It's hard to find someone with more passion for Northland Community & Technical College than Abdul Chamma. The 60-year-old Thief River Falls resident has been a fixture in the community since 1991, and he's worked in various capacities at Northland off and on since then, including 12 years as the college's head volleyball coach and the past six years as its housing coordinator. 

Chamma was recently named the Director of Student Life and Athletics at Northland. He has lofty goals for the college, and his new position puts him in a position to make a difference. Chamma is all-in on making the college's athletic programs the best they can be, but he doesn't want the whole student-life experience reserved for athletes. 

"We want every student to feel the same way," Chamma said. "We want to have more activities on campus with Student Senate and other clubs. We need the students to live and feel the college life. We also want to involve the club advisors to activate their clubs to have more activities within the college."

Chamma would also like to reactivate intramural activities on campus. Intramural volleyball and basketball were offered in the past, and Chamma would like to use the athletes from the collegiate teams to help with organizing and officiating their sports at the intramural level. 

"For example, let's invite students to play volleyball here one night a week," Chamma said. "Have fun, create a team from students that don't play sports, and see what we can do to get them involved in student life."

"Same thing with basketball," Chamma added. "Some kids like to play basketball, but they aren't up to the competition level to be a part of the basketball team. We can create some teams and have some competitions throughout the semester and an awards banquet – make it fun for students to live the student life."

Playing volleyball in the Soviet Union

Chamma grew up in Deir Mimas, Lebanon, a town located 88 km south of Beirut, Lebanon. He graduated from a technical college in Lebanon and was selected to play on the Lebanese national team in 1982. However, the team only played a few games due to the start of the 1982 Lebanon War. 

Chamma accepted a combined academic and athletic scholarship offer to play volleyball at People's Friendship University in Moscow, Soviet Union, in 1983. He attended the University for six years and played competitively for four and a half, noting that most athletes just practice with the team their first two years. 

Chamma accepted the position and moved to Thief River Falls in 1991. Chamma, and his wife Leila, raised two children – Sarah and Youssef – and have made Thief River Falls their home ever since. 

Chamma taught for two years at the college from 1992 through '94, again in the spring of 2000. He also taught Russian as a foreign language in Red Lake Falls as part of a global international studies program in Red Lake Falls in 1991.  

He returned to the college as its head volleyball coach in 2009 and led the Pioneers to a 159-83 record over nine seasons (2009-17), with national tournament teams in 2011 and 2012. Chamma returned to the Northland bench as interim head coach in 2019, going 9-14, and he has served as co-head coach with Courtney Nordby the past two seasons, going 11-11 in 2021 and 15-7 in 2023. Overall, the Pioneers are 194-115 under Chamma's watch. 

The best student-athletes in the region

Chamma will oversee all nine of Northland's current varsity sports under his new role, and he has some big goals for the college's athletic landscape. His primary goal is to grow the college's enrollment through athletics. 

"We want to have more student-athletes and have the best student-athletes in our region," Chamma said. "One of the ways we can do that is by helping each other as coaches and staff to get student-athletes who are students first."

Chamma also wants the college to reaffirm its connections to the local community and for its businesses and residents to see value in supporting Northland's athletic programs. He expects the college's head coaches and assistant coaches to be a part of the community and have more community engagement.

"We need to reassure the community that we have an athletic department capable of competing nationally," Chamma said. "We need support from the community. We are getting lots of support but looking for even more support."

Chamma increased the athletic department's fundraising efforts when he became the men's athletic coordinator in 2021, and that same year, he spearheaded upgrades to the college's baseball and softball fields. New scoreboards were installed in both fields, and the baseball field also saw the construction of a new pressbox and backstop. 

Chamma has even bigger plans to improve the college's athletic facilities, but in the short term, he is focusing on the immediate needs of each team.  "We have some old equipment that needs to be replaced," Chamma said. "That's my first call for the next six months to try to get it moving."

Along with coaching volleyball, Chamma has been employed by the college as its housing coordinator since the fall of 2016. He is excited about his new role.

"I think it's a perfect position. I feel really good about it," Chamma said. "Any activities that they include at the college, whether student life or athletics, will affect student recruitment. It will ensure that the student feels they are living campus life."