Summer Camps

 

Summer Camps

Beach sessions are full.

All the beach sessions are pretty well full, and we only have the camps left for the rest of the summer. 
We still have limited space left for the Setter, Libero and Hitter camp on July 19-22.  Toako Chie Imamura is our Setter coach for this camp.  The Libero coach will be David Chuong, and the Hitter coach will be Michele McKeown.  Darren Cannell will be in and out every so often during the week, but most of his time will be spent on the beach training the 2’s athletes.

Making the Cut Camps

Then starting on August 16-19, we have the first two Making the Cut Camps – the Elementary athletes and the Junior high School athletes.
On August 23-26, we have the Making the Cut Camps for the athletes trying out for the Senior high School team.  These two groups are the first-time or Rookie Senior players and the Returning Senior players.
The Making the Cut camps are the most popular of all the camps we offer, and with the “return to normal”, athletes will be playing in school this year and will need to try out for those teams.  These camps are designed to prepare you for the tryouts.  Lots of touches, lots of games and lots of fun.

Thursday's Rain

It rained hard on Thursday and we continue to play, after all, you can only get so wet.  Then we do what any normal beach player would do we took a photo in the puddle.  It was so much fun.  Hope it rains again, soon.

 

Summer Heat and Volleyball

Brutal Heat last week.

Last week's heat was brutal on the Beach Volleyball players. Still, the elements are what make beach volleyball such an incredible sport.  The team that learns how to play no matter the elements will be successful in this sport.  I loved watching the Elite Teams play in the tournaments and look forward to seeing them again in the next tournament and in provincials.
The lime green beach elite shirts stand out, and at one time, out of the 16 teams on the court at the last tournament, 12 of them were elite players.  Nice to see them represent.  Congrats to all who took part, and we will continue to offer the training to find success.
Monday, we add another group of beach athletes, bringing our numbers to 56 beach players. 
If you are interested in joining the beach volleyball sessions check out which spots are available or contact us and ask.

First-ever 11-13-year-old camp

Then on Monday of next week, we will have the first-ever Age 11-13-year-old camp on the new sand.  This camp teaches the basic volleyball skills in the sand, an excellent opportunity to allow us to have a six-athlete-to-one-coach ratio.   We have 22 spots filled and only have room for two more athletes before it is full.

Making the Cut camps

School volleyball will be happening in the 2021-2022 school year.  The Making the Cut camps are the best way for athletes to shake off the cobwebs of COVID and a year of no competition before they go into school tryouts.  We have moved the Making the Cut camps back to the Sasktel Soccer Center, so we have lots of room.  We have also extended it over two weeks as the number continues to grow, and we will need the space.   The success of all the academy activities is because of the great coaches. They offer to share their expertise at our events.  A great thanks go out to all the coaches who have helped out to help in building the academy.

Beach Season and Summer Camps

 

Beach Seasons and Summer Camps

The first tournament that I was able to watch in a year happened this past weekend.  It was so much fun seeing past and present Elite Academy Beach players on the courts in Saskatoon at the VOGO Tournament.  The tournament was well run, the weather was fantastic, and the athletes worked hard in the heat.  Congrats to all the winners and participants. The month of June is coming to an end, and it has been some enjoyable weather this past month.  The beach training is going well on the new sand, with the wind has been blowing almost every day.  We start the new 2-4 pm beach training session on July 5.  Leanne McGettigan will be joining us as a coach for the session.  The 4-6 pm and 6-8 pm sessions will start the second month of training, and I look forward to the hot weather that is on its way. If you are interested, we have limited space in the July and August session. Summer Camps July is the start of the camp season at the academy. We offer the Age 11-13 Outdoor volleyball Camp and the Setter, Libero and Hitter Camp. There are less than 5 spots left open in each of these camps The High School team league in Saskatoon Schools will be happening in September.  The academy will be offering the Making the Cut Camps to prepare interested athletes in their quest to make their school teams.  The Making the Cut camp has been moved to the Sasktel Soccer Center on the east side.  Each of the four camps will be 8 hours of skills training and 4 hours of gameplay. We are looking forward to offering this exciting camp on the three courts like we have in the past years.  The Elementary School and Junior High School athletes camps will be in the first week on August 16-19th.  The second week will be the Senior High School team athletes on August 23-26th. One of the most viewed aspects of the Academy website is the photo gallery.  Check it out. Photo Gallery

The Saskatchewan Volleyball Community Lost a Member

 

Leo Van Dan 

We lost a member of the Volleyball community over the weekend.  Leo Van Dam died suddenly and will be missed.  He was the President of the Association for years and a board member.  He worked behind the scenes in many volleyball activities and will leave a hole that will be hard to fill.  He ran the Diggit Camp here in Saskatoon, as well as many other volleyball activities.  Our condolences go out to his family.

At the Academy!

 

The New Sand Has Arrived!

Coaching ratios

At the Academy, we attempt to keep a 10-1 ratio of athletes to coach to make sure the players get a quality experience.  The exception to this rule is the beach, where we have increased it to a 12-1 ratio of athletes.
The Academy is always seeking coaches to add to the talented coaches who currently run sessions.

Beach Coaching ratios
12-1 ratio of athletes to coach!

Darren Cannell is the head coach for the beach sessions
Leanne McGettigan is a head coach for one of the sessions
Starts Monday, June 7 for the Advanced players and June 8 for the Basic Players.  We have 73 athletes playing on the beach this summer, and we are very excited as we got new sand in the courts.
There is still space.

Setters, Liberos, and Hitter Camp ratios
10-1 ratio of athletes to coach!

David Chuong will be coaching the Liberos
Toako Chie Imamura will be coaching the Setters
Darren Cannell will be coaching the Hitters

There is still space.

Age 11-13 Volleyball Camp outdoors
6-1 ratio of athletes to coach!

Darren Cannell will be the head coach
Ayaka Imamura, Brynn Lewis and Emjay Koller will be Intern coaches during these sessions


There is still space.

Making the Cut Volleyball Camp 
10-1 ratio of athletes to coach!

Darren Cannell will be the head coach
Other coaches to be announced


There is still space

The Story of the Sand

Father Robinson School has net up at 8:00 am – 3:30 pm each day, with many athletes playing during the breaks in the school days. Starting at 4-8pm, the Canadian Elite Academy is active on the courts.  Over the last couple of years, the sand was getting low, so the Academy hosted a Queen and King of the Beach tournament and then used all the money raised to upgrade the sand.
The amount of sand far exceeded our ability to pay as the tournament did not raise enough to even come close to covering the cost of one of those truck loads.
There were 10 three-axle dump trucks and 2 two-axle dump trucks, which filled the courts with one to two feet or more sand than we had. We had over 300 plus tons of sand added.
A big thank you to Kent Koller at Allan Construction and Derek Lucik at Inland Aggregates for being fantastic corporate citizens.  Together they donated 99 percent of the sand, the transportation of the sand and then provided a Bobcat sled with an operator for 7 hours to flat out the sand in time for a session tomorrow.  I am so thankful to live in such a giving community and support the athletes in the Academy and Father Robinson Elementary School.

BEFORE

AFTER

Thank you to Allan Construction and InLand.

Beach Season is Coming

 

Someone needs to contact Mother Nature.

Tell her that we love to play in the rain, wind and stormy days, but we do not like snow and lightning.  We will play in the snow, but lightning is the only element we would not like to see.  Check the website for start dates and times.
The beach players need to make sure they bring the following to the courts:

• A beach volleyball – each player must have a beach volleyball (check the website for the academy store, I bought some last year, so the prices are not bad.)
• A water bottle
• A towel
• An umbrella
• Knee pads
• A warm rainproof coat
• A hat or bandana
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• A pair of beach socks (old socks can work as well)
• A lawn chair
• A change of clothes
• Green garbage bag to cover gym bag when it rains
• Some bandaids, to cover the nicks and cuts from the elements
• A roll of white tape – helps with minor sprains and holding the body together when necessary.
• A treat (energy bar)- two hours sessions in the sun are long, and energy is required
• A Mask – until the province tells us otherwise
• Knee braces, elbow braces etc., as needed. – this is more of a reminder for old players like me.
• A smile and a great attitude – this is necessary, it Mother Nature does not bring the sunshine, it is expected that the players must.
• Weekly treats for coaches

The beach season is two hours twice a week, with tournaments on the weekend.  The tournaments are not run by the academy, and teams will have to register for them separately.  The beach volleyball courts are people’s happy place; parents are welcome to come with their lawn chairs and watch the training.  It was in the past before the COVID, a social event and an excellent way to spend two hours socializing and meeting the other volleyball parents.
The academy’s goal for the beach is to prepare the 2s teams to compete in tournaments.  The benefits for the athletes are the agility and movement that will become evident when they go back to school and try out on the hardcourt that does not shift underneath then when they move.  They will be stronger, faster and have increased verticals.  We play music at every session and get an opportunity to scrimmage at the end of most sessions, and if we have no lightning or snow, it is one fantastic way to spend some of your summers.  After school finish for the summer, we will try to have some free sessions to just drop in and play.  Players are expected to bring their parents to play at these sessions.

And to end this newsletter, we also have some incredible camps happening this summer.  One of those camps is in the sand, and the others are on the hardcourt.  Hope to see you all there.

The painting at the beginning of this newsletter is one of my latest volleyball artworks.  It will make an excellent poster for the volleyball player in your family.  You can get it as large as 48” by 60”.  The site sells everything from canvas prints to shower curtains, phone cases, duvet covers, and cards.  Check them out.

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/volleyball-spiker-darren-cannell.html

 

Two weeks of the Shutdown is done!

Yes, I am missing the athletes but I needed the rest and the Variants of Concern had me nervous. The academy has been shut down except for private lessons for all of May.  Two more weeks to go before we start outside beach training.  I am so excited to start another year of beach training. I am looking forward to the tunes, the sun, the wind, the rain and all the elements which make it such a fun experience.  It is only a few weeks away. Don't miss out on this awesome training opportunity Although some of the beach 2s training sessions are sold out, we have had some cancellations due to injuries which have open up some hard-to-get slots.  If you are interested, check it out. We offer two different levels and two different start times. Basic sessions are for any players new to beach volleyball Advanced is for any player who has trained at least one beach season. The different start times are June-August and then two sessions with later start times of July –August Times we do sessions are 2-4 pm (only July-August), 4-6 pm and 6-8 pm Summer camps We have various camps coming up this summer, and these camps are starting to fill up.  The Making the Cut Camps will be smaller as we have broken them into four different age groups and spread the camps over 2 weeks.  Check it out and reserve your spots. Setter, Libero and Hitter Camp This is a position camp for athletes who are already starting to specialize in one position.  The setters should not be new to the position but the libero and hitters can be. Outdoor Volleyball Camp Age 11-13 The other camp is basic volleyball skills outdoors for age 11-13 years old athletes.- it is almost full, so do not wait to register for this one. The Winners Will At first glance, The Three Rules may sound harsh. You might even say they're cruel or unkind. They’re actually, though, a form of tough love. When it comes to talented athletes, many are held back by self-doubt more than any physical challenge they may face. Does any of this sound familiar to you as a developing, competitive athlete? You can’t stop thinking about a mistake you made when the score was tied and everyone saw or the look on the coach’s face when you missed an easy shot. You become trapped in your own head, stressing out over every little mistake you’ve made. Maybe you feel like everyone is looking at you and scrutinizing your every move. If so, there’s a good chance that you may be carrying an unnecessary mental and emotional weight into competition and you are suffering from the ‘burden of self’: Self-consciousness. Self-importance. Self-absorption. If you want to overcome the constant worry you feel…knowing and living out The Three Rules can help you overcome this obstacle. By using these simple rules, you can take your game to the next level and be the one who can compete with confidence. Instead of self-consciousness…focus on becoming self-aware. Instead of self-importance…focus on giving generously of yourself. And instead of self-absorption…focus on staying humble. For a detailed explanation of The Three Rules…listen to Podcast Episode #4 on our website – www.thewinnerwill.com - Gisele