Allan moved to the greater San Diego area from Ottawa, Canada in the summer of 2004. He had been out of volleyball for 10 seasons due to family commitments until four years ago when he joined COAST. He says that he was in the right place at the right time to be hired as the JV coach at La Costa Canyon High School in late July of 2016. The school’s gym was under repair during the first two weeks of tryouts and training in August, so the school used the COAST gym. This is where he witnessed the club’s philosophy towards excellence, the great facility, some of the coaches in action and he wished to add to that.
In Ottawa, Allan started the first girls’ volleyball club in 1977. In the first two seasons the club was the Provincial (State) Champions and National Finalists’ both years in the Junior (18u) and Juvenile (16u) categories. In the second season, Allan took the 18u team to the Open National Championship and finished 2nd.
Beginning in 1982 as a second occupation (in those days volleyball was a stipend position), Allan coached and trained the University of Ottawa Women’s team for 10 seasons, finishing out of the medals only once in the latter nine years in the Provincial Championships. The team was nationally Top 10 ranked in seven of those years.
Allan was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to coach five players that ultimately ended up on Canada’s Junior and/or Senior National Teams. He is also the former Program Coordinator for the Canadian Volleyball Association, which included working with all of the National Teams, and he was the Women’s National Team Coordinator for three years.
Allan was the first fully certified Level III Coach in Canada in any sport and authored three articles and co-authored two coaching manuals. Allan loves to learn, and in fact, is still learning each and every day.
Allan implements a mental training program with the teams that he coaches, teaching them how to breathe, compete, be in the moment, let go of the last play, and be mentally tough. He has been known to give the girls homework in-between practices to improve their overall game.
In 2018, while coaching 15-2, Allan’s team ended up in 8th place in Division 1 and they qualified for the National Division of the Junior National Championships where they tied for 5th. During the 2019 season he worked with 14 – 2, who took the bronze medal in Patriot Division of the GJNC.  He is most proud of all of the girls’ continuous improvement and how his teams played their best and improved during the National Championships.
