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Skylar Bainard - AC 14U Girls Surge

​Skylar will be starting her second year as an assistant coach.  Last year she worked with U13 players on developing strength, stamina and coordination. Skylar believes that supplementary training is key to an athlete becoming the best they can be.

Before entering the volleyball coaching world, Skylar trained professionally as a ballerina for 7 years. Ballet took her around the world travelling to cities such as, Amsterdam, Munich and New York. She also studied at Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and with teachers from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. She knows what it means to put work and dedication into whatever your passion may be. Besides dance, Skylar also trained part time in Pilates, yoga, and human anatomy. She strives to educate athletes on taking care of their health and fitness, to reduce potential injury and improve overall performance. 

Skylar grew up watching her father (Dan Bainard, currently Leaside 14U girls) coach volleyball to teams of all ages. She is excited to work along with him again and to share her knowledge with the Leaside athletes! 
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Maria Krahn - AC 16U Girls  Wildfire

Maria is going into her third year coaching at Leaside after coaching with the Jr. Wesman in 2014/15.  Maria's mission statement is to inspire the next generation of young female leaders by cultivating a positive, elite sport experience through hard-work and determination to find meaning and importance in everything you do.  To build capacity to transfer skills gained from elite sport experience to the workforce.  Born in Winnipeg, Maria competed with elite indoor club volleyball teams throughout middle school and high school, culminating in a gold medal finish at the 17U National Championships in 2006 in Abbotsford, BC.  Maria competed for the Brandon University Bobcats in the Canada-West USport Conference for one year before transferring to Western University to finish her playing career as a Mustang, winning the OUA championship in the 2011-2012 season.   Maria has played and competed in beach volleyball tournaments as a junior athlete from age 15 -18 and continues to play on a competitive indoor Sr. Women’s volleyball team in Toronto.   Maria has earned a BSc in Medical Sciences from Western University and MSc in Health Informatics from McMaster University.   Maria currently works as a Senior Program Consultant in the Digital Health Secretariat Branch of the Ministry of Health.
​Contact Maria at: mariakrahn@icloud.com
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Jen Kesner - AC 13U Girls Voltage
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Jen is currently in her second year of Seneca College's Early Childhood Education Program.  Over the years, Jen watched her sister play volleyball and develop her skills and is now passionate about working with, and developing the skills of young athletes.  

In her free time, Jen enjoys watching volleyball and basketball.  She has been snowboarding recreationally for 8 years and has been skiing since she was 6 years old.  Last year, she worked at an after school program with 11 and 12 year olds and planned daily activities and worked with children's development.

Jen is thoroughly looking forward to working with the 12UG in the upcoming season!
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Alexandra Poletto 

Alexandra played for Leaside from 2012-2014 and is now back to coach!  

Alexandra attended Colorado State University from 2014-2018 where she was the starting middle blocker, helping them win 3 conference titles and 4 NCAA tournament appearances. 

She completed her undergraduate degree in Health and Exercises Science, Sports Medicine, and then transferred to the University of Southern California to receive her Masters of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

Alexandra played on the University of Southern California (USC) beach team for two seasons where she helped them win a Pac-12 championship and make the NCAA finals. She now plays beach volleyball for the Canadian National team and has been competing on the world tour for 2 years and coaching athletes for 7 years.
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Stephane Vlachos - 

Stephane is excited to be returning for a second season as Leaside 14U Boys Rumble’s head coach, his 7th season with Leaside overall. 

As a teacher with the Toronto District School Board, Stephane has coached a variety of different sports over the course of his career, but Volleyball has always been his main passion. Stephane has helped to coordinate the volleyball program at his school while coaching junior and senior boys, girls, and co-ed teams and competing in both regional and city championships.

For the past two years, Stephane has served as a coach for the Team Ontario Regional Program, working with some of the best High-Performance athletes from every region in Ontario. 

As a coach, Stephane focuses not only on strong technical development of the athletes but also on the development of their mental and life skills, fostering a positive team atmosphere where hard work and strong work ethic are rewarded. 

​Stephane brings a great deal of knowledge, experience, and energy, which he looks forward to sharing with the 14U Boys in another successful season of Leaside volleyball.
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​Dejana Dua – AC 14U Girls Dynamite
Dejana grew up in Europe where she played competitive high school and varsity volleyball, and continued to play throughout her undergraduate and graduate years in both Canada and the United States.  Dejana taught middle school in California, where she also coached girls volleyball through CYO Athletics.  Last year, Dejana coached a 12U girls Club team in Toronto.  Dejana is passionate about positive coaching and fostering not only the love of the game of volleyball, but also the physical and emotional strength and well-being that are often challenging for younger athletes.  Team work, respect, compassion, and sportsmanship are taught in addition to volleyball mechanics, rules, and discipline.  When she is not busy being a mom, Dejana serves as an executive board member for a United Nations backed non-profit fighting to end violence against women and human trafficking.  

Fun fact:  the "J" in Dejana is silent!
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Nerissa James - AC 12U Girls Voltage

This is Nerissa's second year coaching with Leaside and she is looking forward to sharing her passion for volleyball with the athletes.  She is a true believer in the "Power of Sport” and wants to encourage her athletes to be the best that they can be.

Nerissa is a graduate of Brock Universities Sports Management program.  She has worked as a Programs Coordinator and as a Lead Coach at various sports organizations. There she developed implemented and coached Multi-Sport programs for youth.  Nerissa has participated in a variety of sports her entire life.  She fell in love with volleyball at a young age and has been involved with the game ever since.

She is in training for the Volleyball Canada Development Coach Level 1 certification and has her Ontario’s Volleyball Association Level 1 Local Official certificate. Nerissa is currently involved with Ontario Coaches Association program called, "Changing the Game – Changing the Conversation", which is working towards supporting and developing women in coaching.  This program brought her to Leaside Volleyball and she hopes to improve her coaching with the club.
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Mike Killeen - AC 18U Boys Thunder

Mike is looking forward to rejoining the coaching staff of the 18U boys. 

Mike has been coaching with Leaside VC boys teams for close to 10 seasons and has been involved in competitive volleyball for over 30 years in a wide range of capacities as player, coach, mentor, beach volleyball promoter, and parent. 

As a young player, he had a successful five-year career as a setter, captain and all-star with the University of Western Ontario Mustangs (1984-1989). 

​In addition to volleyball, he has coached and taught basketball and tennis over the past 15 years.
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Devon May - AC 16U Girls Flash

Devon grew up playing for BCO Volleyball Club and then continued to play in her post secondary years  where she played 4 years of NCAA Div 2 indoor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby BC (2013 - 2016) followed by  1 grad year at University of Alabama at Birmingham (2018, NCAA Div 1).  She is a current member of the Canadian Women's Beach National Team. 

Devon graduated from Simon Fraser University with a bachelors of Education and minor in Kinesiology (2017) and then completed my Masters in Human Communications Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (2020).

Over the years, Devon has head coached at BCO Volleyball Club, North Shore Beach Volleyball Club, BC Summer games and Team BC.  She was also the assistant coach for SFU women's volleyball team (2016 - 2018) and an assistant coach for UAB Beach Volleyball (2019-2020).
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Nicholas Baker-Bell - AC 16U Boys 
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Nicholas is very excited to join the Leaside family this year! 

As an athlete, Nicholas is a former Alumni from George Brown College where he spent two year as a Middle Blocker playing under the direction of Garrett May.   After his two years playing at GBC Nicholas then joined the coaching staff as an assistant coach and has been developing his skills both at the collegiate level and the club level. 

Nick is looking forward to passing on his knowledge to the next generation. 
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Amarai Endes – AC 15U Girls Fury

Amarai is a recent Leaside Alumni having just finished her 18U season with Leaside Legacy.  Now a freshman middle blocker on York University's volleyball  team, Amarai is taking a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology.

Amarai has coached Leaside League over the years and is very excited to be making the transition to coaching our 15U Valkyries team this season!  She looks forward to sharing her passion and love of the game.
Entrance Information for Havergal and Bishop Strachan Schools
Havergal College      Bishop Strachan School
After School Program
​Regrettably, our After School Beach Program has been CANCELLED this year due to COVID-19.  
Please join us next year from
​May - June, 2021!

LEASIDE BEACH

Registration for our Summer Beach Programs at Ashbridge's Bay NOW OPEN!
Summer Beach Programs
July 6 - August 21
8 years +, all skill levels
6 x one week sessions 
either Full Days or Half Days
$250-$450
*NEW*  High Performance Volleyball Training
August 24 - September 4
Designed for Club Players of all ages & Post Secondary Players.  Club players must have a minimum of one year Club experience.
2 x one week sessions 
9:30am - 12pm, daily
$275
Get back to GAME READY!
PRE-SEASON SKILLS CLINICS - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
August 31 - September 17, 2020
Monday - Thursday each week, 90 minutes
Location TBC
Come be a part of Our Team!
TRYOUT INFORMATION FOR THE 2020/21 SEASON 
FULL DETAILS OF OUR 2020/21 CLUB TEAM TRYOUTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE !
Please click on the link below to get all of the details!
In accordance with current COVID-19 protocols, all athletes interested in participating in our tryouts, must pre-register at the link below prior to arrival at the gyms.   ​
Once you have registered, we will also be able to communicate with you and keep you up-to-date and informed of any changes.
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OVA AGE CATEGORIES​

12U - 2009 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2008
13U - 2008 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2007
​14U - 2007 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2006
15U - 2006 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2005
16U -  2005 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2004
17U - 2004 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2003
18U - 2003 & athletes born from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2002

Coaching Team

Jill Eisenhauer – 12U Girls Coach
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Jill started her volleyball career playing with Leaside when she was in Grade 9. Her first coach was our very own John Child which also happen to be the first ever Leaside volleyball team. 

After playing Club volleyball, Jill played varsity volleyball for McMaster University wearing lucky number 7.  Jill played both Middle and Right Side during her four year collegiate career with the Marauders while capturing an OUA Gold Medal and OUA Silver Medal in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Jill graduated from McMaster in 2018 and is excited to share her playing experience and knowledge with the young aspiring players at Leaside.
Nerissa James - Co-HC 12U Girls

Nerissa is excited to join the Leaside coaching team and is looking forward to sharing her passion for volleyball with the athletes.  She is a true believer in the "Power of Sport” and wants to encourage her athletes to be the best that they can be.

Nerissa is a graduate of Brock Universities Sports Management program.  She has worked as a Programs Coordinator and as a Lead Coach at various sports organizations. There she developed implemented and coached Multi-Sport programs for youth.  Nerissa has participated in a variety of sports her entire life.  She fell in love with volleyball at a young age and has been involved with the game ever since.

She is in training for the Volleyball Canada Development Coach Level 1 certification and has her Ontario’s Volleyball Association Level 1 Local Official certificate. Nerissa is currently involved with Ontario Coaches Association program called, "Changing the Game – Changing the Conversation", which is working towards supporting and developing women in coaching.  This program has brought her to Leaside Volleyball and she hopes to improve her coaching with the club.