Message from the Athlete Development Staff:
On behalf of the Athlete Development team at the OVA, we hope that you are all staying safe and keeping healthy. We understand that this season has not been what you were expecting and trust us, this is not what we were expecting either. We miss going to tournaments and seeing all of you on court! We know that we will return to the courts when it is safe to do so, so in the meantime make sure you are saying positive and staying on top of the ball by practicing your skills in your home.
On a brighter note, we are very excited for our summer programs! We are spending this quieter time thinking of new ways to make our programs great. Scheduling, planning, and coordinating on court and in classroom sessions. We cannot wait for another awesome summer with Team Ontario!
As you know, athletes selected to indoor and integrated Team Ontario programs are chosen through the Athlete Identification Process. Beach Team Ontario athletes can also be selected through physical testing at Ontario Championships. We were able to complete a large amount of evaluations in January and February, however not all of them. Since all remaining weekend tournaments have been cancelled and uncertainty remains around Ontario Championship, we need to rethink the way we evaluate athletes. We have consulted with our Team Ontario coaches and we have decided to modify the selection process the following way:
· Final selection of players for all programs (indoor, integrated and beach) will not happen through in-game evaluations or physical testing anymore. Instead, all programs will have a final tryout planned for the end of May or early June.
· The goal of our identification process is now to identify the players who will attend the final tryouts. Unfortunately, with hundreds of players per age group, we don’t have the capacity to invite everyone to a tryout
· The players that we have not yet seen will be evaluated through video. We will reach out to parents and coaches in the near future to get footage from recent tournaments and will evaluate players the same way we do when we physically attend an OVA event.
· We may or may not contact you depending on:
o Whether you were already evaluated or not. We don’t need video of players who were already assessed
o Whether we are able to get game video from your coaches or not
As always, we are committed to provide all players with an evaluation process that is thorough and fair. Delivering quality in everything we do is a priority. As such, at the end of this process, you will either receive an invitation to the final tryout or a formal evaluation report with scores and feedback. This will give you the confirmation that we have seen everyone who registered for an evaluation.
We know that this is a different process, but we are hoping that everyone understands the circumstances we are in and that you trust us in choosing the best option to allow for quality observation of athletes.
On a different note, the OVA has issued a Stay on Top of the Ball Challenge on our Instagram account @ova_updates. We are really enjoying seeing how OVA members are staying in shape and practicing your skills. If you have not done so already, tag us in your videos and you could be featured on our Instagram account!
To stay up to date on all things Team Ontario, make sure you are checking our new website: www.teamontariovolleyball.org We will be posting program updates, athlete/coach profiles, etc. that you won’t want to miss out on.
If you have any questions, please reach out by sending a message to lbreadner@ontariovolleyball.org
Stay safe OVA!
Sincerely,
Athlete Development Team