Stratford's Lauren Nothdurft, left, and Anna Feore.

Stratford beach duo Anna Feore and Lauren Nothdurft won their second Ontario Volleyball Association gold medal of the season at the Sauble Beach U14 premier girls’ tournament the July17-18 weekend.

The pair went undefeated for the day, dropping just one game but then winning a nail-biter semifinal tie-breaker that qualified them for the medal round.

A competitive field of 10 teams from across Ontario provided impressive beach volleyball through less-than-ideal wind conditions off the surf.

Feore and Nothdurft also won gold in their division at the Ashbridges Bay, Toronto OVA tournament earlier this month.

Both girls play for the Stratford Volleyball Club.

Also winning gold recently were Stratford’s Katie McLay and her Burlington partner Robyn Misener, who captured the U16 Tier I title at Grand Bend on the OVA Summer Beach tour.

Read more Stratford Beacon Herald

The Ontario men had to settle for bronze against Quebec 3-1, (25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 25-19) playing at home in Varsity Arena, Toronto. The gold went to the Manitoba men who defeated Alberta 3-2, (25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-11). Women’s bronze was won by BC.

The NTCC is an annual competition involving 18U (women) and 19U (men) provincial teams from across the country. The event has evolved from previous editions with a high performance component incorporated into the schedules, prior to the main competitions. The participating teams have the opportunity to be involved in training sessions with national team coaches, and partake in classroom sessions with national team athletes and sport science experts.

All these additional aspects to the NTCC events have been added to bring the program more in line with the Volleyball Canada Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) plan.

Full Men Results

Full Women Results

Women’s ALL STAR TEAM
1. Casie Gund (AB 18)
2. Rosie Schlagentweit (BC)

3. Kirsten Struksness (TCSA 17)

4. Emily Betteridge (ON 18)

5. Alissa Coulter (TCSA 17)

6. Kelsie English (ON 18)

MVP Andrea Fisher (ON 18)

After spending the first week of July at the High Performance Centre training camp in Toronto, Alyman was informed of her selection upon returning home, July 8.

She spent the next two days packing for what will be another two-week road trip, a six-day training camp in Toronto followed by a flight to Winnipeg and another week of competition representing Ontario at the National Team Challenge Cup (NTCC).

For Alyman, the 17-year-old Widdifield Secondary School student, it means her entire month of July will be spent away from home devoted to elite volleyball, but that’s just what she wants.

Volleyball is my life and I’ll do anything to get to that highest point,” she said. This is my summer and basically, it’s a whole month I’ll be gone, so I’ll do a lot of the extra things to help me get better.”

The six-foot middle/right side player, with a knack for knocking down points at the net, was selected for the team from more than 40 elite players at the High Performance Centre (HPC) training camp.

It was amazing,” Alyman said of the week-long camp.

Get the full story from Ken Pagan, The North Bay Nugget

The Men’s National Team Challenge Cup (NTCC) will be taking place from Friday, July 23 to Sunday, July 25 at University of Toronto’s Varsity Arena. These elite 18U/19U athletes trained for seven tough days in July to represent Ontario at this feature event. Take this opportunity to see Canada’s future male volleyball stars from Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The Provincial Team program has traditionally been the final stage of the OVA Elite Development Model.  The Provincial Team program affords the highest level of volleyball training and competition for young Ontario players and acts as a stepping-stone and development vehicle towards top-level College/University play and National Team opportunities.

Volunteers Still Needed: Volunteer scorekeepers and lines people are still needed for all the days Friday July 23 to Sunday July 25. You do not have to work the whole event or even a whole day. Gather a group of friends and get inspired to take this opportunity to work volunteer hours and still see some great volleyball.
Those interested in volunteering please contact Ryan Johnson at rjohnson@ontariovolleyball.org.

More volunteer shift info

Our Team Ontario:
Zach Doherty, 
T.J. Sanders, 
Robert Wojcik, 
Jori Mantha, 
Alexander Dawson, Scott Wilson, Alexander Elliot, Gabriel Aaron, 
Stephen Holmes, Austin Smith, 
Hamza Chaurdry, Tyler Scheerhoorn, Marc Wilson, Michael Tomlinson, 
Ben Nikkel, 
Phil James, 
Patrick Strzalkowski, 
Phillip Goyer, 
Jeremie Lortie, 
Ray Szeto. Training players: Stephen Maar, Bruno Lortie, Tim Warnholtz and Patrick Goulet

A few short years ago, Charlotte Sider was a member of Team NB 16u girls. She had made it, or so she thought. Her family was about to move to Ottawa and she would find this next path to be a battle for respect and playing time. Originally from Kitchener, and a member of the 14u Tigers, Charlotte’s family moved to St Stephen, New Brunswick in 2006. When dad (Mark) was placed in a small New Brunswick satellite office of Norr Ltd Architects, a town with no club team, she was forced to sit out a season of club volleyball, but did continue to play high school ball. However, after experiencing the higher level competition in the Waterloo Tiger organization, high school volleyball just wasn’t meeting her needs.

Determined to compete with stronger athletes, she convinced Mom and Dad to make the 1hr+ journey (each way) to Fredericton to play for the Reds. By season’s end it looked like the world was her oyster, Provincial Champs, Team NB, everything seemed to be going her way. Then the announcement came, another move, this time to Ottawa. Time to start again, but surely there would be teams for her in such a big city.

Read Charlotte’s full story

Submitted by Kerry MacLean

MAC's Madison Ertsinisn (L) and partner Brittany Vanderlaan

Hamilton’s Matthew Passalent and Brandon Koklis from the Mountain Athletic Club won gold in the Male 14U Premier Division at the recent Cobourg Beach Tournament. Losing only one match in round robin play, Passalent and Koklis swept the rest of their matches with strong team work and defence.

The MAC 14U girls’ team of Brittany Vanderlaan of Stoney Creek and Madison Ertsinian of Hamilton also won gold in the Girls14U Premier division.

Other Mac 14U top three finalists at recent OVA Beach tournaments include third place finishers Hayley Genovy of Stoney Creek and partner Katiana Pare of Hamilton and second place finishers Victoria Golebiowski of Binbrook and Nicole Gwiazdowicz of Dundas. In the 15U category, MAC’s Caitlin Genovy of Stoney Creek and Roberta Dunlop of Waterdown finished third.

Hamilton Scores

Kennedy McMahon and Olivia Reyns have found a great reason to spend their summer on the beach.

The two 13-year-olds are members of the Northumberland Breakers volleyball club. This summer, they have teamed up to play as a pair in beach volleyball, and the partnership is already paying off. On Saturday, July 3, they were in Toronto for the OVA Beach Tournament. Competing in tier one against the province’s best, they strung together win after win before ultimately earning the silver medal.

The tournament was the girls first experience playing against tier one competition, making their rise to silver all the more impressive.

“We really had to play intense, because everyone was two notches or better,” said Kennedy. “We just played to win. It was fun.”
The local girls defeated teams from Scarborough, Oshawa and Oakville on their way to the gold medal match.

“We just fell a little short by two or three points.”

If nothing else, the pair proved that they can handle the competition at the tier one level just fine. While both are skilled volleyball players in their own right, they complement each other just right in order to create a dominant duo.

“We make a pretty good team. We complement each other,” said Kennedy. “I can’t really spike. I’m more of a defensive player. I pass and set so (Olivia) can hit. You need somebody who has power and somebody who is good defensively.”
Olivia agrees.

“We’ve worked really hard to get where we are and we always try to do our best,” she said. “We love the game so much that we want to improve, and we have improved a lot.”

The girls will compete at the provincial championships later this month.

Jason Chamberlain, Northumberland News

Region 2 preparing for the 2010 Ontario Summer Games

It’s easy for Nicole Collard to feel a great sense of pride about being from Greater Sudbury, even though she has lived her for just three years.

Collard loves the way volleyball is regarded in the city and it makes her feel proud as she loves the sport and it is “her life.”

Collard and a close group of of players from around Northeastern Ontario were busy this past weekend in Sudbury training for the upcoming 2010 Ontario Summer Games which will be hosted in the Nickel City in August.

It’s all about pride for the girls on this team as they prepare to take on the best regions from across the province during the second week of August.

“In Sudbury, with volleyball, there is always something good going on,” Collard said.

“I am really proud of this because a lot of people take volleyball seriously here and love it. I do have a lot of pride about being from here. I came from Kitchener. I have only lived here for three years, but I love it here. In Kitchener, I wasn’t even aware they had a club team. They never advertised. Here, they advertise volleyball all the time and it is in the paper and in the news. I like that. It means a lot to me to represent this city in something that is really, really big in the province.”

The Region 2 squad held tryouts a few weeks ago and the training session on Saturday was essentially the team’s first formal practice.

It has given the girls on the team a real wakeup call and has them all pumped up to play in the OSG.

“It has been an eye-opening experience,” Collard said.

Get the full story from Scott Haddow The Sudbury Star

On June 19, Max Volley in Ottawa, hosted a successful Beach Satellite Tournament event sanctioned by the OVA. The OVA is happy to announce it will be hosting its additional Ottawa Tour event on July 10 at Max Volley for the 12U-16U divisions.

Through the help and support of PVB, the OVA will host its first event in Grand Bend on July 10. This event will also host 12U-16U age divisions.

Our third event will be in Pickering hosted by at Solstice Sport. Solstice will be a Youth Open Satellite Tournament for both males and females. This event will not award points, but will gain you participation towards qualifying for Provincials.

The registration fee for all three events is $80, the deadline is Wednesday July 7, 2010 at 11:59pm. All three events have limited space so make sure you register early. Registration is available on nrs.volleyball.ca

In Addition.
On July 17-18 the OVA Beach Tour will be in two locations offering full points for all divisions in Sauble Beach and Cobourg. Sauble Beach will also host a free illScarlett concert.

The following weekend the OVA will be hosting three Satellite tournaments in Port Stanley, Cobourg and Beach Blast in Toronto. This will be your last chance to gain participation to qualify for Provincials.

For more information please contact Josh Nichol jnichol@ontariovolleyball.org 416-426-7233.

Stratford’s Katie McLay and Ethan McCarroll have been selected to the 16U Region 3 indoor volleyball team that will compete in the Ontario Summer games August 10-13 in Sudbury. McLay is a member of the K-W Predators volleyball team, while McCarroll plays for the Stratford Cobras. Both are St. Michael students.

McLay and partner Robyn Misener won the 16U premier tournament on the OVA beach tour, finishing ahead of 17 other teams. They defeated a pair from the Scarborough Titans in the final match 21-16, 21-18, after overcoming an 8-14 deficit in the last set of the semifinals in their 21-15, 18-21, 16-14 win over a Durham duo. McLay serve eight balls in a row for the win.

Stratford’s Michael Tomlinson, a Central high school student and member of the Forest City Volleyball Club, was selected to the Provincial 17/18U High Performance Centre. Athletes selected are considered top volleyball players in the province.

Stratford Beacon Herald