"The reason I went to USask, was because when Mark and I sat down during my recruiting trip, he said, 'if your dream is to play on the national team, we'll do everything it takes to get you there'. That was just really important to me. That he saw me for more than just what I could do for the university, but what I wanted in my life, as a whole."

Five years after that conversation with Huskie Women's Volleyball Head Coach Mark Dodds, Averie Allard achieved her dream of playing with Team Canada.

This summer, after four years on the roster she hit another milestone, starting with the Senior National Team as a setter and competing internationally at the 2025 Volleyball Nations League in Texas and Istanbul.

"It's very surreal, finally being on the A-Team. This has been my dream since I was 17 years old."

Raised by a single mother, Allard grew up in Winnipeg, in a small tight-knit family where her grandparents often stepped in to help, driving she and her brother to school and their many sports. 

Money was tight, but Allard says her mom did everything she could, ensuring they were both able to play all the sports they wanted. 

"The older we got the more expensive playing club sports became. She never complained once, and we never heard about not having enough money. She did it all."

Doing it all included going back to school to earn an education degree while raising Allard and her brother, an achievement the family celebrated in 2016.

Just months after her mother's teaching career began, the family received devastating news that Allard's brother Adrian was terminally ill. 

"She started teaching in September and my brother got sick in February. He was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of childhood cancer. It's more treatable in children under 10 and he was 18 at the time. It was not a good prognosis. They pretty much told him they couldn't do anything. Watching her become a primary caregiver and be at the hospital full-time and still somehow manage to make it to my games…. She really did everything. It was such a big accomplishment for her to get her education degree and for something like that to happen right after was just crushing. But she handled it with so much strength and grace."

Allard fondly recalls the pivotal role her late brother played in pushing her to play volleyball.

"My brother was the reason I started playing. I had no interest, but he was really good, which made me really mad," she says laughing. "I was better at skating and soccer, but we were just so competitive. I told my mom I needed to play volleyball."

True to form, her mom made it happen and what began as a sibling rivalry quickly turned into an obsession that took her through years of competitive club volleyball. 
 
In 2017, just eight months after losing her brother, Allard left home for USask, joining the Huskies roster under the leadership of Coach Dodds, someone she says saved her career and, on many days, her life.

"This is probably the most emotional topic for me. I struggled really badly with my mental health after my brother died. He passed away in December 2016 and I moved to Saskatchewan in August 2017," Allard says. "There were so many days I wanted to quit. So many days I thought maybe this isn't for me. I was depressed. I had no motivation to do anything. Never mind volleyball, I didn't even want to get out of bed. I wanted to give up. I don't think if I went to any other school, I would have the volleyball career I have today. Or the life I have today, if it weren't for him."

After a negative experience with one counselor and an 8-10 week waitlist for someone new, Allard says she was living with "an open wound and no one to talk to".

The loss of her brother, and the expectation to perform athletically and academically while being away from her family, was overwhelming.

Coach Dodds recognized this and stepped in to fill the gap, Allard says.

"He said 'you can come to my office very week and we can chat about anything. Life, your brother. Anything you need to talk about – I'm here'. And that's exactly what I did," Allard says. "He treated me as more than an athlete."
 
Allard went on to excel in volleyball and school, and as a Métis student-athlete passionately obtained her bachelor's in education through SUNTEP (Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program), a four-year program emphasizing Métis history, Michif language, and social justice.

"You graduate with an education degree, but you learn everything through an Indigenous and anti-racist lens and I think that's really where I found my stride academically. I really leaned into that part of my life and that part of my identity - figuring out what I was passionate about outside of volleyball." 

Calling SUNTEP "one of the best experiences to come out of me being at USask", Allard says the program empowered her to make a difference.

This desire to make a difference only grew, as she took her passion for Indigenous rights to the volleyball court, where she became known for writing MMIW on her leg at every Huskies game, raising awareness and sparking conversation among athletes and fans about the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

"I was floored at the response I got after one weekend. There was no real conversation happening at that point outside of Indigenous communities. That was, and is still, a struggle. I wish, of course, these conversations didn't need to happen. But now that they're happening, I think change is coming."
 
It's a campaign she's kept up with Team Canada and through her social media.

"I did it for my whole Huskies career. As athletes I think we can always do better at using our platforms to raise awareness in some sort of positive way, whether it's a cause we really care about or even just being real and vulnerable on our platforms."

Allard's passion for education, curriculum and Indigenization, runs as deep as her passion for volleyball and she hopes to one day be back in the classroom.

"It's crazy how different education can be when you see yourself in the curriculum. Having those conversations with teachers who maybe haven't had those same experiences and don't realize how important it is to have that representation in curriculum. When you're growing up, you spend the most time at school, with your educators and peers. You should feel safe and valued in those spaces."

Allard remains connected to education through her role on the Board of Directors at Waniska ("to rise" in Cree), a non-profit that provides educational resources and curriculum to educators looking to incorporate Indigenous teachings into the classroom.

"It's really nice to have that creative outlet and still feel like I'm making a difference."

With Team Canada's season officially wrapped, Allard is now in Europe for the second year in a row, playing pro with Hungary team Békéscsabai Röplabda SE.

Next summer, she hopes to take her Team Canada dreams to a new level, as the bid to qualify for the 2028 Summer Olympics begins.
 
"When you're on the senior team, it's a grind. We go into the gym everyday with the purpose of training to be Olympians. You have to be obsessed."

When looking back on her time with the USask Huskies and all of her achievements since, Allard humbly defers to her support system and in particular Coach Dodds, who she says fundamentally changed the trajectory of her life. 

"He's done so much for me as a person and as an athlete. I can never repay him for all he's done. I could go anywhere, and I know there is one person who always wholeheartedly believes in me. It just means the world to know that there is always going to be one person." 

- Caitrin Hodson