Rick Kaufmann

Assistant Coach

With over 30 years of experience in the sport of volleyball, Rick Kaufmann joined the Spartans women’s volleyball program in 2012 as an assistant coach and mentor for the team.

Kaufmann, who has been involved in a coaching capacity with a variety teams from high school to provincial levels over the years, initially got involved in Spartans volleyball when TWU men’s coach Ron Pike brought him on as an assistant coach in 1996. He stayed as an assistant to Pike for eight years.

As a coach, Kaufmann led the D.W. Poppy Secondary men’s volleyball team to a B.C. Provincial “AA” Championship in 1997 and was an assistant coach with the Langara College’s men’s team for two seasons, from 1993-95.

As a player, Kaufmann has played in the BC Winter Games, Western Canada Summer Games and Canada Summer Games. In his university days, he was a setter for UBC, graduating in 1988. Kaufmann also played and player-coached with a variety of club teams, such as BCO, Quicksilver and Overkill.

In 1998, Kaufmann was also the setter for Team Alberta, which represented Canada at the World Masters Games, where it captured the gold medal. Kaufmann went on to set for the Team Canada National Masters program for two more years thereafter.

Professionally, Kaufmann has established himself as a successful business executive and the voice of the value added forest products industry. He travels regularly to Japan, Europe and the United States for business and is one of just a handful of people in the world who are masters in the procurement of high grade architectural veneer and plywood. He is currently the vice president and general manager of Pacific Rim Cabinets Ltd., Board of Director for the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association and slated to be President of the Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association.

For the last 13 years, Kaufmann has granted a scholarship to a member of the TWU men’s volleyball team who best exemplifies the combination of leadership, team play, scholastic discipline and Christ-like character. Players such as Ben Ball, Chaim Schalk, Josh Howatson and Ben Josephson have all received this award.