May 30, 2007 - The
National Capitals Volleyball Club held its 3rd Annual Year-End
Banquet in Salon A of Algonquin College, Woodroffe Campus this past
Wednesday evening. It's never a surprise that all in
attendance have a spirited good time but, as the club grows, the
organizers are constantly forced to find ways to shoehorn such an
action-packed event into about 4 hours. Apart from a few
multi-media-related glitches, everything went off without too many
problems.
As usual, the Algonquin College staff outdid themselves in the
production of a fantastic spread of hip of beef au jus, lasagna
and assorted incredible desserts, crowned by a spectacular ice
sculpture of (what we think was) a seahorse. The highlight of
the evening's speeches was likely that made by the 18U Girls'
Sarah Fetterly, who spoke of the impact the CAPS and her coaching
staff have had on her young life. Each team presented their own
multimedia presentation - kudos to Jim Narraway, one of the
16U Girls team parents, who put together a wonderful live video piece
featuring interviews with each of the girls, their coaches and
snippets from their exciting trip out west.
To follow, we present the words of Club President Bob
O'Doherty, who helped summarize another extremely successful NCVC
season:
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
The NCVC in Y3: Success - both on and off the
court
By Bob O'Doherty
Following on the successes of the first two years of operations, the
NCVC continued its pursuit of becoming one of the leading volleyball
clubs in Canada during its third year. As a result, the
2006-2007 season was one of growth and transition for the club.
Growth came by way of the addition of a 17 & Under girls team to
the club's competitive program, while a transition occurred in the way
the club's player development model was implemented at the youngest
age categories.
As noted in the NCVC's Mission, Vision and Value statements, the major
goals of the club are to offer top notch programs and provide
opportunities for its players, coaches and teams to excel on a
Provincial and National basis. To this end, the NCVC's
competitive program for the 2006-2007 indoor volleyball season was
comprised of one team in each of the following five age categories,
for girls only:
18 & Under / 17 & Under / 16 & Under / 15 & Under /
14 & Under
As is now the custom for the CAPS competitive program, the 2006-2007
season kicked-off with mid-September tryouts at St. Pius X and ended
with the 16U CAPS competing at the 16U Canadian West Open at
the Olympic Oval on the campus of the University of Calgary in late
May. Nine months, thousands of kilometres, and many billets and
hotels later, the third season of the NCVC can be characterized as
another successful one.
Starting with the tryouts in September 2006, it was clear from the
beginning that the quantity and quality of the athletes striving to
become CAPS had increased noticeably from the inaugural season.
The numbers of girls hoping to grab a spot on one of the five CAPS
teams had grown to almost 100 athletes and there was an air of
excitement in the gym as many talented athletes looked forward to the
opportunity to wear the CAPS jersey during the 2006-2007 season.
"The on-court performances of all the CAPS teams during the
2006-2007 season were exceptional. Four of the five CAPS teams
qualified for Tier 1 competition, a level reserved for only the top 16
teams in Ontario in each respective age category."
It should be noted, as well, that the 17U CAPS also qualified for Tier
1 18U competition and the 16U CAPS team for Tier 2 17U
competition.
The club's showcase team, the 18U team, had another tremendous
season. Following in the footsteps of the 2004-2005 Provincial
Champions and their bronze medal performance at 2006 Provincials, the
girls finished with a record of 52 wins and 15 losses. This
included an impressive 3rd place finish at the OVA 18U Girls
Ontario Championships/Tier 1 this past April, where middle
Jessica Zéroual was named a Tournament All-Star. A 5th
place finish at the 18U Girls Canadian Open in Abbotsford, BC
at the beginning of May saw the girls ended up with a record of 4 wins
and 3 losses. One of the wins was over the tournament
favourite Manitoba Bisons, while the three losses were to the
gold medal team (FVVC Blitz from BC), the silver medal team
(Queens Extreme from Alberta), and the bronze medal team
(Durham Attack Black from Ontario). Overall, the 18U CAPS
won medals in 7 of their 11 tournaments, including 2 gold and 5
bronze.
The NCVC had a very successful inaugural season at the 17U level.
Competing in 13 tournaments, the 17U girls captured three medals,
including 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Of particular note was
the team's 8th place finish at 17U Tier 1 Provincials, 9th place
finish at the 18U Tier 1 Provincials and their fantastic run at the
17U Girls Canadian Open in Abbotsford, BC, where they just fell
short of a medal and finished in 4th place nationally.
Congratulations to middle, Gabrielle Vallée, who was named a
Tournament All-Star.
"It should be noted that the performances of the 17U and 18U
CAPS at the Canadian Open Championships in Abbotsford placed the NCVC
as the top performing club in Canada at these age categories for
girls. No other club in Canada had two teams place in the top
ten in these two age categories."
The 16U CAPS flirted with winning a medal at the 16U Tier 1 Ontario
Championships, before settling for a 6th place finish. In
addition, the 16Us also battled to a 9th place finish at the 17U
Tier 2 Ontario Championships, and capped off the club's season
with an 11th place D1/T2 bronze at the Canadian West Open in
Calgary. The 15U CAPS, who had some great performances
throughout the season, finished in 9th place at their Tier 1 Ontario
Championships and also won the gold medal at the 16U Tier 4 Ontario
Championships. They capped off their season by finishing 5th
at the recently completed 15U Canadian East Open in Moncton,
NB. Last but not least, our up and coming 14U CAPS, who showed a
lot of promise throughout the season, finished 15th at their Tier 2
Ontario Championships.
"The performance of the girls and their teams was not an
accident. The NCVC continues to attract the best volleyball
players in the Ottawa area to its programs, by providing the resources
necessary to facilitate their impressive achievements on the
court."
In this regard, and on behalf of the Board of Directors and everyone
associated with the NCVC, I want to congratulate all of the girls, not
only for their on-court performance, but also for the way they
represented the club off the court. We constantly receive
positive feedback from players, coaches and parents across Ontario,
Canada and the US - not only on the performance of our teams - but
also on their qualities of fair play and sportsmanship.
I also want to recognize the special achievements of three of our
players and two of our coaches during this past year.
Congratulations to our 18U team players Katee Luecke,
Stephanie McGuinty and Jessica Zéroual who were chosen
for the Ontario Provincial Team this past summer, and also to
coaches Matt Harris and Cathy O'Doherty who were
selected as coaches for Team Ontario.
Off the court, the NCVC continued to build on its successes from the
previous two seasons. Free CAPSClinics continued to be
staged by CAPS coaches and players throughout the season in local
senior elementary and high schools to promote the sport of volleyball
and the club. The third annual CAPS Coaches Clinic held
in January 2007 was again well attended by local coaches.
Finally, for five consecutive Wednesday nights in November-December
2006 and February-March 2007, the CAPS hosted two FUNdamentals
camps at St. Paul's High School in Nepean. In each session,
thirty girls were introduced to the skills, drills and strategies of
the game. Each session focussed on a different element of the
game - movement, communication, teamwork and sportsmanship.
Besides partner work and participating in various drills, the girls
also got to enjoy playing with some of the CAPS girls.
The Club has also assumed a leadership role in contributing to
volleyball programs at the Region 6, Ontario Volleyball and Volleyball
Canada levels. I served a second term as Region 6 President,
which also allowed me to represent Region 6 at the Board of Directors
level of the OVA. In addition, our Director of Finance, Denis
L'Heureux, served his second term as the Secretary-Treasurer of
Region 6 and Coach Matt Harris also served his second term as
the Chair of the Athletes Development Program (ADP) for Region
6.
Three other major initiatives from the past season should also be
highlighted. The NCVC played a leadership role in assisting
Volleyball Canada with the hosting of the inaugural Anton Furlani
International Cup held this past September 2006. Being able
to watch first class men's international volleyball at Scotiabank
Place and have Canada win the gold medal was absolutely amazing!
Secondly, the NCVC played the lead role in the planning, organizing
and staging of the OVA 18U Girls Ontario Championships/Tier 1
held in the historic Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne Park. Many
people thought this was the best Ontario Championship they had ever
attended.
"Finally, the NCVC provided the leadership necessary to win
the right to host the 2008 and 2009 17U & 18U Canadian Open
Championships in Ottawa. Volleyball in Ottawa, Region 6 and
Ontario will be the big winners when this tournament comes to the
Nation's Capital next May!"
In closing, I want to express my best wishes to our twelve graduating
players, all who have been great role models for our younger athletes
and set a tremendous example for what can be achieved with hard work,
determination and passion for the sport of volleyball. You have
been the real leaders of the NCVC and I want to thank you for
everything you have done and wish you all the best in your future
endeavours both on and off the court.
Our Alumni are an important part of our club, and we look forward to
seeing all of you back in Ottawa for the Third Annual CAPS Alumni
Night scrimmage and get-together just prior to the 2007 Christmas
holidays.
For everybody else, we will see you again in September 2007 for Year
4. 613-NC!
Bob O'Doherty President, National Capitals Volleyball
Club
