Lindsey Habib: Set to Serve Wolves Volleyball

“This is the dream – waking up each day thinking about building a team.”

For Lindsey Habib, becoming head coach of men’s volleyball at Northwestern Polytechnic is the culmination of years of work and experience. “I always knew I’d be a coach,” he explains. “This is exactly what I want to do.”

Lindsey’s path to the Wolfpack can be traced back to his time as a student athlete in Winnipeg. “I played different sports in high school, but I had the best coaching in volleyball,” Lindsey says. It wasn’t long before he stepped back from playing and invested his time in helping those coaches instead. 

“I liked coaching better than playing,” he recalls. “The strategic and tactical side of the game suits my brain.”

Lindsey’s first goal with players is always to get to know them and build trust. “You have to build a foundation for your relationship,” he notes. Now in his second season with NWP’s Men’s Wolves Volleyball, Lindsey is focused on growing cohesion and motivation. His goal? “Building a team where everyone is working in the same direction – seeing and wanting the same thing.”

It’s not just about building skills. “It comes down to being able to execute under extreme pressure,” Lindsay says. He aims to help the team build neural pathways that enable them to persevere through adversity. “That’s done by putting the athletes under healthy stress during practice; this builds resilience.”

Lindsey’s coaching also focuses on tactics and analytics, helping the team become more efficient. It changes decision-making,” he says. “By understanding when to be aggressive, it changes how you score the point.” The team uses video feedback and mental training sessions to build decision-making skills along with on-court abilities. 

“I’m feeling a lot of momentum,” Lindsey says, his voice carrying a quiet optimism. He’s focused on elevating Wolves volleyball by building a strong culture, setting clear expectations, and fostering consistent work habits.

“The end goal is to walk into any gym against any opponent, knowing we have a chance to win,” he says firmly.

During the Wolves’ off-season, coach Habib doesn’t leave the court; in fact, he just completed a four-year commitment coaching Team Manitoba in the Canada Summer Games. “It was a great experience,” he says. The team brought home silver after facing Alberta in the final. Other aces in his volleyball resume include time courtside with the University of Winnipeg and other Manitoba secondary, post-secondary and club teams – along with a 2024 Volleyball Manitoba Elite Coach of the Year award. 

If you didn’t think Lindsey was busy enough, he is also a student, working towards a Master of High-Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership with the University of British Columbia. The program combines coaching skills and applied practice with interpreting and using research -- a good fit for someone whose life has mostly been about team building.

When Lindsey relocated to Grande Prairie in early 2024, he was pleased to discover the city’s strong volleyball community. “There are lots of resources and support,” he comments. He’s also enjoyed strong support from alumni, who’ve introduced him to the city and made him feel welcome.

When asked about leisure time, Lindsey admits that even his hobbies centre on coaching. He’s a dedicated member of a fantasy football dynasty league, where he drafts and builds a team over a multi-year period. “It’s 100% related to coaching,” he laughs. 

“I’ve always been open to wherever volleyball would take me,” Lindsey reflects. Today, the sport has brought him to the courts of NWP, where he’s focused on building a team with the mental and physical skills to dig in, compete and lead every scoreboard.