Voth
A 26-year-old receiver Christopher Voth is back to playing volleyball after staying without a club since August. The fact that he did not have a professional contract for three months is not so uncommon in volleyball but the reason why it was so was totally uncommon.
Voth parted ways with Dutch Lycurgus Groningen this summer in persue for new challenges in career and was weighing offers. His agent found him new club but it suddenly pulled its contract offer because of players’ sexual orientation – Voth was rejected because he was gay.
He ended up at the national men’s volleyball team’s Full-time Training Centre (FTC) in Gatineau, Québec, in early September so he could train daily at an elite level with other Canadian NT players also searching for professional contracts. Then, an offer from the Finnish top division team Lakkapää Rovaniemi came and he accepted it. He already started to practice with his new team, waiting for debut.
„I have been working hard at the FTC and am ready to prove myself in another country and a better league. The group at the FTC was awesome, really supportive and fun to play alongside. There were, for sure, some days that I felt I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. So when I finally heard from this team, and they sent an offer almost immediately, it was quite exciting,“ Voth said for „Winnipeg Free Press“.
As for his sexual orientation, University of Manitoba graduate Voth had come out in 2014, becoming first openly gay national athlete from Canada.
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