Displaced high school volleyball players have Canadian Elite Academy as option
Displaced high school volleyball players have Canadian Elite Academy as option
- Saskatoon StarPhoenix
- DARREN ZARY dzary@postmedia.com
Saskatoon's high school volleyball players no longer have to stay out of touch.
The 2020 fall season won't be totally lost for a group of highschool-aged volleyball players in the city.
The Canadian Elite Academy is offering a school-day run program for dedicated volleyball athletes who are interested in “taking their skills to the next level,” head coach Darren Cannell said.
The academy is targeting athletes from Grades 9 to 12 for its volleyball program, which includes both basic training and advanced training options during weekday afternoons, Monday to Thursday, at the Henk Ruys Soccer Centre.
“When the school sports ended, and they weren't going to have it this year, I thought this would be a prime opportunity to start the school-day academy,” said Cannell, a former Saskatoon teacher who served as president of the Saskatchewan Volleyball Association and as a Volleyball Canada director for 10 years.
The academy allows for 15 spots for female and 15 spots for male players in each of the basic and advanced sessions for each school cycle.
The first cycle will run from Sept. 14 to Nov. 10 to coincide with the Saskatoon high schools' new block system.
Adam Webster, a Grade 11 student and libero at St. Joseph High School, is enrolled in the Elite Academy's advanced program.
“For me, it's a chance to keep working and keep playing,” Webster said. “And it's super-important because we don't have the school volleyball any more."
The Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate announced in late August that all fall high school sports — football, soccer and volleyball — are cancelled.
“I was upset at first, but I'd rather be safe and not have other people get infected,” Webster said. “Now I still get my time to play volleyball with my friends, so I wasn't overly upset after a little while.
“There's always something to improve or to work on. My primary role is a libero, so that's passing and defence, and Darren's very good at teaching me the mental game of that, as well.”
Cannell, who spent five years playing for the Brock University Badgers, has coached at the local club, provincial and national level. After a 31-year teaching career, Cannell got involved with the Elite Academy, which also offers art and basketball programming.
“I'm the head coach and what I do is bring in as many talented coaches as I can find to come in and help with the academy,” Cannell said.
Cannell also has played at the senior club level, as well as beach. He has played on Canada's national master men's squad.
The volleyball academy has been around for three years, since 2017.
"I don't coach any teams; what I do is I just teach skills,” Cannell explained. “I go around and find the best coaches I know in each one of the different skills and then I get them to come in and do a two-hour session and I charge kids to come to the two-hour session.”
Cannell said he has enough kids signed up to cover his basic costs, like gym rental.
“I'm looking at it as this is the first time we're running it and the kids aren't too sure what's going on with school (classes),” Cannell said.
“The fact that I have that many shocked me, because they haven't even been to school yet to see if they can change schedules and stuff like that, to try and put a spare in their (afternoon) or if they have to take a cyber school class. If they are in Grade 10, 11 or 12, they can get issued a special credit.”
Along with skill development, Cannell said there is always internal competition and mini games within the group. His goal is to eventually run a league for the high school students once evening gym time becomes available.
“What I plan on doing for the league is having a women's league, a coed league which normally doesn't happen in the high schools, and then a men's league ... It would give them a chance to play so they're not sitting inactive for four months.”
I go around and find the best coaches I know in each one of the different skills and then I get them to come in and do a two-hour session.
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