Kaitlyn Krizmanich and Caleigh Whitaker

Steve Marshall and Sam Schachter

Ontario’s Kaitlyn Krizmanich and Caleigh Whitaker represented Canada at the recent U21 Jr Worlds in Blackpool, England where they made it through to the Quarterfinals. Krizmanich and Whitaker, lost to No. 8 Jazmin Machado and Summer Ross of the U.S., 21-13, 21-16. The Ontario pair went 2-1 in the round robin section of the tournament to finish second in the pool.

BC’s Steve Marshal and Ontario’s Sam Schachter also made it through to the Quarterfinals where they had a close battle with the Australians. Final scores were 20-22, 21-15, 12-15.  They did extremely well in the round robin series finishing first in their pool.

photos: fivb.org

Sam Schachter sets partner Steve Marshall

Temperatures are a little warmer today in Blackpool, England, site of the U21 FIVB Junior World Beach Championships as pool play finishes up for the 24 men’s and women’s main draw teams as they play their final two pool play matches after which the field will be reduced to 16 to begin the single elimination final phase of the event on Saturday.

Canada’s men’s team of Steve Marshall and Sam Schachter completed their pool play today with a convincing victory over Great Britain’s Cook-Smth 2-0 (21-11, 21-13). They finish top of their pool with a 3-0 record and will move on to the next round of play.

Our women, Kaitlyn Krizmanich and Caleigh Whitaker handled first-ranked Smith-Grimson from Great Britain easily this morning winning 2-0 (11-21, 14-21). But later succumbed in their final pool play match to Netherland’s van Gestel-Meppelink 0-2 (13-21, 13-21). Krizmanich-Whitaker who will finish second behind the Netherlands will also move on to the 16 team single elimination round tomorrow.

photo:fivb.org
Follow our women

Follow our men

Beach at Blackpool

The SWATCH FIVB Junior World Championships will be staged September 15-20 as England will host the Beach Volleyball event for players under the age of 21 for the second-straight year in the seaside town of Blackpool.

A total of 74 teams (39 men, 35 women) representing 30 nations will be heading to England for the championship event and the start for both men and women will be qualifying tournaments on Wednesday, Sept. 16 to determine the final four positions in the 24-team main draw. The 24-team main draw for each gender will include two days of pool play Thursday and Friday and two days of single-elimination bracket play Saturday and Sunday. The medal matches for both genders will be played next Sunday, Sept. 20.

The Canadian teams of Kaitlyn Krizmanich and Caleigh Whitaker, and Steve Marshall and Sam Schachter will commence play on Thursday in the main draw as they were the winning teams in the beach selection tournament played earlier this summer. Our second teams of Jennifer Cross and Kristina Vlcek, and Daniel Dearing and Garret May will both be competing in the qualifying tournaments today vying for one of four positions available in the main draw. The teams will be accompanied by the recently appointed national beach coach, Lennard Krapp.

Follow our men

Follow our women

photo: NationalGeographic.com

Dianne Burrows and Caleigh Whitaker

Congratulations to Ontario’s beach teams as both finished top of their respective pools at the Canada Games in PEI. The female duo of Dianne Burrows and Caleigh Whitaker won all of their matches and only gave up a set to New Brunswick in a hard fought match winning the third 16-14 and one to BC by a score of 15-13. Reid Hall and Adam Podstawka also won all four of their matches and without losing a set to finish first in their men’s pool at the games. The men will compete in the Championship semi-final against the winner of the quarter-final between Manitoba and New Brunswick. The women will face the winner of the BC and Québec matchup.

Follow the women

Follow the men

The victory means that Schachter qualifies to represent Canada at the U21 FIVB World Championships in Blackpool England in September.

Schachter, who is heading into his second year at Laurier, has a very successful first season in the Purple and Gold. He was named men’s volleyball team rookie of the year and was awarded the WLU Rich Newbrough Rookie of the Year.

The left-side was also named OUA rookie of the year, and was given an all-star to both the OUA and CIS all-rookie teams.

Schachter, along with fellow Golden Hawk Cam Wheelan, are both currently training with the National Beach Volleyball program.

CordWeekly.com

19U-21U 2009 Qualifying Teams

21U WOMEN
Kaitlin Krizmanich-Caleigh Whitaker (ON)

19U MEN
Garrett May-William Sidgwick (ON)

19U WOMEN
Victoria Altomare-Melissa Humana-Paredes (ON)

Women's 2009 Beach Provincial Team

The August long weekend represented the final three days of training for the 2009 Beach Provincial Team. This year’s program included a five weekend long, Canada Games Team selection process that resulted in the teams of Dianne Burrows/Caleigh Whitaker and Adam Podstawka/Reid Hall winning the opportunity to represent Ontario in the beach volleyball competition at the Canada Games, August 16-21, in PEI.

The program also included three additional weekends of high-level training. Given the weather we’ve been exposed to this summer, Team Ontario is well-prepared to play in any inclement condition. As part of the training and preparation process the athletes attended several presentations specifically tailored for high performance, beach volleyball athletes including: a seminar and skin assessment by Dr. Sandy Skotnicki-Grant, Dermatologist; a nutrition presentation by Trionne Moore; a doping lecture by Dr. Doug Richards; and a media training session by the Canada Games Organization. Also, Lennard Krapp, Head Coach of Canada’s National Beach Team, invited the Provincial Team to participate in training sessions with National Team athletes. These additional, high-intensity training opportunities proved to be an invaluable experience for Provincial Team athletes and coaches alike.

“Training with the provincial team this summer has been one of the highlights of my summer. We got a chance to train and compete against all the top athletes from our province. The group this year had a ton of experience and was so much fun to be a part of. In fact, I can’t believe that all of our training is finally over and provincials and nationals are upon us! The provincial team has been a great way to further develop my skills as well as to grow individually as a beach volleyball player by getting to play with everyone else on the team. I had a truly great experience with the provincial team this summer and I wish the program the best of luck in the future!” Tori Cowley, Team Ontario Athlete

Ontario’s Beach Provincial Team program has existed for 3 years. A key objective of the Team Ontario – Beach program is to establish an athlete identification process and training environment that helps to develop and prepare Ontario athletes for international competition.  Ontario is fortunate to have a large and talented pool of athletes who are committed to the training requirements of a high performance, beach athlete.   As a result of this commitment you can expect to see many of Team Ontario’s Beach athletes competing on the World Stage this summer. The following is a list of International competitions that our athletes/coaches will be attending:

Kate Eckhardt – Mauzury Open – FIVB World Tour event- Stare Jablonki, Poland Aug 3-8
Melissa Humana-Paredes & Victoria Altomare – U19 World Championships – Alanya, Turkey Aug 19-23
Rebecca Crosier & Alexandra Hudson – U19 World Championships – Alanya, Turkey Aug 19-23
Angie Shen – Coach U19 World Championships
Karen Pak – Coach U19 World Championships
Kaitlyn Krizmanich & Caleigh Whitaker – U21 World Championships – Blackpool, England Sept 16-20
Laura Inward – Coach U21 World Championships

We wish all athletes success at this year Provincial and National Championships.

Complete list of Team Ontario 2009
Athletes:
Becky Billings
Tori Cowley
Landis Doyle
Kate Eckhardt
Melissa Humana Paredes
Victoria Altomare
Alexandra Hudson
Kaitlyn Krizmanich
Caleigh Whitaker
Dianne Burrows
Alanna Kirchner
Rebecca Crosier

Angie Shen – Assistant Coach
Karen Pak – Assistant Coach
Laura Inward – Head Coach

The women’s final was a tightly contested match played in front of a large crowd on centre court at Ashbridges Bay, Toronto. After winning the first set, Whitaker-Burrows began the second set on a mission and continued their steady play. It appeared the match would end on a hard driven ball to the corner. But challengers Rebecca Crosier and Kate Eckhardt made their last stand. Kate miraculously lunged toward the ball and made a superb dig. This was the shift in momentum and Crosier and Eckhardt tied the match at 20. Borrows-Whitaker, after several more exciting rallies, scored the final point and were crowned champions.
“I am really excited to get a chance to represent Ontario at the Canada Summer Games, and am especially honoured given all of the great athletes that we had to compete against to get here,”Burrows said.
“I’m absolutely thrilled and honoured to have qualified to represent Ontario at the 2009 Canada Games in PEI,” said Whitaker.

Laura Inward, the head coach of the Women’s Onatrio Team, had this to say, “Working with these 12 athletes for so many weeks in preparation for this event, I developed a connection with each one of them.  In the end, it is akin to watching one of your children play against the other. Ultimately you hope for a good match and that each competitor can feel good about their performance. For me, that sums up this weekend. Every one of the athletes played well, fought hard and improved significantly over the process.  I am proud of every one of them. A special thank you for all the support we received on the weekend from the OVA staff, the referees and the beach crew.”

On the men’s side, Adam Podstawka and Reid Hall defeated Sam Schachter and Eric Simon in two straight in the final. The second set was tight but some timely serving and great transition play separated the champions from their challengers. Both Adam and Reid will be returning to Canada Games after participating in the event in 2005 as indoor athletes.
“Canada Games means a lot to me,” said Reid. Adam was quoted as saying, “This is a great opportunity to participate in Canada Games again.”

The road to PEI started in early May with a tryout followed by several consecutive weekend training camps. The Men’s Provincial Team head coach, Jason Hubbard, had this to say about the lead up to the tournament.
“All the athletes should be commended for their hard work and dedication during this process.” When asked about participating in Canada Games Jason said, “It is a privilege to represent Ontario.”

JT

Who will represent Ontario on the beach at this summer’s Canada Games? Last weekend’s tournament has shown us, there is no easy answer.

Twelve of the top women’s beach athletes participated in the first official Canada Games qualifying event. Last weekend’s tournament was an opportunity to play with their new partners and battle for the seedings in this weekend’s final selection tournament. The winners will earn the privilege of representing Ontario at the Canada Summer Games in PEI.

Caleigh Whitaker and Diane Burrows looked as though they had been playing together for years as they tore through their pool and seemed unstoppable in the playoffs. They won the right to be ranked #1 going into this weekend’s final event after beating Melissa Humaña-Paredes and Victoria Altomare in two games. Humaña-Paredes/Altomare had the match of the weekend in their semi-final against Kate Eckert and Rebecaa Crozier. They won the first set 21-18 then dropped the second 21-16 to Eckert/Crozier. Both teams battled in the third set, but Humaña-Paredes/Altomare experience as a team proved to be the key factor as they finished the match winning15-12.

After just one round of competition, a lot is still up in the air as all six teams prepare to compete this weekend. Pool play takes place on Saturday with the single elimination playoff being held on Sunday, when the Provincial Team Rosters will also be announced. Coaches Laura Inward and Jason Hubbard have some tough choices ahead of them, as Ontario has no shortage of depth when it comes to our beach athletes.

On the men’s side, five out of the six male hopefuls participated in the Men’s Elite OVA tournament June 6 at Ashbridges Bay. Reid Hall teamed up with Adam Podstawka, Cam Wheelan with Steve Kung, and Eric Simon partnered with OVA veteran David Holmes. National Team member Sam Schachter was unable to participate because of a shoulder injury. He hopes to be healthy enough to compete this coming weekend.

Simon-Holmes had a good showing but were eliminated after a tough third set loss to Moser-Benn 15-13 in the quarter finals. Wheelan-Kung were flying high all day but also lost in the quarters when they faced the talented team of Hauser-Redmann. Anton Hauser won the first OVA event with Matt Fugard while Christian Redmann is just back from his 17th place finish, in Poland on the FIVB World Tour with Rich Van Huizen.

Hall-Podstawka had the best day out of the Team Ontario hopefuls, as they beat Moser-Benn in the semi-final to advance to the finals against Hauser-Redmann. They battled for every point as both teams found a way to win a set, leading to an exciting third and final set. Hall continued to serve tough and Podstawka was making plays at the net, but the international experience of Hauser-Redmann came into play as they pulled ahead to win the third, 17-15.

JT