The six W's

The academy tries to provide what athletes need to do the work.

To become an Elite player in any sport and athlete has to put in the work.  Many athletes only work when in front of a coach but this is not enough for athletes to achieve the elite status that they wish to achieve.  Athletes need to put in at least as much or more work on their own perfecting their skills.  To do this they need to practice and play the game.  The academy hosts two hours of free beach volleyball play every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 - 4:00 pm at the Father Robinson School.  This will begin in July and August.

Beach volleyball is one of the best ways to improve your indoor skills with foot speed, strength, and agility.  Take full advantage of this free beach play time to develop your game.

Many people have asked about the "Making the Cut Camp" in August and how is it different from other camps.  We tend to focus on teaching not only the skills of the sport but also how an athlete needs to act to give them the best chance to make their school teams.  This year we are offering two different camps.

The Youth Academy camp is designed to allow athletes who are younger still in Elementary school and have not played on a High School team or Club team.  They should be new to the sport and need basic skill training and lots of touches.

The Elite Academy camp is designed to allow athletes who are older in High School and have played on a High School team or Club team.  They are not new to the sport but need to shake off the summer rust, work on their skill development, eliminate bad habits and make a large number of touches allowing them to prepare for school tryouts.

In the last two years, the camp has sold out and has received a 5/5 rating by the participants, the 10 athletes to one coach and the camp format have made it popular and we hope to continue this history.

Volleyball Travel

May and the beginning of June have been busy with travel, it did mean that as Head Coach for the academy I was not around to do as many sessions as I would have liked but it did give me an opportunity to watch a lot of great coaches, athletes, and volleyball people.  We are very lucky to be part of the volleyball world and the great people involved.  I feel truly blessed.  

Ottawa Nationals May 1-6

Being the Volleyball Canada Representative at the Under 14 Girls and Boys allowed me to watch some pretty exceptional volleyball people.  This is me handing out an Outstanding coach award.  

Regina Nationals May 17 - 20

As Volleyball Canada Representative watching the Under 16 Girls and Under 15 boys play for the medals.  Wow some unbelievable volleyball people and an excellent learning experience watching the coaching working with their athletes.  Again the image about is me handing out an outstanding coach award

Ohio US Open May 23 -27

Talking about the Volleyball Community, the US Open is a huge competition of all different age classes.  I was asked to coach the Canadian Over 55 women's team at this event.  I again had the opportunity to meet a group of ladies who were legends of the game and reconnect with some past teammates who are still playing this beautiful sport.  I again got a chance to watch some immensely talented athletes and coaches, the learning continues and as a bonus, it was the first time I coached my wife.

Volleyball Canada Convention June 6 -10

This is the collection of Volleyball people from each of the provinces and territories who help make volleyball happen in this country and I am honored to represent Saskatchewan at this event.  I will also get a chance to watch our National men's team play in the Nations League against Australia and Germany.  Watching the best male players in Canada is a great opportunity to watch the way the game is changing and how beautiful the sport of volleyball can actually be when played right.

Las Vegas  AOC clinic June 15 -16

I get a chance to learn from exceptional coaches at this clinic.  Almost every coach who has searched for skill videos in volleyball have watched an Art of Coaching how-to video.  The coaches are some of the best North America has to offer and I am so excited to meet and learn from these coaches for these two days.  

Once I have attended all these events I hope to bring back what I have learned and share it with the athletes and the volleyball community in which I am honored to be able to be involved.

Our t-shirts for Making the Cut camp

Making the Cut Camps provide a shirt to every participant...this year's design is shown below.

Ohio US Open Championship

I got to coach the Canadian 55+ Master Women's team in Ohio.  We finished sixth...not bad at all.

Volleyball Canada Rep in Ottawa Nationals and Regina Nations

In May I was lucky enough to be the Volleyball Canada Rep for the National Championship in Ottawa and in Regina.  Meet some great coaches, athletes, and parents.  I was honored to hand out coaching awards to four different talented coaches as shown in the images below.

No gym times all summer...what does that mean.

The Canadian Elite Academy views summer as a time to rest and relax and play some beach.  For this reason, we do not offer planned out sessions.  However, we do organize private sessions for those athletes who want to work on a skill during the summer.  The private sessions are organized when requested by an athlete and they are done at the beach courts.  The sand on the beach courts forces an athlete to really be aware of their footwork and it can be a great way for an athlete to perfect a skill.  The sand, wind, and sun force an athlete to work on getting their body into the right location to perform a skill, the little cheats that one can get away with on the hard court will not work in the outdoor elements.  This makes the sand a great location for private lessons and a great time to schedule the necessary time to help guide one's training for the summer.  The other great thing about private beach sessions is that we can offer them cheaper as we do not have the gym costs.  So, private lessons are $125.00 instead of the indoor private sessions which are $149.00

Plan a session

Beach Elite Academy begins

June 4th 2019

Come find out why this training is Elite.  Many of the high skilled athletes are back.  The best Beach coach in the province is back and we are looking forward to another successful season.

https://canadianeliteacademy.corsizio.com/c/5c57d78812ea579823e990a0

Coaching Professional Development

The Canadian Elite Academy has offered sessions to over 319 different participants in the last couple of years.  Currently, the success of the academy is based on the fact that team coaches spend so much time on building the team they do not get the opportunity to help with the individual skill training needed to build skilled volleyball players.  The whole mandate behind the academy is to break down the skills, spend two hours teaching a single skill, to give the athletes the skill instruction which they can then take and work on when they get a chance.  The academy tries to give the young athletes the foundation to develop the skill correctly so when they get older coaches are not spending their whole practice trying to break bad habits. During this time we have utilized some of the best coaches in the province to offer these sessions.  If sessions have small enrolments then Dr. Darren Cannell is the head coach but if the sessions warrant the use of other coaches to teach specific skills.  During these sessions, we have had numerous requested from coaches who wish to use the sessions as professional development opportunities and watch the sessions from the side and take notes about the talented coach’s approach to teaching the individual skills.

Here are the parameters that Volleyball Canada considers necessary to approve a Non-NCCP event and award Professional Development points:

• 1-3 hours
• Instruction takes place
• Opportunities for discussion and reflection are available (30-100% of the time)
• Instructors/Coaches are NCCP Certified in the context that they are working, and are using current VC coaching methodology (to be verified by the PSO, NSO, or PSO representative). If coaches are not certified within the NCCP, they must possess other professional or international certifications or designations.
• If the learning environment is a practice in which instructors work with coaches, the training sessions must be delivered in small-group (minimum 4) or large-group (12-16) settings, and not in individual sessions.

Coaches will be able to watch the practice and the academy coach(es) will share any plans they have available.  If the Academy Head Coach is not the one coaching then he will sit and explain the process, the drills and the approach as the practice is in progress.  All the Academy practices are coed, and players are of all skill levels, all instruction is individualized and designed to take a skill to the next level.  For each athlete, this level might be different.  The pre-brief will happen during the 15 minutes before and if the presenting coach wishes they will be available 15 minutes after the session to answer questions. The head coach will be available for most of the two hours to answer questions when the head coach is coaching, then he would invite the coach to join in with the practice as an assistant and then they can be involved with ball tossing and activity but a silent observer.  If the head coach knows the coach and their level he might encourage the observing coach to be more vocally involved.  The observing coach during the sessions will be able to see the approach to skill development, the practice pace, how the instructions are given and the cues and feedback are given.  They will also see a wide variety of different drills to used to help instruct the skill being taught.  Currently, the academy have this happening with a lot of different coaches and parents as we have open practices and anyone can watch and ask questions of the sessions.  Many bring notebooks and take notes during practice.  The only change that would make to process is the administration and registering the coaches before they attend to achieve the coaching professional development point.  The academy coaches are asked to help complete teams with individual skills and we then attend their practices and the team coaches write down our whole process and pick and choose what they like and how they might incorporate it into their team practices.   

There are so many different ways to teach each of the different volleyball skills and using a variety of coaches allow the academy to share these different methods.  Different is not always wrong, but one method might work with one athlete and not with another.  The more coaches I get involved in the academy the more drills and approaches I have learned which has greatly improved my coaching and we would like to share this professional development with other coaches.  I know I am a visual learner and I have learned more about coaching volleyball by watching others coach during practices and I know there are others who also learn that way