Not fair. You should have seen the vertical jumps on the two closest to the camera, it was like they could fly.
This was the first Making the Cut Camp. Does anybody know when it was, I cannot remember!
Thank you to all the Academy's Staff
This newsletter will be a quick one as I am trying to prepare for the 108 athletes coming to the Making the Cut Camps Monday morning. I am excited to meet them all and see the talent coaches we have working at the camp do their stuff. Undoubtedly, the academy's coaching staff is why we sell out most of our activities. At the Making the Cut Camp, we have ten coaches and ten intern coaches. That is a ratio of 5.8 athletes to each coach. The lower the academy can keep this ratio, the more positive the camps in the summer have been.
Academy activities in September
School starts in September, and many of our athletes will be trying out for their school teams. Try not to be nervous, and remember, volleyball is a game, and it is meant to be fun. Good luck to you all, and I hope you all the best.
Alongside your school activities, we will offer a batch of next-generation group month-long sessions.
September Jump Training
September Jump Training (almost sold out) - everyone should do this at least once in their volleyball career. Your knees will thank you later in life.
NexGen Hitter Development
NexGen Hitter Development - the best part of volleyball is hitting, come and learn how to hit harder and higher by one of the best hitters ever to play university volleyball.
NexGen Libero Development
NexGen Libero Development - come and learn to pass like a libero. Even if you never plan on being a libero because you like hitting, this is still the session for you.
NexGen Setter Development
NexGen Setter Development - no one teaches setting better than this coach. One month and you will learn to set like a setter. You might never play that position, but everyone will sometimes need to pass the ball overhand.
EliteGen Setter Development
EliteGen Setter Development - you are a setter and want to get better. Again learn from the best setting coach we know.
NexGen Fundamental Development
NexGen Fundamental Development - a little bit of everything volleyball for the grade 4-6 and the second group for the grade 6-8 athletes. FUNdamental Development is the only weekend activity we offer in September.
The following two athletes were crowned as Royalty of Beach. One was the Monday and Wednesday groups and the other was Tuesday and Thursday groups.
Royalty of the Beach Monday and Wednesday
Congrats to Peyton Ashby on being the Monday and Wednesday groups Champion with 30 points. We honour her Royalty!
Royalty of the Beach Tuesday and Thursday
Congrats to Nada Raicevic on being the Tuesday and Thursday groups Champion with 27 points. We honour her Royalty!
Our beach volleyball training has ended, and it was great to see some of our athletes do well at the Provincial Championships in Regina. If you have any pictures of the athletes at Provincials, please send me copies via email, and I will put them in our photo gallery.
Our photo gallery has over 14 thousand images you can download and print off. We have uploaded them in a high resolution, so they will be made into posters or framed pictures of our athletes
We are entering into the last two weeks of the summer, and then starting the second week of September, the academy will move indoors. Most athletes are entering school volleyball, and the Making the Cut Camps are designed to help prepare them for the school tryouts. Both Sessions are sold out. So what can you do instead?
Many athletes are stressed about the upcoming school volleyball tryouts, and the academy offers a batch of private lessons this coming week. A private lesson allows the main athlete to pick the topic, select a time that would work for them on any of the three days, and select the coach they would like to instruct the session. Monday to Wednesday (August 12,13,14th), a private lesson can be for as many athletes as the main athlete would like to bring to the session. It can be for one person or for a whole team. When the sessions move back indoors in September, a Private lesson can only have between one and four athletes attend.
Thursday, we have the first ever Volleyball in the Park. You have to register on the site to attend, so I know how many nets to set up. We can set up as many as four courts and encourage athletes to come to play for free. You can meet some new volleyball friends or bring your own.
September is usually a slower month for the academy as many athletes want to see if they are selected to a school team and decide which academy sessions will fit into the school schedule. The academy's solution to this is the same as during COVID. The athletes have the freedom to select to attend Jump training or one of the Gen sessions and not worry about the overlap of school practices and games with the academy sessions. If you sign up for a session, you only pay for those you can attend. This causes issues with the academy's ability to offer sessions without losing money. An honest and dedicated approach to attending as often as possible is the foundation of any athlete's ability to develop into an elite athlete.
Month-long sessions September Jump Training from 7-8 (Most school teams are done practicing by then.) We will continue to offer Private lessons (but they will be indoors) NexGen Setters U14 and U15 age athletes (month-long session) EliteGen Setters U15 and U16 (again, a later practice time to not conflict with school practices) Weekend sessions NetGen Fundamentals for grades 4-6 (Sunday 10:00-12:00 pm) NexGen Fundamental for grades 6-8 (Sunday 11:00-1:00 pm) These sessions will continue to run until December. You will have to register for each month separately.
We will also offer private indoor lessons until Christmas to prepare for Club Season.
We have our year-end beach tournament for the beach 2's athletes that have been training this year with the Academy. The final week of beach volleyball will be a Royalty of the Beach tournament. Royalty of the court will be crowned if they rise above all other beach players. Each player is playing individually for the title. All the players from the Monday and Wednesday group will be in one tournament, and all the players in the Tuesday and Thursday group will be in the other tournament. The tournaments will start at 5:00 pm and go until 8:00 pm on both days on August the 8th week. We hope to see all the players out for this exciting beach year-end tournament.
Come on out and watch.
Outdoor Private Lessons
The week of August 15th to the 17th, we will be offering Private lessons to anyone who could not get into the Making the Cut Camp because it is all but sold out as we have two openings left in the Senior camp, and after that, we are full. This week's private lessons have no cap on the number of players attending the session (as long as it is below 12). The price for one athlete is the same as 12. So, bring your whole high school team out if you want. Anyways get your friends together and decide what you want to work on for an hour, and we will pick the best coach or coaches to give you some private instruction.
We will set up four courts on Thursday, August 8th, behind Father Robinson School. The first-ever Academy in the Park has two grass and two beach courts. It is a free event and opens to anyone who wants to come to play some volleyball. Hope to see your whole family or all your friends. I will play the music; you guys can play volleyball. Maybe you will play against some of our talented intern coaches or academy coaches. You have to register for this event but it is free!!!
Then we head back indoors. We have a whole slate of activities happening starting September 6th. Month-long jump training (almost full already), NexGen Setter month-long session, EliteGen Setter month-long session, Weekend NexGen Fundamental for grades 4-6 group and a group for grades 6-8. The start of September is also the school tryouts and usually a busy time for private lessons; we have booked the gym at Father Robinson School so we can accommodate the requests. Please register early as they typically sell out.
Hopefully, we will see you in the sun, sand and grass before we head back indoors. But school volleyball will be running full steam, so the Academy is here to do our best to help you get ready for the season on the hard court.
The summer photos are worth looking at and can be found at the top of our registration page; you will also find our blog there with all past newsletters and our store. We are totally sold out of all the beach volleyballs we bought last winter at the off-season sales, but we do have some U14 and U15 official balls and the U16 and U18 balls.
