The OVA Athlete Development staff and Team Ontario coaches are committed to deliver the highest quality training programs to Ontario volleyball players. Honouring this commitment during these challenging times calls for creativity and innovation.
Here are some adjustments we will be making to our 2020 Team Ontario programming in order to maintain the integrity of the program, to maintain our commitment to excellence and to keep as many athletes as possible on the Team Ontario high performance pathway:
All Team Ontario indoor and beach programs will be delivered online until further notice. The main reasons for this decision are:
Too much uncertainty around our ability to come together this summer and deliver our regular training. Our programs bring a lot of athletes together and we don’t know what size gatherings will be allowed and whether or not our training facilities will be open.
After an extended period without training, athletes are losing their adaptation to the physical load of playing volleyball. The high intensity of our regular training camp format would put athletes are an increased risk of injury.
The situation will be assessed weekly and adjustments to move training back to the courts will be made when it is safe for us to do so. If we do move back to court training, the size of our training groups and the format of training will be adapted to maintain the safety of all participants.
The only Team Ontario programs that will run in 2020 are:
Team Ontario Black indoor and beach
Team Ontario Red indoor and beach
Team Ontario Academy (NEW)
Athletes will be selected to the Team Ontario Red and Team Ontario Black indoor and beach programs only. All other programs including Team Ontario Regional Program, Tall Maples and Team Ontario White are replaced with the new Team Ontario Academy program.
We are creating the Team Ontario Academy.
This new program was created to support the athletes who will not be selected to Team Ontario Red or Team Ontario Black. It replaces the Team Ontario Regional program, Tall Maples and Team Ontario White. It is meant to support athletes in staying connected to the Team Ontario high performance pathway. Through this program, athletes will be offered learning opportunities in all 4 pillars of the Volleyball Canada Athlete Development Framework. The sessions will be delivered by our Team Ontario coaches themselves and other experts from our integrated support team. It will be an opportunity for athletes to take ownership of their development process and for our Team Ontario staff to guide them along the way.
These adjustments were made because of our commitment to the highest quality of program delivery. We believe these programs will provide tremendous value to the athletes who participate and will help them move towards achieving their volleyball goals.
More details on the online Team Ontario programs will be available in the coming days and weeks as we develop the curriculum in consultation with our coaches, so stay tuned for updates.
We will host an information/Q&A session about the new Team Ontario Academy on Monday May 25th @ 7:00 p.m.
Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pcOyvqD0tHNXoIHBA_ugktK0MjHt9s40V