Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence is:

The Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence (VCCE) is an exciting new initiative developed through several partnerships including the Richmond Olympic Oval, Provincial Volleyball Associations, College and University programs, and Own the Podium. Volleyball Canada has expanded to 16 Centres in 2012-13, with exciting youth programs emerging across Canada. 

Why was the VCCE Created?

For many years Canada has not competed well internationally. We are falling short in ranking among the top countries in the world and have participated in only 3 Olympic Games in our History.

One of the identified reasons of our international status is in the development of our youth athletes. Providing the appropriate amount of training, competition and recovery during the early stages of athlete development is critical to long term success.

In Canada we have developed guiding principles to lay a road map that allows our athletes to reach their full potential in both a High Performance and an Active for Life environment.  These principles come from our Long Term Athlete Development model, or LTAD for short. Volleyball Canada's role is to provide leadership and support for implementation of LTAD.

Our young developing athletes spend more time in competition (playing games) than in training and development (practice). To add to this, practice time is typically spent on developing team systems in preparation for games.  While this produces short term success on the court, the technical skills of our athletes are being left behind. 

The Centres of Excellence are one of the many initiatives within the Volleyball Canada Development Model (VCDM) that is working to eliminate developmental gaps at all levels of play.  Volleyball Canada has also initiated a strong presence with our young athletes being introduced to the game.  The Volleyball Canada Development Model is an excellent resource for athletes, teachers, coaches, and parents.  Learn more about the VCDM HERE.

Canada is moving forward and the Centres of Excellence are a great step in the right direction! Without a doubt, many of the athletes training with the VCCE today, will be competing for Team Canada in the near future. 

The Facts:

The Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence programs are designed specifically for each region.  These facts will describe most of the centres accurately:

• This program is designed to help prepare high performance athletes serious about the sport of volleyball who are looking to move on to Post Secondary teams and pursue their volleyball career.
• Centres target the Train to Train (grade 8-9) and Learn to Compete (grade 10-12) stages of athlete development. 
• Training is primarily based around skill development and low intensity repititions.  This means that 1 coach will never be working with more than 6 athletes at one time, allowing for lots of personal feedback and progress.  
• Training commitments include two training sessions per week during the duration of the program.  The availability of these times are location dependant, but all will be designed around common Club and High School training times. Some Centres will also be able to provide some flexibility in scheduling to accomodate busy lifestyles.
• The Program runs for 6 and a half months, from September to early December and January to mid April.  Exact beginning and end dates will be determined by each Centre.
• The VCCE program includes a number of other features that complement High Performance development.  Physical assesments, testing and weight training, exclusive access to online resources through Sport Leader, and a variety of other assets for High Performance athletes to name a few. Atheltes also receive VCCE training attire.  
• Coaching Staff: The VCCE coaching staff are paid, professional coaches, many of which coach at and have associations with local College and University teams.  They understand what it takes to play at the next level what you need to do to be successfull.