Miric, of Thornhill, and Bozinoski combined Sunday for a straight sets win 21-11, 21-17 over Ontario champions Cadence Currie and Chantal Raymundo to claim gold in the girls 14U category at the National Beach Volleyball Championships at Ashbridges Bay, Toronto.

In a sport in which give-and-go plays a huge role, give-and-take between teammates played a key factor in the triumph, which saw Miric and Bozinoski drop just one set in winning nine straight matches.

“Niki and I sometimes don’t get along on the court,” confided Miric, 13, who joined the Storm Volleyball Club last season. “But that wasn’t the case in this tournament. We pulled together.”

The duo teamed up last season and enjoyed some success in tournaments on the Ontario Volleyball Association circuit.

Earlier this season, Miric and Bozinoski skipped the Ontario championships to compete at the Junior Olympics in Virginia Beach, VA, where they went undefeated to claim gold. That victory set the tone for a legitimate run at a national title.

“We had a pretty good idea but we knew there were a few teams that could beat us,” said Miric, who is set to attend tryouts as a setter for the Storm’s 16U team in early September. “We gave every team the respect they deserved.”

The Miric-Bozinoski triumph highlighted the weekend for the Storm, which also saw a pair of its boys teams reach the podium.

Aurora’s Aaron Nusbaum and partner Grant O’Gorman of Scarborough notched a silver medal in the 18U category while Stephen Maar and Jordan MacIntyre matched that result in 16U play.

Nusbaum and O’Gorman were unable to solve Nick Del Bianco and Ben Chow of Vancouver, bowing 21-16, 21-16 in the gold medal match. The Ontario tandem lost twice to the Vancouver pair during the three-day event, accounting for their only setbacks in nine matches in the 24-team field.

Get the full story by John Cudmore, yorkregion.com

T.J. Sanders with his silver medal. Photo: Craig Glover, LFP

When T.J. Sanders began high school at Oakridge, a future in volleyball was far from a sure thing. It’s looking quite a bit more certain now.

Now a second-year student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Sanders, 18, is a vital member of Canada’s junior men’s volleyball program. The team’s setter, he helped lead Canada to a silver medal at the recent NORCECA (North and Central America and Caribbean) championship in Gatineau, Que. That qualified Canada for next summer’s world championship in Brazil.

Sanders has won OFSAA gold and silver with the Oaks, a national-under 17 title (and MVP honours) and an 18U silver with his Forest City club teams, plus three top-three finishes as captain with Ontario at National Team Challenge Cups.

Not too shabby for someone who wondered if he’d even be good enough to play.

“In Grade 9 I was 5’-2”, 5’-3”, just a tiny guy. I didn’t even know if I was going to make the junior team at Oakridge,” he said.

Now a good foot taller, he’s tasted success at every level and this was no different.

“It was interesting,” he said. “All of us were playing for Canada for the first time and it was a big difference. We were all used to playing each other, all playing the same style. At this tournament, there were some scrappy teams playing completely different styles than we were used to. Guatemala, for example, their average height may have been 5’-10’, but they held their own.

Get the full story from Steve Green QMI Agency, lfpress.com

Bill Seto is always energetic and optimistic when relaying his knowledge to students and coaches.

Bill Seto has come out of retirement once again for the game he loves.

Seto, who looks much younger than his 70 years, was recently named the Halton Region Volleyball Club’s technical director.

As a player, coach and referee in the sport for almost half a century, Seto is well qualified for the position. A native of China whose family moved to Canada when he was a child, Seto has lived in Burlington for more than 20 years, so his new job will be less stressful than past situations he has found himself in.

“At one time I coached in Scarborough and taught in Peel while living in Burlington,” he says with a laugh. “Can you imagine that? It’s crazy, but I call it passion.”

One of the things he hopes to accomplish at HRVC with the Volley Girls program and the Hurricanes competitive teams is to resurrect a facet of the game he feels is lost on current students.

“As a referee, not just here but at provincial and national championship tournaments, I’ve seen a lack of creativity in the sport,” he says. “The technical side is OK. But creativity is an art that has been lost in this generation.”

As technical director, Seto is authorized to revamp the club’s training program at all levels.

He says there is no specific timetable for success over the next five years, but expects to see initial results within a year.

“The club may suffer a little bit at the beginning, but by March break (the players) should be getting the hang of it.”

Developing that creative approach to the game lets the athlete use the technical skills to their greatest advantage.

His propensity to teach his students to juggle is partly coaching, partly psychology and partly fun. Seto used it as a player to warm up and focus, and sees it as a good way to expand a player’s peripheral vision.

“Sometimes I tell my students, ‘If you can handle three balls juggling, there is no excuse not to handle one properly’,” he says.

Despite an exceptional career in volleyball, which included club, provincial and national championship honours, Seto doesn’t dwell on his achievements. “If you look into the past too much, you forget the future.”

He desperately wanted to participate in the 1967 Pan Am Games, and trained tirelessly while at the University of Toronto, rising from a bench player to the team’s No. 1 setter as it went on to win a national championship. He made the Pan Am volleyball team and was a national-team member for three years.

Seto decided to become a math and phys-ed teacher, so he switched from volleyball player to coach, sharing his knowledge with numerous clubs and schools, including McMaster University and the OVA provincial men’s team.

He served as a marshal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, an eye-opener to the methods and scale needed to perform at a world-class level.

Seto was an OVA director for three years, a provincial-level referee and is the husband of Maria, a volleyball coach herself in Halton who has coached successfully at Oakville-Trafalgar High School. Seto’s daughter Jen is an OVA club volleyball athlete.

“And (Bill) is a physical specimen at his age,” said Jacquie Wilson, the co-founder of HRVC. “He actually participates in the drills when he coaches. Amazing.”

Seto, who hopes to see the numerous Halton volleyball clubs merge to form one strong entity in the future, said volleyball in the region is only going to get stronger.

“I have very good communications with other Halton programs,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to the next five years and how volleyball will do.”

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Martin Reader of Comox, B.C., and Chaim Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., won the gold medal in men’s senior competition while Liz Maloney and Heather Bansley of Toronto were crowned the women’s champions on Sunday at the Canadian beach volleyball championships held at Ashbridges Bay, Toronto.

Reader and Schalk defeated Richard Van Huizen and Christopher Redmann of Toronto in the championship final 21-14, 26-24. Both teams played regularly this season on the FIVB World Tour circuit.

Reader and Schalk were 2-2 in the round robin finishing third in their pool but delivered a strong playoff not losing a set in four matches.

Matt Zbyszewski and Josh Binstock of Toronto took the bronze medal match over Maverick Hatch of Toronto and Jessi Lelliott of Kelowna, B.C., 20-22, 21-11, 15-11.

In the women’s final, Maloney and Bansley defeated Liz Cordonier and Jaime Broder of Vancouver 21-16, 17-21, 15-10. Earlier this season, Maloney and Bansley won a tournament on the NORCECA circuit and this weekend they went 3-0 in the round robin and 4-0 in the playoffs.

In the bronze match, Marie-Christine Mondor of Mascouche, Que., and Melanie Savoie of Quebec City defeated Caleigh Whitaker of Sharon, Ont., and Shanice Marcelle of Vancouver 21-15, 21-17.

Competition was held in a various age groups from under-14 on up.

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Get all the Results

Cuba wins the series two games to one. The Cubans took the opening match on Tuesday in Mississauga in straight sets. On Thursday in Kanata, Ont., the Canadians rebounded with a victory in four sets.

On Saturday, Nicholas Cundy of Edmonton was the top Canadian scorer with 16 points including three service aces while Toon Van Lankvelt of Rivers, Man., added 11 with two service aces.

For Cuba, Fernando Hernandez led all scorers with 18 points while Robertlandy Simon added 15. Cundy and Cuba’s Joandy Leal were named the players of the match.

Both squads are tuning for the FIVB World Championships set for September 25 to October 10 in six cities in Italy. The Cubans are currently ranked eighth in the world while Canada sits at number-20. Canada was 11th at the last worlds in 2006 worlds Cuba was 15th.

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With many of them standing over two metres tall, playing professionally in Europe for eight months of the year and having a star coach to shepherd their development back home, Canada seems well-positioned to be a world contender. But with over 100 countries vying for one of the 12 spots at the 2012 London Olympics, their chances of making it are, unfortunately, rather slim.

This is a sport in which it’s bloody hard to qualify for the Olympics.

“There are 30 to 40 very competitive teams in the world,” said head coach Glenn Hoag, of Gatineau, Quebec. “You have to take it a step at a time. Not to focus on the outcome, but on what to do to obtain the outcome. We’ve been working on that with the guys. They’re a young team. It’s tough to do.”

Get the full story from Alison Korn slam.canoe.ca

Watch tonight’s final match vs Cuba

With the victory, Canada evens the series at 1-1.  Cuba won the opener Tuesday in Mississauga in straight sets. The third match is Saturday night at Universite Laval in Quebec City.

“I was trying to get angry,” said Schmitt about setting up for his last serve. “They were getting real aggressive with us at the net. I was just trying to make it difficult for them because we needed to do something after a tough third set.”

The third set was the most memorable of the match. Canada went on a six-point run to build a 16-8 lead and the match appeared to be all but over when the Canadians moved into a 24-20 lead. However the home team squandered match point six times in what potentially could have been a very demoralizing momentum swing for Canada.

Get the full story from VC

Watch final match live Sat. Aug. 28 at ssncanada

Join in the excitement at the 2010 Beach National Championships at Ashbridges Bay, Toronto from Friday August 27 to Sunday August 29. Enjoy a fabulous end of summer event with friends and family watching some of the best beach players from across Canada vie for their National Champion division titles. Experience the intensity of the teams returning home from their stint on the International world beach tour circuit.

Over 240 teams across 12 divisions (14U up to Senior Division 1) will be hitting the sand.

Beginning Friday, you can follow your favourite team’s progress in real time online!

Following the event, check out the action photos online library from GP Photography.

For the Canadians, the exhibition match – the first of a three-game series in Ontario and Quebec – is a warm-up to the world championships next month in Italy. The tournament comes around once every four years, and the opportunity to face world eighth-ranked Cuba provides Canada a rare opportunity to size up one of the most physical, powerful teams in the world – before it really counts.

Get the full story from Hayley Mick, The Globe and Mail

The second match in the series goes Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at ScotiaBank Place, Ottawa. The third is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Universite Laval in Quebec City.

It has been approached by numerous elementary and secondary school coaches as well as players  from as far away as Brantford, St. Catharines and Mississauga  looking for a club team.

Opportunities are limited for boys’ volleyball in Ontario, said Nicholson, with only 29 of the 81 OVA-registered clubs offering boys programs.

Coaches for male teams are scarce as well. The Blaze did not have anyone within its coaching ranks willing to start a boys competitive program for Burlington.

That changed this summer, with the offer by Burlington coach Stuart Hooper.

Hooper brings experience
He has extensive experience in male volleyball, first as a player at the youth OVA club level, and as a college player. His coaching resume includes an NCCP Level II certification, secondary school coaching, the spikes program through the YMCA, club level coaching with the West Side Volleyball Club and five years as a coach with the Sheridan College Bruins.

Experience in boys’ volleyball has been slowly growing within the Blaze coaching ranks as well.
Mohawk men’s coach Matt Schnarr, along with his assistant coaches Steve Pawelczyk and Chris Davidson, will enter their third year of working with the Blaze girls teams this September.

Joey Martins, returning to Burlington after a professional volleyball career in Portugal, is a former national player and CCAA player of the year. He’ll assume head coaching duties of the 16U girls team, reigning national silver medalists.

Teresa Vizarri, former national and college setter, who is one of only 15 women in Canada with a national-level officials ranking, will be working with the senior Blaze setters in the upcoming season.

And, Laura Cooke, who will take on the role of Blaze technical director in September, has coached boys teams to SOSSA and OFSAA medals, and will be working extensively at the provincial team levels.

InsideHalton.com