OVA News

It might have been a case of anything you can do I can better for Kristian Kuld.
Having seen his older brother Erik, who is entering his junior year at Harvard, make a successful transition from indoor to beach volleyball, Kuld gave it a shot too. Smart move as the Crescent School graduate has become one of the country’s best young players. But the transition didn’t come easy.
“I felt like I should try it because I had previous success in learning new sports quickly and easily,” the 18-year-old said. “At first I found it quite difficult but I really enjoyed it.

By Carmine Bonanno of the Beach Town Crier

It’s becoming pretty apparent that the Ottawa boys U16 volleyball team doesn’t like to share things, especially gold medals. For the second straight Summer Games, Region 6, which consists of a part of
the Ottawa area, won the gold medal in the boys category of the indoor volleyball competition at this year’s event in the nation’s capital….For one member of the Ottawa team, winning a gold medal in volleyball at the Ontario Summer Games was the finest sports moment in his young life.

Read More from Ottawa Citizen

Former University of Nebraska volleyball standout Sarah Pavan earned an honor that literally took her breath away on Tuesday, as she was chosen as the 2007-08 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® of the Year as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Canadian, who enjoyed a record-setting career as a right-side hitter in the Nebraska volleyball program, became the first-ever student-athlete to repeat as Academic All-American of the Year since the awards’
inception in 1988.

Read More:

Skye Anderson earned a spot to represent Ontario in the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in volleyball, for the Cowichan 2008 Games which was held in the Cowichan Valley, B.C., from August 3-10.
Before the competition she expressed her apprehensions. “I’m really nervous,” said the 17-year-old Alderville teen. “I don’t really know what to expect.”Her goal was “to have fun playing volleyball against teams in the NAIG”.
The NAIG is the largest of its kind in North America. Ms. Anderson was one of 5,000 junior athletes participating in the 16 contemporary and traditional sporting events. There were 13 Canadian provincial and territorial teams and over 20 state teams from the U.S.
Her Ontario team won a silver medal losing three closely contested games against a stronger Saskatchewan team (23-25 21-25 23-25).

Profile and Team Results
Cowichin Home Page

If your daily or weekly physical workout is based in one of Ottawa’s recreational facilities, you may be forced to find an alternative venue for the rest of the week.The 2008 Ontario Summer Games have taken over just about every park, pool, rink, field, high school, club or gymnasium in the city.The Games began yesterday and run through Saturday, encompassing more than 3,500 athletes in 25 sports at 45 different venues scattered throughout every ward in Ottawa.

Mike Beasley, The Ottawa Citizen…Read more

View Volleyball Team Competitor Rosters

The Brock University women’s volleyball program and the Southern Ontario Strikers have joined forces to create a new girls travel volleyball program.

Brock women’s volleyball coach Lucas Hodgson says:

“We’re hoping to add the experience of the university environment to the players so they can get a feel for what they want at the next level. And it gives us a chance to entice the better players from the area to come and play for the club and develop within that environment.”

From The Standard (St Catherines)… Read More

Some researchers estimate girls rupture their ACL’s at five to eight times the rate of boys and young men.  Why the greater rate of injuries in girls, particularly in cutting and pivoting sports that involve the knees and lower extremities - basketball, volleyball, lacrosse and soccer? Theories range from not enough muscle in the right places to pure biomechanics - how girls run as opposed to the way boys run, for example.

Read the full article at canada.com

Our women’s team of Whitaker-Facca lost a heart breaker against Germany in the event’s official first round after two days of exciting pool play. After losing the first game 16-21, the women bounced back with a convincing 21-15 win. The high winds that had affected many of the previous matches had died down to a steady breeze but the sun setting slowly added another of nature’s elements to the outdoor game. The third game remained close early on but the Germans gained the lead going ahead from a 04-03 score to 08-04. The large German crowd of supporters grew quiet when Canada caught up to a 09-10 score. Tenacity of both Canadian players kept them in the match against a very strong, athletic German team. Sadly at 13-14 we served out giving the victory to  Germany.

That’s it for official competition for our athletes in Den Haag. Both teams hope to continue to train for the remaining two days, as Rex Fenton from our men’s team, is waiting to be cleared for action by the tournament therapist.

Canadian Women  Facca-Whitaker have made it through pool play to the first round at the U19 World Beach Volleyball Championships in The Hague. An earlier loss today against the Russia’s first team (18-21, 19-21) did not disqualify them from moving on. An early strategy to use the wind’s volatility gave the Canadian a solid lead in the first game and the confidence to stay aggressive and nearly succeed in winning. A solid performance from both women kept them in the second game until the last two points. Despite both losses to the Russians (1-2,0-2)  their excellent effort in playing high scoring, very tight matches was the deciding factor in them moving through. They will be playing the German team of Laboureur-Spinger later today in a must win single elimination match.

On a less exhilarating note: our men’s team of Schachter-Fenton, suffered a 0-2 (16-21, 16-21) loss to Mexico’s Salas-Valdes earlier this morning. Rex Fenton suffered a knee ingury early in the match. That’s it for our men who must be satisfied with a 1-2 record, their only win coming in their first match against Latvia the first day.

Earlier today, our men’s team of Fenton-Schachter had a disappointing performance against a strong Austrian team of Eglseer-Koraimann losing 21-16-21-12. The temperatures soared to 30 degrees C, hot and sunny for The Hague, which is usually tempered by winds from the North Sea. The boys faded quickly in a 20 minute match. They look to do better tomorrow against the team from Mexico.

Canada’s women of Faaca-Whittaker lost an exciting and closely contested match against the second qualifying Russian women’s team. After winning a no unforced-error first game 21-15, they preceded to lose a heart-breaker 20-22. The Russians prevailed in the third after the Canadian’s fought back only to lose 11-15. They face the Russian’s number one team tomorrow and because of their steadfast effort have an excellent chance of moving through to the next round.

Look for live scoring on fivb beach page

photos at www.spikeme.net