What Black History Month means to Momentum Volleyball

Being Black in volleyball in Canada isn’t the norm. This is true in most roles – as a player, coach, administrator or as a professional, and yet Momentum Volleyball’s leadership is just that. Michael Amoroso and Parrish Offer are former players, coaches, administrators, and professionals in sport. They are also both Black. 

Born in Toronto, ON and raised in the eastern suburb of Scarborough, Amoroso played competitive soccer up until 16 years old, when he was discovered in a high school game by legendary Scarborough volleyball coach Mark Ainsworth. His Scarborough Falcons club was a powerhouse at their age category and had also featured many black and minority athletes.

“It wasn’t until we began playing tournaments across the country that I realized club volleyball teams looked very different when you left Scarborough!” Michael laughs adding, “this was before the rise of the Pakmen club in Mississauga, and at a time when most of us had only heard stories of 9 man being played on concrete with six blockers in the front row. There just was not a lot of diversity that we could see at any level in Canada.” 

His first live introduction to Black volleyball players at the collegiate level came watching Parrish’s McMaster team battling in the OUA finals and in the CIS (USPORTS) National Championships. “Parrish was always on the floor for McMaster, and I remember thinking it was pretty cool that he was such an impact player” remembers Amoroso. “Alberta had an amazing player named Alexandre Gaumont-Casias at the time as well, but Parrish’s teams were the ones I could follow and watch the most being in Ontario.”  

Offer was born in Oshawa, ON, but calls his hometown Kingston ON. This is where his passion for the sport started and grew while attending Regiopolis Notre Dame CHS. In a city with only 10% visible minorities (Stats Can, 2016), multiculturalism isn’t exactly the norm.

“My highschool team was likely my most multicultural team I played on – before playing with the Jamaican National team of course,” Offer jokes. “It’s not like race didn’t matter growing up. We understood that it existed and that our families were often very different. Sports are often a series of problems that a team works together to achieve – the more people with different backgrounds – the more ways you can look to solve them. I think that’s one of the things that made us successful.” 

 After highschool,  Offer attended McMaster University. Offer also remembers playing against Amoroso. The rivalry between Queen’s and McMaster volleyball has been long. “I remember going home to Kingston to play and seeing my mom talking to his dad. They were both proud when their sons were on the floor!” 

At the time, Offer was only a handful of BIPOC athletes in the league. Not much has changed, according to the Are We One?: IDEAS Research Lab The Ontario University Athletics Anti-Racism Report as 17% of athletes in OUA volleyball currently identify as racialized. In sport, administrators are starting to look at racism in Canada. McMaster recently released a report that McMaster athletics has a culture of systemic anti-Black racism. 

“It was important for me to call Dave [Preston] to let him know that as part of his program, I did not feel any racism.” 

Offer was in his final year at McMaster when Amoroso arrived at Queen’s, and the two teams met in the OUA Final for a rematch of the previous year’s final. “The year before, I was watching Parrish’s team lose to Queen’s as a 17 year-old club player. The next year, I was on the same court trying to help break up their perfect season!”. Offer’s team prevailed that year to break up a Queen’s three-peat, and to date, McMaster & Queen’s have won every OUA Men’s Volleyball Championship since the York Lions took it home in 2005.  

Offer also played for Team Jamaica after playing professional in Denmark. “My most proud moment in representing Jamaica at the World Championships came when my grandma, who still lives on the island, called me to say how proud she was to see me on TV representing the country.” 

Amoroso went on to represent Canada with the Junior National Team, and after graduating from Queen’s University with a few OUA championships of his own, he played professionally in Sweden, Greece, and Germany.

“One of the biggest driving forces in my volleyball career, especially since retiring and working to build the sport back in Canada, has been the desire to provide young Black athletes with a role model in volleyball that looks like them,” said Amoroso. “Several Black players have since told me that they watched me play the same way I looked to guys like Parrish and Alex Gaumont-Casias, and now being able to impact more athletes as a coach & administrator, I want to be able to set that positive example too.” 

Offer understands the importance of being first at something. His uncle Larry McLarty was the first black police officer in Toronto in 1960. Last year he was featured in a campaign by the TTC. “I don’t think I understood the magnitude of what my uncle did until after he died. I’m so proud now.” 

With his current role at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, Offer is currently working on a project with researchers from the University of Toronto to create training of sport facility on anti-racism. “I hope that it can be something that can be shared across the country, and help many facilities opening up doors and access to all”.

Amoroso was elected to the Ontario Volleyball Association’s Board of Directors in 2018 and was re-elected for his second 2-year term in 2020. One of the projects the OVA has recently taken on is the OVA’s Review on Systemic Racism, lead by the Inclusion & Diversity Committee that Amoroso co-chairs. “We are very fortunate to have co-chair Kerish Maharaj’s expertise in leading this project,” says Amoroso. “The first step to removing barriers is identifying barriers, and we are very optimistic about what this review can do for volleyball in Ontario.” 

While Momentum Volleyball is still in its infancy, Offer has been proud to provide a home to help showcase the diversity that is emerging in volleyball including a story he authored about Indocan Volleyball.

“We will continue to explore stories that show the diversity of the sport that we love. Even with just the two for us, representation means a lot.”