Displaced high school volleyball players have Canadian Elite Academy as option

• Saskatoon StarPhoenix
• 5 Sep 2020
• DARREN ZARY dzary@postmedia.com

MATT SMITH

Emjay Koller bumps the ball during the King and Queen of the Beach three-day beach volleyball tournament earlier this week at Father Robinson school. Volleyball players such as Koller will have a way to keep their skills sharp despite the loss of high school sports.

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.

 

Making the Cut Camp Update!

THE ACADEMY'S PREMIER CAMP Are you going to be ready for your school team tryouts?  Come attend the best volleyball camp the Academy offers. Making the Cut starts this Monday and runs for four days.  I thought it would be worth dropping a quick note about the amount of space available at this camp. We have 1 spot left in the Elementary School Camp We have 2 spots left in the Junior High School Camp We have 3 spots left in the Rookie High School Senior Camp We have 3 spots left in the Returning High School Senior Camp This is our Premier Camp for the year; we have 7 Senior Coaches and 5 intern coaches working at this camp.  The camp is full when we have 36 athletes in the gym for each time slot.  At the academy, we try to offer the best coach-to-athlete ratio to ensure that each athlete’s needs are met. We look forward to this camp every year, we hope to see you on the court. Find out more details on the Registration website.

 

Thank you for the Opportunity!

Any insights you have would be of great help. Our beach training has ended.  I miss it already.  Thank you for allowing Leanne McGettigan and me the opportunity to work with the athletes.  I really enjoyed the chance to get to know them better and watching them represent at the VOGO tournaments.  Good luck to the players who will be attending the SVA province tournament.  We tried a different format at the end of the training session; in the last two weeks, we let them come and play and work on all that they had learned in a game situation.  I promised to only coach if asked to by the pairs of athletes.  This allowed them to work on building the duos into a team.  They were allowed to attend all 20 hours each of the weeks or whenever fit into their schedule.  We would like to hear what you thought of this change to the training.  Did you like it, or should we have stuck to the training format used in the other sessions?  This feedback will assist us in planning for the following year. Give Feedback Pick a Fall Event to Attend! The Making the Cut Camps are coming up in 7 days.  This is the academy’s biggest camp of the year, with room for 72+ athletes.  We have a senior coaching staff of Darren Cannell, Robert Dziadyk, Stacey Thomson, Toako Chie Imamura, Michele McKeown and Jenna Maerz. The senior coaching staff will be supported by intern coaches, including Keegan Colleaux, Jaime Waskowic, Katie Young, and Ayaka Imamura.  The camp is almost full.  The Elementary School Camp has one spot left in it. The Junior High School Camp has three spots left in it. The Rookie High School Camp has four spots left in it. The Returning High School Camp has one spot left in it. Looking forward to seeing you on the court soon.   This up and coming week, I have set aside for private lesson at the IceBox training center.  If you are interested in a private lesson next week, go onto the website and register and then we will contact you to set up a date and time of the lesson.  This will allow some athletes to work on that skill they find a challenge and better prepare for the school tryouts.   We moved the School day Academy sessions and Jump training sessions later in the day.  Allow more athletes the opportunity to attend.  If you are interested, check these programs, they were highly successful last year. We are also adding in September the Thursday night skills training.  It runs for 6 weeks and allows for Basic training as well as advanced training. Hope to see you all on the courts soon. Register   The New Academy Merchandise Manager has some awesome deals on volleyball clothes which will be available at the Making the Cut Camp.  Plan to drop by and see what is available!

 

Fall Sessions are Here!

We are coming rapidly to the end of beach season.  We are announcing new sessions for the end of August, September and October.  Check them out. There is something there for everyone.  If you are not sure your school team schedules do not fret, register to make sure you have reserved a spot, and we will refund you if a conflict arises.   Due to the date change in the Making the Cut camp, some athletes have found they cannot attend the camp. The change has also resulted in my ability to be available to do some private lessons.  If you cannot participate in a Making the Cut Camp, get some friends together and make your own camp. Private lessons are designed to allow the athletes to choose the topic of the session. A private lesson can be for one-four athletes. The session price is the same if one or four athletes attend the session. A couple of day’s notice is required to allow the Academy to find the best coach to run the chosen skill. The private lessons are top-rated as they allow the athletes to work one on one with our talented coaches. The most popular sessions are the three “S” of volleyball. The three “S” of volleyball are serving, setting, and spiking. Register now We are still accepting registration for the Making the Cut Camps, some of them are filling, but there is still room. The skills of the Volleyball series will be offered on Thursday in September and October.  The skills being covered are serving, passing, setting, blocking, digging and hitting. Check this out one hour of basic skills training then one hour of advanced skill training.  Register for all of them and save some money. The School day Academy is back for Elementary and High school athletes.  .  These are month-long training sessions.  The most fun activity developed during the pandemic was the Jump training.  This fun-filled hard work resulted in lots of athletes increasing their agility and jump.  This should be a must for all serious volleyball players. Register now

 

Halfway through Summer

Feature the star of your collection first. Summer is always a hard time to run a camp as many people go on vacations. But after COVID, it is even more critical for families to get together.   This has resulted in some athletes missing some of the beach training for vacation.  To make up for some of these missed training opportunities we are going to try something new for the last two weeks of training. You can train for up to 20 hours! For the last two weeks of beach training, the athletes can attend all the sessions. (20 hours)  At the very least, the session in which they are registered. (4 hours)  This flexibility will allow the athletes 4 hours a week or up to 20 hours a week of training. The sessions occur from 2-8 pm on Monday and Wednesday and 4-8 pm on Tuesday and Thursday.  That is 20 hours of training, and an athlete can attend all 20 hours or as many hours as they would like for each of the next two weeks.  The last Saskatoon Tournament is happening on August 7-8th, and Provincials is on August 21-22.  The open training for the next two weeks will allow the athletes to make sure they are well prepared for these two events.  Hope to see all the athletes. Please email us to let us  Email us so we know you are aware! The Making the Cut Camps have all been condensed down into a single week rather than the original two weeks of camp.  If you have registered for any one of the four camps, make sure you know the date and time changes.  Let the academy know if the time changes work for you or not. If not, we will issue a full refund and our apology for the necessary changes.  The Making the Cut Camps are as follows now. August 23-26 Elementary school team athletes camp – Grade 6-8 Sessions -  8-10 am, 12-2 pm and 4-6 pm Junior High Schoo Athletes camp -  Grade 9-10 Sessions -  8-10 am, 12-2 pm and 4-6 pm Rookie Senior High School Athletes camp – Grade 10-11 Sessions -  10-12 pm, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm Returning Senior High School Athletes camp – Grade 11-12 Sessions -  10-12 am, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm The number of athletes in each of the four camps has been divided in half. If you plan to attend, you might want to register soon as some of the sessions are almost filled already. Please email us to let us  Some sessions are almost full The Making the Cut Camps are as follows now.  Feel free to register in the session in which you would be the most challenged.  Grade 8 athletes who have played one or two years of club volleyball should register in the Junior High School Sessions but are welcome to remain in the Elementary sessions if that is more comfortable for them.  Grade 9 should not register in anything other than the Elementary and Junior High School Sessions.  Grade 10 athletes can register in Junior or Senior sessions.  If the athlete has planned on trying out for the senior team at their school then they should not be in the Junior sessions.  Grade 11-12 should only register in the high school sessions.  The placement of the athletes should be a decision made by the parents and not the academy staff.  It is not good for an athlete to always play up a level as they never learn how to lead and be the best in their group.  Many very talented athletes get pushed up in age brackets for club and do not get that opportunity to learn to make others around them better and learn how to be a leader.  It is good for an athlete's development to be the best on their team or in their group.  It builds confidence.  August 23-26 Elementary school team athletes camp – Grade 6-8 Sessions -  8-10 am, 12-2 pm and 4-6 pm Junior High Schoo Athletes camp -  Grade 9-10 Sessions -  8-10 am, 12-2 pm and 4-6 pm Rookie Senior High School Athletes camp – Grade 10-11 Sessions -  10-12 pm, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm Returning Senior High School Athletes camp – Grade 11-12 Sessions -  10-12 am, 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm The number of athletes in each of the four camps has been divided in half. If you plan to attend, you might want to register soon as some of the sessions are almost filled already.

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.

 

Sweltering Hot Beach Volleyball

Hot really Hot!

Beach Volleyball sessions have been hot, sweltering this past week.  We had to go to the splash park after the first hour to not overheat in the second hour.  The 11-13-year-old outdoor volleyball camp was packed. All the athletes were at every session; the intern coaches of Jaime Waskowic, Brynn Lewis, Ayaka Imamura, Katie Young and Sarah Ha did an excellent job.  Chie Imamura was, as always a great assistant coach.  The feedback from the camp was positive.

• Great coaches. Fun and effective drills! My daughter loved it and learned so much!
• Great coaching! Lots of fun for a first-timer! Thank you!
• Wonderful camp! The kids really enjoyed it. Thank you!!!
• Great location, appropriate and challenging instruction, with skilled athletes coaching and mentoring. The kids were motivated to go even on the last day and in the heat! Thanks so much.
• Such a great camp! And was so good to see how much the kids improved over the week. Wonderful coaches!
• My daughter had so much fun and learned so much. Highly recommended!

Setter, Libero and Hitter Camp The Setter, Libero and Hitter camp starts on Monday.  Toako Chie Imamura will be the setter coach.  David Chuong will be the Libero coach, and Michele McKeown will be the hitter coach.  There is still room if you want to join up.

Don't miss this camp. If you are going to attend one camp this summer.  Making the Cut is the best. Making the Cut Camps are starting to fill, so reserve your spot soon.

School day academy and Jump training The September School Day academy sessions are now accepting registrations.  There will be three different groups, elementary, junior high school and senior high school.  Join these twice-a-week sessions. September Jump training will start up again, this twice-a-week training is so much fun, and I am looking forward to coaching it again. See you on the court soon

VLS300 Beach Champ Ball I found a great deal on the VLS300 Beach Champ balls again and offered them for 90 dollars a ball.  I only have a limited number.  Over the last couple of weeks, I could only find them for 120-175 dollars on Amazon.  These are the best beach volleyballs you can buy.