Blain Cranston, the former starting setter for the University of Calgary Dinos men's volleyball team and once professional athlete in Germany and Hungary, has now hung up his volleyball shoes and returned to Calgary to pursue his other passions. 

After a few years of playing at Grand Prairie Regional College, Cranston got in touch with head coach Rod Durrant about transferring to UCalgary to play at a more competitive level, as well as continue to pursue his academic program, which other schools could not offer him.

“If it wasn't for his (coach Durrant’s) blunt honesty that it would take a year as a red-shirt and lots of hard work, I probably would not have ever made it,” said Cranston after being asked how his time here pushed him to pursue professional volleyball. “It was always a childhood dream of mine to play professional volleyball, but the biggest influence was the platform here (the Dino’s men’s volleyball program).”

“The impact of the people here before me, friends and former teammates becoming professional athletes, the great support system from the coaching staff, and being a part of such an amazing team in a respected league was ultimately what pushed me to pursue a pro contract.” 

When asked to elaborate on his time as a professional athlete, Cranston talked about the ability to fulfil a lot of dreams he had when he was young.

“To be a part of one of the best teams in the well-respected Germany league for my first contract, to win as much as we did, to travel to so many new and cool places, and to meet and build so many new relationships with the amazing people there…I truly lived out my childhood dream.” 

He also mentioned that there are “the bad” moments that come with being a professional athlete. 

“Although it is such a different level and experience of sport, among all the good days, there are so many more of the hard days. As a professional, you live and breathe volleyball and so a simple thing like having a bad practice in the morning will affect your entire rest of the day training as the pressure to perform is just that much more intense.” 

Another hardship that Cranston had to endure during his professional experience was the fact that it was all going on during the peak of COVID-19. The pandemic had an impact on both of his seasons, causing them to end earlier than expected. The first season came to an end due to a lockdown and the second was due to his health and having to spend eight weeks in isolation.

Playing professional volleyball opened a whole new world that was filled with amazing life-changing experiences. Without a doubt, he misses lacing up and stepping onto the court, but he had to make a tough decision to retire from professional volleyball. 

“I felt that I left at a good time before it felt like a job,” Cranston said when asked about his decision to step away from the professional atmosphere, and that moving back home “gives me the opportunity to progress in different parts of his life.” This allowed Cranston to open more doors for the rest of his future as he knew he was not going to play volleyball forever, move closer to his partner, and go back to school and continue his education, which he knew would be best for him in the long run. 

When Cranston first returned to Calgary after finishing up his pro career in Hungary in May of 2021, he immediately came back to the University of Calgary to continue his education. After already completing his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and exercise science, he returned to complete a one-year Master of Management with the Haskayne School of Business. Now, one and a half years later, he has landed himself a full-time job at ZS2 Technologies where he is already excelling as a project manager. 

Cranston found himself yearning to be back in the Jack Simpson Gym, and soon became an assistant coach of the Dinos men’s volleyball team. When asked if it was easy to come back and help out, he didn’t miss a beat. 

“I always wanted to come back, even when I was playing pro. The request to come back, continue my education, and get back in the gym all at the same time was a no-brainer decision for me.” His love for the sport and the atmosphere that the Dinos program provides just could not keep him away. “Coaching is what lets me hang on to my love for the sport.”

As Cranston reflected on his years as a Dino, he said it was easily some of the best experiences in his life. “The atmosphere at U of C, the opportunity to compete at such a high level, and the relationships that I got to build during my time here was unmatched. It just becomes such a huge part of your life. As such a late bloomer, I was almost unrecognizable from start to finish and all that growth can be dedicated to the Dinos program for creating an atmosphere that was always pushing me to reach my full potential.”

When asked to reflect on how being a Dinos student-athlete has set him up for his success in the non-sports world, he explained that “Being an athlete here has taught me so many life skills. From how to lead, being a good teammate, the ability to have trust in himself to pursue what he wants, and it brought out my authentic self.”