OVA News

Volleyball Canada is pleased to announce the winners of the U19-U21 beach selection tournament held this past weekend at Toronto’s Beach Blast. The winning teams in each category have earned the right to represent Canada at the upcoming U19 and U21 FIVB World Championships coming later this summer. The U19 event will take place August, 19-23 In Alanya, on the Turkish Riviera. The U21 FIVB World Championship event has yet to announce a venue.

21U Men
Sam Schachter-Steve Marshall (ON/BC) defeat Kevin Horne-Steven Clarey (ON): 21-13, 21-19

21U Women
Kaitlin Krizmanich-Caleigh Whitaker (ON) defeat Jessica Renshaw-Shanice Marcelle (BC): 21-10, 21-16

19U MEN
Garrett May-William Sidgwick (ON) defeat Nick Del Bianco-Ben Chow (BC): 21-14, 21-15

19U WOMEN
Victoria Altomare-Melissa Humana-Paredes (ON) defeat Sarah Rosso-Rebecca Crozier (ON): 21-13, 21-15

Volleyball Canada would like to congratulate the four winning teams as well as all participants.

Special thanks to George Shermer and his crew at BEACH BLAST for hosting the tournament.

Get the full results from the selection tournament

One of Sarah Kiernan’s first steps toward a dream of representing Canada on home turf in 2015 was in unique circumstances — underwater and on a treadmill.

The McMaster University volleyball player is an example of an athlete who has the latest conditioning and rehabilitation facilities and expertise provided through Ontario’s Quest for Gold program.

And she’ll be joined by others at Mac’s David Braley Athletic Centre after yesterday’s announcement of $150,000 for high performance athletes.

Kiernan, 21, has her eye on a spot with the Canadian volleyball team which would compete at Copps Coliseum if the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games bid is successful.

“That would be great, playing in front of a big crowd in my home town.”

She says the high-performance help in training, sports medicine and rehabilitation will make the Braley Centre a hotbed for elite athletes.

The Sir Allan MacNab grad nursed a bad ankle back to health much faster than in the past using that underwater treadmill in Canada’s only saltwater hydrotherapy pool.

Get the full story John Kernaghan, Hamilton Spectator

Indoor, outdoor, at the beach, on the floor.

If there’s a net and a volleyball somewhere, Stratford’s Katie McLay will be there.
The 15-year-old St. Michael student started hitting the ball “when I was about two”.
She hasn’t stopped.
And she’ll be blasting away for the 16U Region 3 squad at the provincial championships in Toronto mid-August.

“I made the team last year as a 14-year-old, which was totally unexpected,” McLay said this week. “I was a bit intimidated going into camp but once we got on the floor everything was fine. I made the team as an alternate and gained some experience which definitely helped me at tryouts this year.”

The tryout took place earlier this month in London, where McLay was identified as a keeper after just one practice. She’ll be called upon for her all-around skill, particularly her power, from the left side.

“Hitting is the best part of my game and the thing I enjoy the most,” she said. “I also like playing defence and passing. With the level of talent that’s out there, you need to have a well-rounded game.”

The Region 3 team is comprised of players from Windsor to Georgetown. Many of them, McLay included, are likely to be on the team again in 2010, competing at the Ontario Summer Games in Ottawa.

“They hold the Games every two years and that’s what I’m really looking forward to,” McLay said. “I still have one year of 16U eligibility and I want to make the most of it. It’ll be really cool seeing all the different athletes from the various sports. I want to be a part of it.”

She also looks forward to being a part of OFSAA next spring, which her school is hosting. McLay, who just completed Grade 9, started the past season with the Warriors seniors but dropped back to junior, where she helped lead the team to Huron-Perth and WOSSAA titles.
“It turned out to be a great year,” she said. “I’m moving up to senior this coming year and what a perfect time, with OFSAA here. It’s going to be really exciting.”

McLay has also proven to be a highly successful beach player, along with partner Marissa Thomson. The two have combined for golden performances over the past couple of years at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay, the four-star volleyball playground on the shores of Lake Ontario.

“I love playing both beach and indoor, but I’d have to say I prefer indoor,” McLay said. “I like having six on the floor and working together as a team. It’s exciting and it’s very intense.

“Beach is fun but can be difficult at times, depending on the weather. Some days are hot, some are rainy, but you have to deal with it. It challenges you … I think it makes you a better player when you have to test yourself when conditions aren’t perfect.”

McLay will continue to train beach twice a week while waiting for the start of Region 3 practices in St. Catharines early July.

Following that, a three-day training camp will take place in which the team will do nothing except eat, drink and sleep volleyball, in preparation for the provincial tournament.

McLay will be there.
Smiling.

Mike Savage, Stratford Beacon Herald

The red sand of P.E.I. may make for stunning postcards, but it doesn’t measure up when it comes to the exacting standards of international beach volleyball.

Organizers of the 2009 Canada Games say contractors had to buy 750 tonnes of sand from neighbouring Nova Scotia after they learned the Island’s fine sand is too easily compacted.

That means Island sand is great for building sandcastles, but it’s a potential safety hazard for leaping athletes requiring soft landings, says Robert Arsenault, facilities co-ordinator for the Games, which start Aug. 15.

“The particles have to be like ball bearings — they can’tcompact,” he said in an interview. “When you put pressure on them, they just move out of the way and your foot goes to the bottom of it.”

Arsenault said eight samples of sand were tested from across the Island, including some from the province’s famous beaches and inland gravel pits.

Simply put, none of it was “fluffy” enough.

“This was a very hard specification to meet,” Arsenault said, noting that Volleyball Canada follows a set of international rules that clearly define the size and shape of the coarse sand particles required for top-level competition.

Aside from the compaction factor, there is also an esthetic requirement. The sand on the court can’t be too sticky, either.

“Let’s say it’s August and you’re out there working up a sweat and you’re all wet and you dive in the sand, you don’t want to come up and have this fine dust stuck to you,” said Arsenault, explaining the finer points of the “suspended solids” test.

“You want larger sand particles, so you can brush it off.”

With the help of a consultant from southern Ontario, Arsenault’s team found the sand they were looking for in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

Unlike the warm, rusty tones of P.E.I.’s beaches, the Nova Scotia sand is decidedly brown and utterly useless for making sandcastles.

Arsenault said he didn’t know how much the sand cost because the contractor had to supply it as part of its bid to build a $3-million complex in Summerside that includes four beach volleyball courts, tennis courts, canteen and soccer field.

If it’s not on the beach, it’s on the court.

And when Cam Wheelan isn’t playing volleyball?
“My social network is pretty much all volleyball,” the 20-year-old Barrie native said.

When Wheelan’s not starring with the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men’s volleyball team — he’s been collecting Ontario University Athletics accolades for two seasons with the Waterloo university — he’s hanging out with his roommates, who play for the women’s varsity team.

“Volleyball’s a pretty social sport,” said Wheelan, who was named most valuable player multiple seasons at his former high school, Barrie North Collegiate. “It’s helped me make friends.”

His volleyball buddies aren’t just in Waterloo. They’re all over the place. Three years with the provincial indoor team and two years with Ontario’s top sand players will expand that inner circle quickly.

“I’ve made a lot of friends across the province,” the six-foot-six, 190-pound right side said. “Hopefully, with this national team, I can meet some new friends and keep some connections.”

It’s all about the connections for Wheelan these days. After all, he made Volleyball Canada’s national beach volleyball team as an alternate earlier this year, and the organization didn’t forget about Wheelan earlier this month.

“Two players who were originally on the team made the FISU (International University Sports Federation) team,” Wheelan said. “So I got bumped up.”

Wheelan was originally planning to try out for the Canada Games provincial indoor team. But when the opportunity to go national presented itself, he decided it was the perfect time for a new challenge. He’d pretty much maximized his experience playing provincially.

“I couldn’t do both (provincial and national),” said Wheelan, who signed a national ‘D’ card, assigned to athletes who are at the development stage. “And with the national team, half your tuition is paid for, and you make $900 a month for four months.”

The former Barrie Elites club player has been living at a University of Toronto residence and training daily with the national beach team all month. Next month, the training intensifies. The young team, made up 10 athletes who are age 24 or younger, is considered to be Canada’s next wave of talent.

The 16-member team trains for three hours, twice a day, throughout July, competing locally on Saturdays and resting on Sundays.

It’s a full-time job that Wheelan has no problem showing up for. ” The past four summers, I haven’t really had much of a summer. It’s always been volleyball,” said Wheelan, who was named Wilfrid Laurier’s rookie of the year two seasons ago and made the OUA first all-star team this past season, while being named his team’s most valuable player.

Wheelan won’t travel abroad to compete this summer. Instead, the emphasis is being put on training. That’s something Wheelan is trying to make the most of, as he knows he’ll have his work cut out for him in the years to come, as he hopes to make the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“All the contacts and reps that you’re getting in (here), it’s all with top players,” Wheelan said. “Every contact, I have to be perfect.”

Ultimately, Wheelan said he’d like to turn his abilities on the beach court into a profession, with the chance to turn pro on the indoor surface being a secondary option.

Ian Shantz, Barrie Examiner

Last summer, four hours before her 26th birthday, Stephanie Fisher got a phone call at home that had her trembling before she picked up the receiver.

The call was from the Canadian national volleyball team that was assembling a squad to compete in the 2009 Maccabi Games in Israel - a team Fisher had tried out for earlier in the year.

“I saw the long distance number from Toronto and I didn’t want the call to ruin my birthday … I wanted it to be good news,” Fisher said. “I got the call saying I was on the team. I was calm on the phone. When I got off it, I freaked out and started jumping up and down. It was a surreal feeling.”

The Maccabi Games are referred to as the Jewish Olympics. The event is held every four years in Israel and attracts top Jewish athletes from around the world. The event features more than 7,000 athletes from more than 50 countries. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee as an international sports federation of Olympic standard.

Fisher was one of 12 women to earn a spot on the Canadian team. It’s one reason she is beaming with pride and a feeling a profound sense of accomplishment. She has a few more that gives her goose bumps.

“I’m the only person on the team and the entire Canadian delegation from northern Ontario,” the Lively high school graduate said. “It’s kind of crazy. This is a big honour. It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life. It could be the biggest thing I ever do.”

The ball got rolling on Fisher’s opportunity by chance. Last year, she was on the OVA’s web-site signing up for single A beach volleyball. While visiting the site, Fisher found a link for a try-out for the Canadian team for the Maccabi Games.

Being of the Jewish faith, Fisher sent in her application and was accepted for the try-out.

“There’s a thousand different things this means to me,” Fisher said. “Representing my country is a dream of mine. An achievement like this confirms what I’ve been working on for a long time.”…

Get the full story from Scott Haddow, Sudbury Star and see the video interview

Volleyball star Jason Haldane made his Great Britain debut on the May 30th weekend with the remit of helping prepare the squad for the 2012 Olympics. Haldane, a former Canadian national team member and one of the most decorated players on the international circuit, has received clearance to play for Britain at the age of 37.

“I have a three-year program to improve the level of volleyball and increase the interest in the sport in Great Britain,” he said.

“I knew that GB had the Olympics in 2012 and that was a key factor behind me deciding to play for them. I’ve had a British passport since 1996 because my father is British. I felt that this would be a great opportunity for me to play and help out the GB team and help them compete at a higher level before the Olympics.” …..

“I played for the Canadian national team for 12 years and I played professionally for different clubs in Europe for the last 13 years. The main thing for me is to get out there and start to play with the guys.”
Haldane’s arrival on the British scene has been welcomed by Britain’s coach Brokking, who is hopeful that the Canadian’s attitude to practice can have a positive impact on some of his other players.

Brokking points to Haldane’s willingness to work on the basics of his game as a major example being set to the younger members of the squad.
“He brings everything you need to be a top professional player,” he said. “He has the right training mentality and the right physical possibilities. He knows what is needed to stay at the top. He has a lot of experience but despite his age, is very eager to train.
“If I tell him to serve for half-an-hour, he will, and eight out of 10 will be good. With our guys, if you ask them to serve they will for five minutes and then they will try something else.

“They now see what is needed. Jason can say ‘I don’t need the training anymore’ but he does and he does it good. And they can see he’s 37 and doesn’t need it but is still training at that level. He will help them see that way of thinking.”

Get the full story thestar.co.uk

In another spectacular match of five sets, the US team revalidated its title as champions of the Fourth Men’s Pan American Cup with a victory over Team Canada. This victory was a replay of the last edition of the event, the Americans defeating the Canadians in that final also.

The Canadians had the lead in the match 2-1, losing the first set in a tight contest and coming back to win the second on a romp. The Canadians won a closely fought third set but the experience of the Americans was the key in the two following sets to take the win. Scores were 32-30, 16-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-12.

The Canadian team had dominated the blocking 17-8 but most of those were in the first three sets. The Americans kept there composure when down 2-1, adjusting their quick game and blocking at the corners.

“A little frustrated with the final result, but the fast pace of their setter was crucial for the victory of US and also their experience prevailed in the key moments,” said George Laplante, the coach of Team Canada.

Gavin Smith led Canada with 22 points, Justin Duff and Adam Simac each had 14 and Steve Gotch and Toontjevan Lankvelt had 11 and 10 points respectively.

Final Positions:
1. USA, 2. Canada, 3. Dominican Republic, 4. Puerto Rico, 5. Mexico, 6 Guatemala, 7.Panama

photo courtesy norceca.org

In a close game, the USA prevailed in the five-set battle with Team Canada to finish at the top of Pool A in the 4th Men’s Pan American Cup last night in Chiapas, Mexico.

The scores were 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 24-26, 15-13 and the victory sends United States directly to the semi final phase.

Gavin Smith and Toontje Van Lankvelt recorded 18 and 17 points for Canada, Adam Simac added 14 and Steve Gotch had 12.

“My team played well, but the inexperience was a factor at the end of the match. We had plenty of moments when our consistency failed, but this is a young and new team so you can expect this. It will be a long summer for our new program and we will be getting experience with each day,” said George Laplante, head coach of Team Canada.

Canada will play against Guatemala Friday.

Source and photo courtesy: www.norceca.org

Canada recovered from a slow start Monday night and defeated Dominican Republic 3-1 in Pool A match of the 4th Men’s Pan American Cup in Chiapas, Mexico.

The Canadian team came back from a lopsided loss in the opening set to win by set scores of 15-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18.

The Canadians edged their opponents in the blocking category 8-5. Justin Duff, who didn’t  play in the first set had four among his 12 points. Gavin Smith was the best scorer for Canada with 16 points and Toontje Van Lankvelt added 10.

“I think my team started a  little nervous because it is our first competition in the summer. I understand our level will be improving with every match,” said George Laplante, the coach of Canada.

“Our team is very young and couldn’t maintain the consistency but I hope we can play better in the upcoming matches. Their blocking was very good,” said Victor Batista, captain of Dominican Republic.

Canada’s next game will be tonight against USA.

norceca.org