There was a time, just a couple of months back, that her older sister Lindsay told Brittney Page the nomination process for the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame had started.
And her sister insisted Page could be a possibility for induction.
Sisters always seem to know, right?
Page is, indeed, one of four people that will be inducted into the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame Saturday, Nov. 8, in Burnaby.
“I saw they (Volleyball BC) were selling tickets for the induction about a month ago and I thought, ‘Oh well, I didn’t make it.’ I was none the wiser,” laughed Page, 41, from her home office in Kelowna where she lives and works as an account executive for Moneris.
“I got an email last Friday from Volleyball BC, saying I was being inducted, and now I’m ordering dresses, figuring out logistics. It’s always more fun when it’s a surprise.”
Born in Kelowna, where she spent time as a toddler before moving to Prince George, Page arrived in Vernon with her sister and family in her elementary school years. She didn’t pick up volleyball until playing club volleyball in Grade 7, the year before she headed to Seaton Secondary for five years.
Older sister Lindsay helped pave the way.
“Everyone in my family is super tall and my sister could touch the (basketball) rim when she was 14 or 15,” said Page. “I followed in her footsteps, starting with the great club program Vernon has. Then Seaton, which is a such a great volleyball school. I had great coaches like Stacy Stein, Jason Mahortoff, and Doug Kozak, who built such a strong boys program there.”
After high school, Page moved to Cheney, Wash., to attend Eastern Washington University, same school Lindsay attended and played volleyball for. Page was a redshirt freshman (did not play), then spent the next four seasons playing for the Eagles before turning pro, something, like a Hall of Fame induction, that sat in the back of her mind.
“My first pro contract was in Spain, and back at that time, I didn’t know there was really a professional path for women,” said Page. “An agent said to me, ‘if you want to play we’ll find you a team,’ and they did, in southern Spain.
“This was every college player’s dream – do you want to go overseas, play volleyball and get paid to do it? Absolutely. It was so great at that stage of my life.”
Page pursued professional volleyball, churning out a career that spanned nine countries – including being the first Canadian woman to play in China’s top league – and led to a tryout with Team Canada’s senior women’s team. She represented her country, with distinction, from 2009 to 2016, spending the last four years as Canadian team captain.
“You know, it’s just such a joy representing Canada at any level,” she said. “Being captain was very humbling. It was a responsibility I took very seriously.
“We had such a great group of women, great group of leaders. We worked together. Sometimes, you had to put on the captain hat and be that leader. Other times, people would step up and take care of you at the same time. Being captain was a great role to have.”
While she never reached the ultimate international goal, participating at the Olympics, Page competed in more than 100 international matches for her country at two World Championships, two Pan American Games, and multiple NORCECA (North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation) events.
She still plays today.
Page, single, leaves her French bulldog Cookie at her home in Kelowna’s Mission area, and makes the drive east to participate in the East Kelowna Hall League, a loop that’s been around since the 1990s, featuring former college and club players taking part in a building the size of a volleyball court.
“If the ball hits the wall, it’s out. There’s no jump serving to save on the knees and the body,” said Page, still the competitor. “I love it.”
Asked if there was one game, or one memory, that stood out in her Hall of Fame career, Page thought for a moment.
“I think it was the collective journey,” she said. “Looking back on it…it’s crazy. When you’re playing, you’re wondering, ‘What’s next?’ You want to attain the next chapter or the next step.
“Then there’s the girls I met along the way, and you think of the coaches that helped get you to where you wanted to go. That’s a cool feeling.”
Joining Page in the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame will be her friend and fellow Kelowna resident Frederic Winters.
A longtime member and captain of Team Canada, Winters represented his country from 2003 to 2016, helping lead the national team to numerous international successes, including a fifth-place finish at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Originally from Victoria, Winters began his athletic journey at Claremont Secondary School, where he excelled across multiple sports, including volleyball, leading the Spartans to multiple provincial medals. Winters went on to star at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Cal., where he was a two-time AVCA All-American and recorded more than 1,500 career kills.
Two other stalwarts named to the hall are coach Dianne Murray, and player Al Kostiuk.
Over nearly two decades, his professional career took him across the world—with top clubs in France, Austria, Korea, Russia, China, Brazil, and Portugal—where he earned championships and a reputation as one of Canada’s most respected volleyball professionals.
Murray is a pioneer of women’s volleyball in British Columbia whose impact spans generations as an athlete, coach, and builder.
After an outstanding playing career that included four B.C. High School Championships with Vancouver’s Britannia Secondary, four national titles with the Vancouver Calonas/Chimos, and international competition with Team Canada, Murray transitioned seamlessly into coaching.
She was head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s team from 1975 to 1978, helping the T-Birds to back-to-back CIAU National Championships, and a historic 1978 Canadian Open title – the first ever by a university program. Murray continued to coach young athletes at Vancouver’s Eric Hamber Secondary. She will be inducted in 2026.
​Kostiuk will be inducted posthumously, having died in 2015 at age 60. His volleyball career began in Flin Flon, Man., but took flight after moving to B.C. where he earned a spot on the 1975 Team B.C. Canada Games team, a squad that won gold without dropping a set. Kostiuk scored the gold medal game’s final point. That victory earned Kostiuk and Team B.C. induction into the Volleyball BC Hall of Fame in 2020.
He played for the University of Victoria before joining Canada’s men’s team, where he represented the country at major international competitions including the 1977 World Cup, the 1978 World Championships, and the 1979 Pan American Games, where Canada captured bronze.
Following his retirement from the National Team, Kostiuk became a successful entrepreneur and a passionate builder of the sport. Remembered for his charisma, generosity, and unwavering leadership, Alan Kostiuk’s impact on BC volleyball continues to be felt both on and off the court.
The induction ceremony will be held at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, in Burnaby.