University of Calgary Women's Volleyball

Gurnsey is the first alumna to be head coach of the Dinos womens volleyball program since Theresa (Sekura) Maxwell, who was at the helm from 1972-79. A native of St. Albert, Alta., Natalie headed south in 2001 to begin a more than 10-year association with the Dinos, including stints as a student-athlete, an assistant coach, and executive director of the Dinos volleyball club nationally recognized as one of the elite volleyball development clubs in Canada. In her five-year varsity career, Natalie was a two-time All-Canadian setter, a three-time Canada West champion, and part of the Dinos 2004 CIS national championship squad. She was the 2002 winner of the Bill Popplewell award as the University of Calgarys female rookie of the year, and she was the starting setter for all five of her seasons with the team. She holds the Canada West single-season record with 842 set assists during the Dinos undefeated 2004-05 season and posted the second-best single season in conference history the following year with 822. A former member of the junior national team, Natalie represented Canada again at the 2005 Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey on the national B team. A two-time Academic All-Canadian, Natalie graduated from the University of Calgary in 2007 with a BA in communications and became the first executive director of the Dinos womens volleyball club. She spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the varsity squad from 2007-08 through 2009-10, a period during which the team earned CIS silver and bronze medals. Her experience also includes head and assistant coaching duties with the provincial team program and the Dinos club. In 2009, she was an assistant with the Alberta team that captured bronze at the Canada Games. Administratively, she co-founded the Best of the West tournament which runs in Calgary each spring and brings together the top 17U and 18U club teams in Western Canada. Not only is the event an important recruiting showcase where CIS coaches and club players can connect, but it serves as a fundraiser to support womens health and wellness initiatives in the communities of all participating teams. Natalie and her husband Josiah were married in July 2013. Andrea Borys (1969-72) Theresa Maxwell (1972-79) Brad Kilb (1979-83, 1984-91) Greg Ryan (1983-84) Marla Taylor (1991-99) Kevin Boyles (1999-2008) Jesse Knight (2008-11) Natalie (Schwartz) Gurnsey (2011-)