12U Teams - Development Program

Leaside will be having three 12U teams this season  which will compete in the series of tournaments hosted by the
Ontario Volleyball Association as well as the
Ontario Indoor Championships. Our 12U athletes will enjoy the support of group training with a high coach to player ratio, while gradually transitioning towards team-play. Our experienced coaches share their knowledge with the primary goal of laying a solid foundation of individual technical skills and
​ teaching team concepts.

Leaside Volleyball’s Development Pathway

Leaside Volleyball is a premiere volleyball club in the heart of Toronto, Ontario that has a reputation of developing athletes while competing at the highest levels. This development is based on an integrated club-wide program starting with a house league for young athletes through to young adult club teams that compete at the Canadian National Championships, both indoor and on the beach.

​Leaside’s 12U Development Program
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A part of Leaside’s Development Pathway is the 12U Development Program which helps young players transition from grassroots programs including Leaside’s house league, the Leaside Volleyball League, and school ball to a higher level of club ball (also known as “rep ball”). Our 12U athletes enjoy the support of group training with a high coach to player ratio while gradually transitioning towards team-play. Our experienced coaches share their knowledge with the primary goal of laying a solid foundation of individual technical skills and teaching team concepts.
Our season objectives include learning the rules, 3-contact volleyball, strategic serving, defensive positioning and effective attacking. Training sessions consist of skill acquisition within
whole skill game-play for long-term learning through stabilization and consolidation. All the while maintaining a positive growth mindset within a safe, respectful environment based on
hard work and teamwork. Together Everyone Achieves More.

With a “Development First” program, Leaside’s goal to help young people begin a life-long journey of fun, friendships and experiences through the sport of volleyball.
​Leaside-to-FIVB – Athlete Development
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This Leaside Development Pathway is based upon scientific research and modeling completed by volleyball’s multi-level governing bodies. FIVB - In 2012, The Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the largest international sporting
federation in the world, released a Technical & Development document entitled the Basic Concepts of Long-Term Talent Development. The document outlines the stages of development
as “Early Years”, “Middle Years” and “Later Years” and includes recommendations for coaches in each stage.
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Volleyball Canada’s Volleyball for Life

In 2006, Volleyball Canada (VC) published a guiding document entitled Volleyball for Life. This document outlines the stages of development and proper training loads. 12U athletes fall under
the Training to Train stage where the overall goal is “develop physical capacities and volleyball skills.” For the Training to Train stage, VC’s recommended Training to Competition Ratio is 70%
training and 30% Competition. Here is a link for more information on VC’s LTAD: https://volleyball.ca/en/about/ltad.

OVA’s Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD)
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The Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) followed the VC’s lead by initiating a LTAD program
which mirrors the stages in development. The OVA has also modified playing rules to recognize
the challenge of teaching an adult-sized game to young developing athletes. These
modifications include lowering the net, limiting position specialization, using a lighter ball,
adopting Triple Ball, enforcing Fair Play and spacing time between tournaments. Here is a link
for more information on the OVA’s LTAD: https://www.ontariovolleyball.org/athlete-development


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