Team Toba Volleyball

By Sam Cortes, Communications Coordinator

 

Team Toba will showcase both indoor and beach volleyball at the Canada Summer Games in Niagara next summer.

And while it may still be relatively early in the process, there’s lots to get excited about. We’re checking in with Team Manitoba Men’s Indoor Head Coach Mike Stephens and Volleyball Manitoba Provincial Performance Coach Scott Koskie on what you can expect this year. Plus, they share their valuable advice for future Team Toba athletes!

 

Nearly A Year Out 

It’s been a year filled with unknowns throughout the pandemic. While there is still certainly much to be determined, Volleyball Manitoba is hopeful to begin to offer programming and training later this summer for indoor and beach programs.

“Our goal by the end of this year would be to have a fairly long list of athletes who would then move on to our final team selection phase, which would happen in 2022,” said Scott Koskie.

With only a select number of athletes who will represent Manitoba, they aspire to make the training and selection process more than just about the final team. They want to ensure it’s a learning and development opportunity for all athletes the whole way through.

For Mike Stephens, he’ll be developing his knowledge and expertise as Head Coach, and working with his athletes within the restrictions over the next 12 months.

“In a perfect world, we’d like to have the final selection for the team end of May of 2022,” said Mike.

From there, his team will train as a group from June 2022 until traveling to Niagara.

And with the Games being pushed back a year and the ages remaining the same, it will create a unique situation.

“Traditionally, for indoor volleyball, all of our athletes would be in Manitoba at high school. And our beach athletes, because it’s an older age category, would be university age athletes. Because of the postponement of the games and adjustment of the age category, we’re going to have athletes of both indoor and beach who would be in high school at university, and in some cases all across the country,” said Scott.

 

Training & Development

With the obstacles of limited group sizes and athletes being more spread out, Scott said there’s going to be a necessity to facilitate remote learning where possible over the year to create a blend of onsite an offsite training.

“It’s probably not feasible that we’re going to get large groups of athletes together for extended periods of time. So we’re going to work towards spending some time with the performance staff at Sport Manitoba and our coaches, and try to create a framework that athletes can work on independently when they’re not involved in our training,” said Scott. “We still want to build the connection and that spirit of Team Manitoba, even though it’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge.”

But Scott hopes to have as much time as possible in the gym and create a great learning environment.

When given the opportunity to be in the gym, Mike aso wants to use that time to develop his athletes’ offensive and defensive skills, but mental skills, too.

“My training over the years is to have mental training in the amostphere that you’re going to compete in. So that’ll all happen within the gymnasium,” said Mike.

Part of this means taking the time to not only enhance your skills, but to learn how to read your opponent in the game environment to become a better volleyball player.

For example, paying attention to the other players’ tendencies, what do they like to do, how is their body leaning and which way it’s going to take them if the ball starts going to one side of the court or to the other side of the court, said Mike.

“It takes time to recognize those cues,” said Mike.

 

Advice for Team Toba Athletes

Scott said the biggest thing for athletes to remember, even though you may have missed out on development training and practice, is to be patient with yourself.

“That they give themselves some time, they’re patient with themselves and pursue different training opportunities. And most importantly, they remember why they wanted to play for the love of the game and for the opportunity to represent Manitoba. I think sometimes you might feel the stresses of everything that’s been lost. But hopefully over the next year and a bit, we’re still able to provide lots of opportunities where they can learn and grow,” said Scott.

Mike said to be grateful for the time you get to practice, train, or compete, because we know all too well that normalcy can be quickly taken away.

“When you’re allowed to do something, be euphoric, be excited, be overyjoyed that you want to be there and put everything you have into that moment. Don’t take things for granted. Because really, up until March 2020, we’ve taken things for granted. We would just expect to go into the next training session. We would expect to go into the next competition. We can’t expect that anymore. So when we can do it, go in there, give it your best effort because you don’t know what tomorrow brings,” said Mike.

 

Canada Games Takeaways – On the Court

“The Games themselves, I’ve always looked at them as the youth Olympics. It’s really the best of the best of respective [provinces and territories] going out and competing against each other,” said Mike.

Over the next year, Mike is excited to work with the athletes and ultimately get back to the game of volleyball.

“I’m most looking forward to being on the court in a competitive atmosphere and that energy and raw emotion. That’s something we’ve all been craving since March of 2020. That’s going to be that euphoric experience that I just can’t wait for,” said Mike.

Scott also hopes the athletes are prepared for a fantastic competitive experience.

“Because that’s what the Games will be and I think with this age category being bumped up, I think the competition level will be even higher, and I think the opportunity there will be some great volleyball played both on the indoor and beach side.”

 

Canada Games Takeaways – Off the Court

But there’s also a lot to gain that relates to off the court as well.

Mike’s philosphy for his team is to operate on the three C’s: Consistency, Connectivity and Communication.

From a consistency standpoint, Mike said for the athletes to be consistent in their training, nutrition, behaviour – all those types of things that can transcend into everyday life.

In terms of communiation and connectivity, that means staying connected as a group with the athletes, coachces, peers, and support staff.

“For youth, we want them to understand that human connectivity and communication is very, very important. So outside the Games experience, I would like them to take those three C’s and transcend that into life itself,” said Mike.

What’s more, competing in Ontario’s Niagara region wil be unforgettable.

“The Niagara regions is probably one of the most beautiful regions in Canada, maybe in the world. I’ve been involved a little bit with some of the Host Society there, and they’re going to build some great facilities. It’s going to be an awesome, awesome experience for the athletes off of the court,” said Scott.

 

Learn More

Stay informed about Team Toba volleyball at the Canada Games by following Volleyball Manitoba on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or, visit their website for both indoor volleyball and beach volleyball.