Sim Gratton

Paul Gratton was an outstanding international volleyball star and one of the best volleyball players in the world for his era. After retiring from an incredibly successful Canadian national volleyball team career and a lengthy professional volleyball career that revolved around teams in Italy, France and Japan, Paul’s passion for volleyball remained strong. Combining his personal experiences and understanding of the professional volleyball leagues in Europe and Asia, he identified a missing need for quality volleyball athlete representation in North America that focused on athlete needs. Thus SIM Gratton was formed.

Initially, the majority of SIM Gratton’s clients initially were top male and female Canadian national volleyball team stars and this became the centerpiece of the agency. Players from around the world requesting professional volleyball career management made up the rest of the company’s clients.

Later SIM Gratton expanded by adding two new directors in close friends Steve Welch and Keith Sanheim. The company name was adjusted to accurately reflect the new expansion and SIM Gratton & Associates came into effect.

Steve Welch and Keith Sanheim both had successful careers with the University of Manitoba, the Canadian national team and professionally overseas in Europe and Asia. While Steve played professional volleyball in Switzerland, Turkey and Austria – Keith played professionally in Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Switzerland and Greece. Bringing new perspectives and fresh ideas helped build on 20 years of successful professional career management SIM Gratton has had for player representation. The reputation of SIM Gratton & Associates has led to increased player and coach awareness throughout all of the Americas and accordingly, SIM Gratton & Associates has truly become a global agency searching out top players from around the world and working towards our mission:

Providing Quality Athletes with Quality Opportunities

At SIM Gratton & Associates we are a full service sports agency committed to placing our clients in the most beneficial situations possible. SIM Gratton & Associates strives to find its clients positions where they can succeed but yet be challenged, in order to bring out their very best and further their development. We are working to expand and improve our already substantial services to better address our client’s needs, and the teams they sign with. Just as the athletes we represent are always working harder to improve their skills, we are also working harder to improve the service we provide to athletes and teams.

As a global agency our clients come from all around the world. Canada, United States of America, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Croatia, and Scandinavia are a few examples of players we have worked with. We also have had success working in a number of countries. We have had players playing in professional European, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, South American and North American volleyball leagues. These volleyball leagues include Russia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Egypt, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Brazil and Puerto Rico.

Flexibility and partnerships are two words we understand. In many countries around the world we work in a spirit of cooperation with volleyball agents through strategic agreements. It’s also in this spirit that we have managed to effectively work with clubs in countries on a global manner, effectively creating solutions to work with athletes and also provide value to national volleyball federations.

Further examples of cooperation in sport extend into our relationships with Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), Canadian College Athletic Association (CCAA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) schools and respect for all of their guidelines, rules and regulations. SIM Gratton & Associates strongly agrees with and believes in student athletes completing their educational goals before pursuing professional overseas volleyball opportunities.