What is Happening???

 

The Canadian Elite Academy will be shutting down in May. 

The only sessions we will be offering will be Private Lessons.
Private lessons are more expensive than the regular session, school day academy or camps.  They are offered one hour with the coach that the athletes would most like to work with.
The cost for the private lesson will allow up to four athletes to attend for the same price. The athlete(s) choose a time from the available times listed below, inform the Academy who they would like as a coach and choose the skill they would like to work on.  This flexibility takes some time to accommodate, so the earlier someone decides on the private lesson, the more likely it will happen.
There are limited gym times, limited available coaches and the shutdown during May is to limit the amount of contact for the coaches and athletes at the Academy.  With the Variants of Concern viruses making younger people sick is of concern, we will be limiting the amount of private lessons we will conduct.
The following gym times are available for private lessons at the Ice Box Training Center.  Jump Training can be done almost any time as multiple areas can be used.
Currently, the following court time is available; this can change rapidly 
 

• April 20 5-6 6-7
• April  21 8-9 9-10
• April 27 5-6 6-7
• April 28 8-9 9-10
•  
• May 3 - 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 4 3-4 7-8 9-10
• May 5 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 6 4-5 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 7 3-4 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 10 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 11 3-4 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 12 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 13 3-4 4-5 8-9 9-10
• May 14 3-4 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 17 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 18 3-4 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 19 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 20 3-4 4-5 8-9 9-10
• May 21 3-4 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 24 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 251 3-4 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 26 3-4 8-9 9-10
• May 27 3-4 4-5 8-9 9-10
• May 28 3-4 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10
• May 31  3-4 8-9 9-10

June the Activities all start up again.

The following events are happening:

• June- August – Advanced Beach 2's Boys Monday and Wednesday (Full- Sold Out)
• June- August – Advanced Beach 2's Girls Monday and Wednesday (Still Space)
• June- August – Basic Beach 2's Tuesday and Thursday Group 1 (Full- Sold Out)
• June- August – Basic Beach 2's Tuesday and Thursday Group 2 (Full- Sold Out)
• July- August – Advanced Beach 2's Monday and Wednesday (Still Space)
• July – August – Basic Beach 2's Tuesday and Thursday (Still Space)
• July 12-15 – Age 11-13 Volleyball Camp Outdoors (Still Space)
• July 19-22 Setter, Libero and Hitter Camp (Still Space)
• August 16-19  Making the Cut Elementary School Team Camp (Grades 6-8)
• August 16-19 Making the Cut Junior High School Team Camp (Grades 9-10)
• August 23-26 Making the Cut Rookie High School Senior Team ( Grades 10-11)
• August 23-26 Making the Cut Returning High School Senior Team ( Grades 11-12)

Which level should I put my daughter/son in for the Making the Cut Camp? The Making the Cut Camps are high-level camps, and many athletes use the camps to get ready for the tryouts in their Schools.  We have athletes from all across the province coming, and the level played at each of the schools varies greatly.  The choice of which of the camps are for you, you need to ask yourself honestly, if you are a grade 10 student would you make the senior team in some of the better school teams in the province? If not, then go to the Junior High School Team Camp.  If you are a grade 9 athlete, you should not be in anything other than Junior High School Team.  If you are in grade 10, you should not be in the Returning High School Senior team camp.  If you are in Elementary school, you should not attend anything other than the Elementary school camp.  I am not a great supporter of a player moving up; I would rather see them shine at their age group and learn to be leaders.  The camps are designed to be individual in the instructions, and your athlete will be challenged.  It is not an item of pride to play up an age class; it is a missed opportunity to shine and be the best and learn to make the other players around you better.  But in the end, the Academy will not stop a player from joining a camp if they think it is the best place for them.

Why are Private Lessons more expensive than regular sessions? The private lessons are all about flexibility; the athletes can choose the date, time, location, skill to be taught, the coach to work with, and who they would like to train with.  The cost of a private lesson allows up to 4 athletes to attend for the exact cost

Why are a lot of the Beach Programs sold out? The Academy has been running the beach program for three years successfully.  Each year we have more and more athletes who want to attend.  We train athletes to understand the game of beach 2's.  We teach them how to move, use the elements to their benefit and achieve success in the tournament that they choose to attend.  Many athletes use the beach to increase their speed, agility and ball control for the indoor game.  We will not run a tournament this year; we will teach the athletes how to play the game.   This is more in line with the Academy's philosophy, where we teach athletes how to take their skills to the next level. They can then take the skills and compete in the SaskVollyball tournaments and provincials and the VOGO beach tournaments.

Why is each athlete expected to bring their own ball to the Academy? Each athlete is expected to bring their own ball to all the sessions, school days and camps as we believe that if one wishes to become elite in a sport, you cannot do so by only touching the ball in front of the coaches and at scheduled practices.  Elite athletes work on their skills alone and outside of planned practices. We give the athletes activities that they can work on at home to make themselves better, and this can only be done if they have a ball to work with.

How are the coaches at the Academy selected? The Academy believes that the success of skill training is totally dependant on the coach's ability to work with the age class of the athletes.  Coaches are not selected because of their certification.  Coaches are chosen because of their reputation, knowledge of the sport, their ethical approach to coaching and their ability to work with individualistic successful drills and challenges, which will assist the athletes in being better tomorrow than they are today.

Why is it not essential to tier athletes according to skills or gender at the Academy? We are not competing at the Academy.  We are training the athletes to better understand their skills; they should compare themselves to no one other than their past selves.  The athletes need to try to be better today than they were yesterday.  They need to strive to better themselves; they need to learn to motivate themselves, learn to compete to better their skills, not to be the best, but to be better.  There are so few who are the best, and athletes should learn to challenge themselves to do the best they can with every contract, not because of a coach, parent or teammate, but because that is what he/she should expect of themselves.  Motivation has to be from the inside if you are going to be elite.  It makes a player elite, the inner confidence, the inner drive to be better, the inner voice that motivates them, not the comparison to others, not playing with older athletes.  The Academy will teach this and tries to be better at this every day.