Why Canadian Elite Academy?

 

The Canadian Elite Academy The word Canadian is an adjective that means of Canada or its people.   The definition of the word "Elite," according to MacMillan Dictionary, is a noun, refers to a small group of people with many advantages, the best people in a group.  As an adjective, "Elite" means representing the choicest or most select of a group.   The word academy refers to a group of authorities and leaders who attempt to advance by dictating standards, prescribe methods and criticize new ideas when instructing and training others.   That is why we call our academy the "Canadian Elite Academy."   Relative deprivation is the experience of being deprived of something one believes one is entitled to have.  Or the discontentment people feel when they compare their position to others and realize they have less.  People have come to the Canadian Elite Academy (CEA) with a preconceived notion that the academy will only allow the best in the sport to attend or participate. I believe the CEA believes that each athlete can be best in their group of one.  The CEA is designed to welcome anyone who wants to be the best at the sport's skills.   The title of the academy was selected by myself because I have a few fundamental beliefs when it comes to sports.   It was possible to create an academy where it was possible to make a player better tomorrow than today.   The CEA strives to be the best at this; it seeks to be the most elite at this goal.   Create a non-political non-threatening skill-based training environment safe for participants regardless of gender, age or skill level.   Create a training environment where the participants only compete against themselves.   To never create unnecessary barriers which limit participation.   To never have tryouts, to allow parents to select the best sessions for their child.   To never create teams or host CEA teams from academy participants.   The CEA has helped coaches in their team development and train beach two's teams but did not select the make-up of those teams and are only involved in training the skills for said teams.   The CEA never recruits players to create a level of participants or team.  The CEA offers training situations and then adapts the session to accommodate the interested participants.   To creatively offer experiences and sessions in which talented coaches help participants recognize their gifts.      To assist participants in realistically understand their current skill level and avoid a dysfunctional level of relative deprivation when comparing themselves to more advanced athletes.   Many athletes focus too much on the talents of others and seek the social approval of parents, coaches and other players, which leads to distraction to the task at hand.  Athletes should learn to concentrate on their game, perfectionism, fear of failure, social approval, worrying about what others think will hinder a participant's development.  The academy attempts to remove as many of these as is possible and challenge each through individual skill drills.   People's belief that the Canadian Elite Academy will only be catering to the best players in the sport, art or activity is an incorrect assumption. Each player has their own elite level. Our coaches strive to share what is necessary to allow players to move forward in their skills, taking them closer to a level of play that, for them, will be the best they might achieve.     In the past 12 months, we have offered 76 different sessions ranging from a single two-hour session to a 3-month long session to 833 athletes.   The feedback for those sessions was 4.8/5.0 from 372 responses.   The sessions are meant to mix high calibre with lower calibre athletes as they are not competing against each other; they are competing against themselves. A good athlete makes other players around them better.  An elite player is elite because of what they have inside, not who surrounds them.  Players are taught to look inside to find out why things are not good.  They need to learn to excel because of a positive drive inside themselves to be better tomorrow than today.  If they are looking outside themselves for why they are not excelling, they are looking for excuses.

The last two weeks were hectic.  We had approximately 100 athletes participating in the Beach 2 training, the Age 11-13 Outdoor Volleyball camp and the Setter, Libero and Hitter Camp.  Thank you to all the participants, and I look forward to the next couple of weeks as we continue our beach training.   Sask Volleyball is excited to announce BEACH PROVINCIALS August 20-22 in Regina!!!! Youth: 14UM, 14UW, 16UM, 16UW, 18UM, 18UW Registration is $70 per team, and the deadline to register is August 6. Youth Beach Provincials Making the Cut Camp The Making the Cut Camps are rapidly approaching and currently have 50 spots filled.  Register soon; we are offering four different camps.   Elementary school camp – Athletes in Elementary School Junior High School Camp – Grade 9-10 High School Athletes Rookie Senior High School Camp – Grade 10 and 11 High School Athletes Returning Senior High School Camp – Grade 11 and 12 High School Athletes   The Grade levels indicated above are just suggestions. Athletes should attend the group they believe they would benefit from the most.