August 21, 2006 - As the CAPS
18U 2005-2006 season came to an end, all of us were sad that it was
over. But for coach Cathy O'Doherty, Stephanie
McGuinty, Jessica Zéroual, Kate Eckhardt and
Katee Luecke, the journey had just begun. Attending the
OVA 18 & Under High Performance Centre at Brock University in
St. Catherines, Ontario was something we were all looking forward to.
This centre consisted of five days of hard training, mental and
physical classroom sessions, and a bit of social time with the top 40
athletes in Ontario. It was a privilege to attend this camp with
experienced coaches and athletes, all of whom had one goal in common;
to be part of Team Ontario 2006.
During the first two days, all the girls
trained together, and for the rest of the week, all forty of us were
divided into four teams of ten. All the Ottawa girls were
separated, but it was great to learn from different coaches, and play
with girls we had never played with before. On the last day of
the centre, there was a 'mini-tournament'. Jessica, Katee, Kate
and Steph all showed a great deal of determination, motivation and
great individual and team play. Jessica's team came 1st,
Stephanie's 2nd, 3rd place went to Katee's team and Kate's got 4th,
but all the teams performed extremely well. After 5 tiring days
at the centre, it was easy to say that all of us had improved alot.
The mental training classes, learning new drills, and meeting new
players from all over the province made the HPC experience a memorable
one. There was only one thing on our minds after that: "Who
would be chosen to be on Team Ontario?"
Next thing you know, Steph, Katee, Jess and
Coach Cathy were training in the hot Queen's University gyms
with the 17 other girls that were chosen to represent the
province. Matt Harris was also chosen to be the assistant
coach for the boys 18U team. Despite the heat, we managed to
keep up to the intense pace set by the other players and coaches, and
showed our best game at all times. As Arif, one of the coaches
would say "Perfection is what we are looking for here with
Team Ontario, nothing less". With that in mind, we were all
set for what we knew would be a summer of technical development and
mental concentration.
The other facility we used in Kingston was
the Royal Military College (RMC). It was great to practice at
RMC - not only did we get training time in this "slightly less hot"
facility, but we had a chance to practice with a
serving/setting/hitting machine, do some weight training with a
professional personal trainer and pool exercise with an instructor.
During the course of those few days, we all became good
friends.
As we waited once again to find out what
teams we would play on, the practices were getting more and more
intense, with a lot of scrimmage and wash drills. A few days
later, Team Ontario Red and White were formed.
Stephanie was on Ontario Red with Coach Arif Nathoo and Diane, while
Jess and Katee were on Ontario White, coached by Cathy O'Doherty and
Chris Williamson. Both teams showed a great deal of skill and
determination, while the coaches planned their practices according to
the group's needs. Ontario was going to have two very strong
teams.
On July 22nd, early in the morning, we were
on the plane on our way to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Ottawa girls
and Coach Cathy arrived all together in shape and ready to train and
compete against the other provinces. The girls' and boys'
teams were made to feel very welcome in residence at the Canadian
Mennonite University (CMU) with great food and good facilities.
We trained for 5 days with our teams, and scrimmaged in the evenings
against Manitoba's provincial team. Since the gyms in Kingston
and St.Catherine's were hot, we did not have a hard time adjusting to
the practice gyms in Winnipeg. During the training days, both
teams gave it their all, getting rid of their 'kinks' and introducing
tactical strategies and plays to make both teams victorious.
After 5 more days of training, all the athletes were ready to compete
and give it their all.
For the last 4 days, both girls' and
boys' teams competed in the National Team Challenge Cup
(NTCC), along with most Canadian provinces. Most of the teams
played a fast style of ball so, as a player on Team Ontario, you had
to be very quick on your feet. Ontario performed very well in
this tournament. Both teams were in the top eight. Ontario
Red won bronze and Ontario White placed 7th. As for the boys
teams, Ontario 17U came 4th and the 18U team came in
5th.
It was great to see both Coach Cathy
coaching the girls and Matt Harris coaching on the boys side for Team
Ontario. As usual, they did a tremendous job. Both brought
great knowledge to the team as well as their devotion and love for the
sport. We learned a lot being on this team by playing with
Ontario's top players. Individually we all grew and took our
play to a new level.
Not only did we practice for many hours
with Team Ontario, but we had time to bond as a team and enjoyed lots
of great experiences together. Here are some of the highlights
of the Team Ontario experience:
- relaxing in the common room with both boys
and girls teams, listening to "Sexy Back"
- Jessica dying her hair BLONDE after losing a bet to her team
- going to the movies and visiting The Forks in Winnipeg
- Finishing the puzzle... What an accomplishment!
- Katee getting the award for best bargain shopper at Value
Village
- Going to the zoo in Winnipeg
- Meeting new players from other provinces
- Steph and Jess having the most fans in their room and having the
greatest times being roommates in Kingston.
Everywhere we went with the team, we took
pictures to cherish the moments we had all together. You always try to
take everything in and appreciate what the people around you do for
you. It will be great to bring all that we learned over the
course of those few weeks to our last club season in
2006-2007.
We would like to send a special thank you
to the Ontario Volleyball Association, especially to Dustin
Reid and to all the dedicated coaches who gave their time this
summer to make this experience one of the best in our lives. The
Ottawa girls are very proud and thankful to have been a part of Team
Ontario 2006.
Team Ontario
White:
Erinn Bickle
Lorna Button
Sarah Kiernan
Katee Luecke
Megan Melissis
Maddison
Molyneux
Thinesa
Sriskandarajah
Rachel Vuckson
Sarah Wheatcroft
Jessica
Zéroual
Coaches:
Cathy O'Doherty
Chris Williamson
Team Ontario
Red:
Landis Doyle
Stephanie Ebreo
Louise Facca
Steph McGuinty
Annabelle
Pellerin
Margot Randall
Jackie Sauvé
Haley
Todd
Amy
Town
Robyn
West
Coaches:
Arif
Nathoo
Diane (name to
come)
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