Graham Vigrass

Biography

Graham Vigrass began his career in a Canadian uniform at the 2008 NORCECA Junior Continental Championship, winning the silver medal, before competing at the 2009 FIVB World Junior Championship. He joined the senior national B team in 2009-10 before becoming a fulltime national team member in 2012-13. It was in 2012 that he competed in his first FIVB World League, going on to be part of Canada’s fifth-place finish in 2013 and bronze medal in 2017 when he was named the World League’s Best Middle Blocker. The podium was the first ever for the Canadian men in an international FIVB event.  

After helping Canada to a best-ever seventh place finish at the 2014 FIVB World Championship, Vigrass was part of Canada’s seventh-place finish at the 2015 World Cup. That year he also helped Canada win bronze at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto where he was the team’s best blocker. He was part of Canada’s gold medal at the 2015 NORCECA Continental Championship. In his Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Vigrass was part of Canada’s fifth-place finish, the best Olympic result for the men’s volleyball team since Los Angeles 1984.  

In 2018 he joined Canada for the newly formed FIVB Nations League as they finished seventh. He was also a member of the ninth-place team at the FIVB World Championship. Another top-10 performance followed at the 2019 FIVB Nations League. In January 2020 he helped Canada go undefeated at the NORCECA Continental Qualifier as they earned their ticket to Tokyo 2020. Canada finished eighth at those Games after making it to the quarterfinals.  

Vigrass played collegiately at the University of Calgary, leading the Dinos to their first CIS title in 17 years and winning CIS Championship MVP honours in 2010. The following season, he was named the CIS men’s volleyball player of the year. 

Vigrass turned pro in 2013 and has played in France, Tunisia, Germany, Poland, and Turkey. He won the 2015 Tunisian Cup with Étoile Sportive du Sahel and finished third at the African Club Championship. With Berlin Volley he won back-to-back German Bundesliga titles in 2017 and 2018, reaching the Champions League final four during the former year. In 2021 he won the Turkish Super Cup and finished second in the league with Fenerbahçe.

A Little More About Graham

Getting into the Sport: Started playing volleyball at age 13…  Outside Interests: Supports KidSport Calgary… Odds and Ends: Uncle Don Saxton was on Canada’s volleyball team at Los Angeles 1984… Cousin Ben Saxton represented Canada in beach volleyball at Rio 2016…