A familiar face to the York University Lions men's volleyball program will be taking over the reigns as the program's interim head coach for the 2022-23 season, Athletics & Recreation announced Thursday.
 
David Ta, an assistant coach with the team since 2017, is taking over from Nathan Groenveld, who has transitioned to an administrative role in Athletics & Recreation.
 
"We are thrilled to select David for this role," said Duke Dickson, Interim Executive Director of Athletics & Recreation. "His depth of experience, familiarity with the program and knowledgeable presence allows him to transition into the interim head coaching role seamlessly."
 
"David's character, integrity and commitment to volleyball has shone through in his years as an assistant coach with the men's volleyball program," said Groenveld. "The fact that he has been involved in every aspect of our program in his years as an assistant coach makes him the perfect candidate to continue the development of our program into one of the best in the nation."
 
Ta, who holds a degree in business administration from the University of Guelph, brings a combined 20-plus years of experience in playing and coaching the sport of volleyball to athletes of all ages and abilities. As a NCCP-trained performance coach, he was recently selected as the lead coach for Team Ontario Black in the summer of 2021, leading a group of five assistant coaches and coaching a group of the top U17 and U18 male volleyball players in the province in a development bubble.
 
He also worked with the Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) in their high-performance regional program and previously, he was an assistant coach for the Region 5 Ontario Summer Games boys' team.
 
Ta is currently the technical director of REACH Volleyball Club where he successfully led his U17 team to a second-place finish in the province for their inaugural season in 2014.
 
Ta begins his role with the Lions in early August. A full, national search for a permanent head coach will take place in the future.