Anema Gets Promoted to Assitant Coach of Liberty Women’s Volleyball

Liberty women’s volleyball Head Coach Trevor Johnson promoted a familiar face to a new position this summer. In their third time working together, Johnson and his new associate head coach Brett Anema hope to keep building on their strong track record together.

Anema, who joined the staff in January 2018, is now the associate head coach for the Flames. Anema has an impressive resume, playing volleyball at Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he was recruited by Johnson.

“I’ve actually known about Brett since high school. He was a very raw athlete and he’ll tell you his high school years weren’t that great,” Johnson said.

While playing at Concordia, Anema earned a first-team all-conference selection during his first season and won the NAIA national championship. Additionally, during his senior season Anema earned AVCA/NAIA All-America honors.

After a three-year career at Concordia University, Anema decided to play professionally in Schuttorf, Germany, where he learned many life lessons.

“Playing in Germany was personally my highest level of competition. I didn’t want to stop playing after college because I felt like I was still peaking at my top level as an athlete, so that was a great experience for me,” Anema said. “But one of the biggest things was my maturity. Being surrounded in a different culture and doing life differently and seeing it through a different lens was a great experience.”

After playing in Germany, Anema moved back to California, where he coached a local high school and a volleyball club. Shortly after, he decided to move to Texas to work as a volunteer coach for the women’s volleyball program at Texas A&M. While coaching at Texas A&M, Anema partnered with Johnson, who was already an assistant coach for the Aggies.

“He knew he was going to have to take a risk and move across the country to be a volunteer coach, it’s not a very glamorous job, but he understood that it was an opportunity to get his foot in the door,” Johnson said. “The initial step of not knowing what was going to happen is tough, but he knew that God had him and that he’ll take care of everything and so far, he has.”

 Once Anema joined the Flames staff in 2018, he served as a middle blockers coach and a recruiting coordinator for the Flames. While acting as the recruiting coordinator, Anema helped to produce two of the top recruiting classes in Flames program history. Under Anema’s oversight, the class of 2020 received the Highest Honorable Mention from PrepVolleyball.com, which ranked the class among the top 60 in the nation.

Anema believes his ability to spot talented athletes comes from working and learning under Johnson over the years.

“Honestly, I’ve been learning under Trevor, he’s worked with some big programs before coming here,” Anema said. “He’s been teaching me the ropes and what we are looking for here at Liberty, while still spotting and identifying some top-level recruits.”

With the confirmation that the women’s volleyball will have a season and start competitions on Jan. 22, Anema is inspired to improve the middle blockers as a unit and help prepare the team’s defensive strategy. 

“Some of the things I already do but can continue to work on is the recruiting piece which is huge, and then game day defensive scheming and slowing down or stopping what we think the other team is going to do, is a big piece of my work as well,” Anema said. 

Emmanuel Adamson is a Sports Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @Eadamson12.