luckily for me, it’s not a program that needs to be built, again, from the ground up; it’s very well established with a history of success, and I just want to continue to be successful.”