PROfiles Victoria Altomare

The Jason Senechal Memorial Award is presented to the Youth Beach Athlete that best demonstrates the qualities of honour, fair play, and sportsmanship. What makes this award even more special is it is voted on by your peers of the beach tour. Athletes such as Lance Reynolds, Eric Kuld, Sam Schachter and Katie Jenkins have all won this award. The 2009 recipient Victoria Altomare demonstrated all of these qualities and more. Vee’s outgoing personality and passion for the sport make her stand out as a quality role model for every young athlete on the tour.
Aside from her outgoing personality Victoria’s results also make her stand out from the crowd. In 2009 she was a member of the Women’s Provincial Team, Youth Open Provincial Gold Medalist, 18U Nationals Gold Medalist, and represented Canada at U19 FIVB World Championships.
OVA: What do you like most about Beach Volleyball?
Vee: I can’t say enough about this game. I love everything about it! However I think when it comes down to it, it’s amazing because it is only you and one other person on the court. You have to trust heavily in your skills, have an in incredible mental game, and must learn to work through everything…there are no substitutions!
OVA: Why did you start playing Beach?
Vee: I started playing beach volleyball because I wanted something to help my indoor game during the months I had off. Also, a good tan was an incentive.
OVA: What are the advantages to indoor athletes who play beach volleyball?
Vee: Beach volleyball allows you to work on all your skills. Actually you have to work on all your skills. For the person that never sets on the indoor game, they must develop that skill on the beach. You learn to develop court sense, meaning a better understanding of the overall game. You begin to read play’s better and make better decisions. After a couple months of jumping in the sand, your jump improves, and the game is less strenuous on your body.
OVA: How did the Youth Open division help prepare you for playing in the OUA?
Vee: I began to familiarize myself with older players, and therefore they weren’t strangers to me when I stepped onto the indoor court. It also assured me that if we were competing with girls in their fourth and fifth years of university, then the transition to the OUA wouldn’t be as overwhelming as I had originally thought.
After one year of playing in the OUA Vee has decided to move back to Toronto and train full time as a Beach Athlete with the National Team Training Centre.
OVA: Where do you see Beach in Canada going in the next 5 years?
Vee: In the last year , Beach in Canada has just taken huge steps in terms of developing our athletes. We now have a National Beach Volleyball Practice Centre in Toronto, that trains athletes all year round, as well as development programs for our younger athletes. This sport is only going to grow, and now with young athletes deciding to train full year round for this sport… we can only hope for spots on the podium in the future.
OVA: What message would you give to any young beach athlete wanting to play for the National Team?
Vee: Just keep working hard. The last two years I have learned that it isn’t the players that practice two times a week that succeed; it’s the ones that are out there every single day constantly working on their skills. Get involved in the game as soon as you can! It’s amazing the opportunities that are available!
OVA: Describe what it was like playing at Worlds? How was it different from an OVA event?
Vee: It was the greatest international experience I have had so far. In the OVA you see pretty much the same teams every-weekend so you develop game plans and are familiar with certain players tendencies, strengths, and weakness. At worlds, you had no Idea what the Australians weaknesses or strengths are, or what the Italian’s could be expected to do. You had to develop strategies and read the plays as they went on, the only thing you could control was your personal game.
OVA: Best memory from playing?
Vee: Against Germany, in a very important match, the stands were packed with people from all over the world chanting ” CANADA,CANADA!”, I realized that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.. travel ,train and represent Canada.
We would like to thank Victoria Altomare for all of her help with this article. If you would like to recommend someone for PROfiles please contact Josh Nichol jnichol@ontariovolleyball.org | 416-426-7233










