Graham Vigrass

Graham Vigrass
Graham Vigrass
Personal information
Full name	Graham Saxton Vigrass
Nationality	Canadian
Born	17 June 1989 (age 34); Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)
College / University	University of Calgary
Volleyball information
Position	Middle blocker
Career
2007–2012; 2013–2014; 2014–2015; 2015–2016; 2016–2018; 2018–2019; 2019–2020; 2020–2021; 2021–2022; 2022-	Calgary Dinos; Arago de Sète; Étoile Sportive du Sahel; Arkas İzmir; Berlin Recycling Volleys; Onico Warsaw; Jastrzębski Węgiel; Fenerbahçe İstanbul; Halkbank Ankara; Club Volei Guaguas
National team
2012–2022	Canada
Honours
Men’s volleyball
Representing Canada
FIVB World League
Pan American Games

Graham Saxton Vigrass (born 17 June 1989) is a Canadian professional volleyball player. He was a member of the Canadian men's national volleyball team, a participant at two Olympic Games (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), and a bronze medallist at the 2017 World League.^[1]

Personal life[edit]

Vigrass was born in Calgary, Alberta to parents Richard and Sandy Vigrass. His uncle, Don Saxton, played on the Canadian men's national volleyball team at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, and his cousin, Ben Saxton, played beach volleyball at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Vigrass started playing volleyball at the age of 13, and played in Calgary for the Canuck Volleyball Club and Western Canada High School during his high school years.

Vigrass played U Sports men's volleyball with the University of Calgary Dinos for five seasons from 2007 to 2012. His time there was highlighted by leading the team to win the 2010 CIS Men's Volleyball Championship where he was also named the CIS Championship MVP.^[2] During the following season, as defending champions, the Dinos finished with a bronze medal in the 2011 CIS championship and Vigrass was named the CIS Men's volleyball player of the year and the Canada West representative at the Canadian University Athletes of the Year Awards for the top male university athlete in Canada.^[3]^[4]

Vigrass spent the 2012-13 season at the Team Canada National Excellence Program (NEP), formerly the Full Time Training Center (FTC), at the Centre Sportif in Gatineau, Canada, before signing in 2013 with Arago de Sète in Sete, France. He helped Étoile Sportive du Sahel win the Tunisian Volleyball Cup in 2015, before joining up with national team coach Glenn Hoag at Arkas Spor for the 2015-16 season, where they won bronze in the championship of the Turkish Men's Volleyball League. In 2016, Vigrass joined Berlin Recycling Volleys, teaming up with national teammate Steven Marshall to win gold in the championship of the Deutsche Volleyball-Bundesliga, and again in 2017/2018, and 4th at the championship of the CEV Champions League.^[5] In 2018, he joined team Projekt Warsaw and joined national teammate Sharone Vernon-Evans and former national team coach Stephane Antiga, where they won silver in the championship of the Polish PlusLiga. In 2019, he joined Jastrzębski Węgiel. In 2020, he, and national teammate Nicholas Hoag, helped Fenerbahçe_SK become Turkish Men's Volleyball Super Cup champions. In 2021, Vigrass joined Halkbank Ankara and won silver in the CEV Challenge Cup.

Vigrass first joined the national team program in 2008 as a member of Canada men's junior national volleyball team. He helped the team win silver at the 2008 Men's Junior NORCECA Volleyball Championship, and qualify for the 2009 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship. Vigrass joined the senior national "B" team in 2010, helping them reach 4th at the 2011 Summer Universiade, before becoming a senior national team member in 2012. His success over ten years with the senior team resulted in the achievement of 4 team records and the tying of two previous team records. He was a member of the squad that finished tied for 7th place at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, and helped the team win gold at the NORCECA Championship, his first two team records, and bronze at the 2015 Pan American Games, tying a previous team record. He was also on the team that finished in 7th place at the 2015 Men's World Cup, tying another team record. His next team record was as a member of the squad that won bronze at the 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League. He also helped the national team finish tied for 5th at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and finish eighth at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. This set a team record by qualifying for consecutive Summer Olympics. ^[6] ^[7] Vigrass retired from the national team in 2022.

2010 Canadian University Men's Volleyball Championship – MVP
2010/2011 Canadian University Men's Volleyball – Player of the Year
2010/2011 Canadian University Male Athlete of the Year Awards - Western Canada Representative
2017 FIVB World League – Best Middle Blocker

^ Hossain, Asif (22 July 2016). "Canada's men's volleyball team ready for Rio after long Olympic absence". Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
^ "Graham Vigrass". Olympic.ca. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
^ "Dinos player nominated for top university athlete award". Calgary Herald. 20 April 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
^ "Of the Year" (PDF). U Sports. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
^ "Unser Team". Berlin Recycling Volleys. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
^ "Graham Vigrass". Olympic.ca. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
^ Awad, Brandi (30 June 2021). "Team Canada's men's volleyball squad set for Tokyo 2020". Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

Awards
Preceded by Maurício Souza Srećko Lisinac	Best Middle Blocker of FIVB World League 2017 ex aequo Kévin Le Roux	Succeeded by Replaced by FIVB Nations League