Tryouts – September

Our coaches will put each athlete through a series of tests and measurements of physical attributes and abilities, and enter all data into the assessment app. These include current height, standing reach, spike touch, block touch, speed and agility tests.

Some sessions will include game-play scrimmages to assess court and game awareness as well as player interaction.

One tryout “station” requires athletes to try on uniforms and shorts.

All athletes are sized for uniforms on physical testing day to speed up the ordering process after teams are selected. Being sized does not mean a player has been selected for anything, but does means they will get a uniform that fits in time for competitions.

Coaches begin to offer positions after completion of all assessment tryouts for that age group. These offer letters go out by email, so make sure all emails entered on your registration are valid and checked regularly – check your junk folder too. Parents/athletes then have a response window of 36 hours in which to accept before the coach can offer that position to another player. Acceptances can be sent later, but the coach is under no obligation to hold that position and will probably be offering to other players to fill their roster. Acceptances must be accompanied by a $450 deposit towards team fees. Families must then choose a payment plan and arrange payment information if monthly invoicing is the choice. Payment instructions will be sent to athletes selected to teams.

To ensure your offer is received, it is critical that families provide an email address that you check regularly, and that you include info@maverickvolleyball.ca in your contact list so we can reach you without it going into your junk folder. This email protocol is also important for payment and communication requirements later on.

Total fees vary by team and are determined based on factors that are specific to each team (such as how many and which tournaments the team chooses to compete in). Parent groups can influence the number of tournaments and other expenses in conjunction with their coach. Families can choose between instalment payments or payment in full, however, all fees must be paid in full before the regular season ends (before Provincials).

Those who are not selected for national- or provincial-level competitive teams still have many good options.

1. They may be offered a position in the Regional Training Centre for 12 weeks of additional training and competition. At the end of the 12 weeks, few of those players may be selected to form additional Provincial-level teams that compete in OVA tournaments from January through April.
2. They may be encouraged to sign up for a variety of recreational programs at varying skill levels, and with a range of coaching. Some programs focus more on learning and skill development, others have more game play – but all include some amount of coaching and lots of fun! Recreational programs do not require any tryouts, just sign up and play once a week! Read about our Safety Net commitment below.
3. We also have many levels of Learn-to-Play programs for beginner and intermediate players who love activity-based fun!

Safety Net. Those who are not selected for the National, Provincial or Regional program, are not guaranteed any spots in our learn-to-play (LTP) or recreational (Rec) division, as those programs typically fill up quickly. If the athlete is passionate about continuing at any level, we recommend registering for an upcoming  LTP or Rec program as well as for tryouts. After tryouts, if the athlete gets an offer for a regional, provincial or national group, please contact us to cancel the LTP/Rec program and transfer the funds to your Training Centre or Competitive team account.

Registration is a 2-step process.

1. Maverick registration and fee is to be completed and paid through TeamSnap using a valid email that you check regularly.
2. OVA MRS registration must also be completed (the OVA registration for “tryout players” is free but necessary for insurance purposes). Proof of OVA registration is required at checkin on your first day.

Do NOT register any athlete with Mavericks more than once. Tryouts for different program levels are covered under the same Maverick registration. Sign up for the age division shown in the Age Divisions section below.

Age Categories 2023-2024 season

11U – born in 2013
12U – born in 2012
13U – born in 2011
14U – born in 2010
15U – born in 2009
16U – born in 2008
17U – born in 2007
18U* – born in 2006

*19U players (born between Jan 2005 and Aug 2005) may be allowed to play at the 18U level, provided they are not a part of any OCAA, OUA, U-Sport, CCAA, etc. volleyball team for the 2023-2024 season. They will be eligible to play Provincials but not Nationals.

Schedules tend to change numerous times throughout the tryout window (for a wide variety of reasons). Check “Schedules” regularly, particularly before heading out to any session.

The latest schedule is HERE.

There will be multiple tryout sessions for each age group and gender, and the athletes should attend all sessions for their age group to make sure they are properly evaluated. Tryouts for 12U or younger will combine genders, all older teams are gender-based.

For a full evaluation, athletes should attend all tryout sessions for their age group. Remember, teams are selected based on the results of these tryouts.

The selection process will include an assessment of various elements such as:

• physical testing;
• skill assessments;
• game situation assessments.

NOTE: one tryout “station” will be dedicated to sizing all athletes for uniforms. This allows us to speed up the ordering process after teams are selected. Not getting sized may delay an entire team’s uniform production or may mean your uniform does not fit properly.

Anyone who misses September tryouts without making advance arrangements with the Club, may be invited to join a Competitive Training Centre (only if it is not full), and from there may be selected for a Competitive team in December. Otherwise, they are welcome to sign up for January CTC tryouts.

We encourage athletes to try out for more than one club to ensure they choose the best fit for their needs. However, the OVA tryout window is for all clubs province-wide, so there will always be conflicts. More details related to conflicts, and how to resolve them, can be found in the Parent Handbook.

Offers (from Maverick)

Coaches begin to email offers after completion of all assessment tryouts for that age group (see schedule for offer dates). Every participant will receive an email with an offer for the best level we can offer at this time, be it a national- or provincial-level competitive team, the Competitive Training Centre, a “Game-On” recreational group, or our “Practice and Play” recreational game training program.

Coaches must hold that position for 36 hours before offering the position to another player.

Responses (from athlete families)

Parents/athletes have a response window of 36 hours in which to accept (or reject) before the coach can offer that position to another player. Acceptances can be sent later, but there is no guarantee the position will still be available. Acceptances must be accompanied by a $450 deposit towards team fees. If you know you will not be accepting, please let us know as soon as possible for the sake of other players awaiting the opportunity to play.

Schools do not finalize agreements until the school year has commenced, so we cannot know for certain where and when each team will be practicing until late September.

After national and provincial level teams are set, families will meet with their coaches to discuss tournament options and team budgets, practice dates and time, etc. Fees vary depending on the choices made by each team group. At this meeting, parents will be asked to volunteer for key functions to help the team mechanisms running smoothly. Full payment instructions will be sent to families selected to teams.

Families joining a regional Competitive Training Centre will be informed of practice times and locations. Fees are set in advance and are all-inclusive. CTC players will be divided into competition squads after the 4th week of training.

If for any valid reason, an athlete misses any tryout session, they must contact the Head Coach of that age division. There may be makeup dates available. If the athlete misses a session, please contact the head coach of that specific team to determine if there could be another time available for assessment. The Head Coach has final say in these matters and is not obligated in any way to provide additional assessment time.

If there is a conflict between another Club’s tryout and ours, we recommend that you inform us in advance and we will help you work out any such conflicts to create a solution that maximizes the options for the athlete.

Anyone who missed September tryouts may be invited to join a Competitive Training Centre (only if those groups are not full by then, and from there may be selected for a Competitive team in December).

On very rare occasions, an exception can be made if a competitive team is low in a certain position. In such a case, the Club may decide to do a late assessment. Contact info@maverickvolleyball to discuss.

Another set of tryouts for the training centre will take place in January for February to May competitive training.

For Provincial- and National-level teams, the basic competition season starts in October and ends in April (Provincials) or in May (for those who attend Nationals). Once teams are formed, they can start to book practice times. Most teams play up to six OVA tournaments over the season (1-day events) plus Provincial and/or Nationals (2- or 3-day events). Team budgets are decided by each team (budget is drafted by the coach following consultation with the parents). Rosters must be finalized by the end of January. More information will be available once teams have been selected. If you have any further questions, please send an email to info@maverickvolleyball.ca.

Players who are selected for a spot in the Fall Competitive Training Centres (CTC) will train and play for 12 weeks (24 sessions) from October until mid December. Coaches can then offer spots on new provincial-level teams that will compete in OVA-sanctioned events across southern Ontario (mostly Toronto area). Those who are not selected for these new teams, or who do not wish to travel so much, are encouraged to continue in the 12-week Winter CTC program (February to May).

The Maverick Competitive Teams are for athletes whose skill and commitment levels allow them to play the sport at a serious competition level – with significant travel, multiple tournaments, and possibly supplemental training. Additional local and regional tournaments may be added. The Competitive Training Centre (CTC) was designed to train athletes who need more training to compete effectively, or who are less inclined to travel or to commit to the time-requirements of higher-level competition.

The Maverick national-level program is geared for a progression to varsity post-secondary recruitment. The program aims to maximize each athlete’s individual potential through the addition of supplemental practice and training methodologies (such as nutrition, mental and strength/agility training), and creating team fortitude and cohesion. National teams compete more often, sometimes both inter-provincially and internationally. A higher level of time commitment is required than for our Competitive level. Players must learn to manage practice time and schoolwork to ensure their marks allow them to be selected for a post-secondary university or college. All national-level teams are expected to compete at OVA Provincials and at Volleyball Canada National Championships.

Any athlete not selected to a national-level team will be encouraged to continue tryouts as they will be considered for the provincial-level stream, the regional-level training (CTC) stream, or possibly the recreational or learn-to-play streams. All outcomes are covered by one tryout, however it must be noted that neither learn-to-play nor recreational require tryouts, but it can be an interesting learning experience and to assess future expectations.

Players selected to the Training Centre will train and compete within the region (2 hour maximum travel to a tournament) until mid-December. At that time, some of the top players will be selected from those who are interested in a “next-level” volleyball experience, and they will form provincial-level competitive teams. These new teams will compete in OVA-sanctioned events and will compete at the Provincial Championships. Players who are not selected to move up have the option attending January tryouts for the second Training Centre which starts in February and runs until early May (24 sessions, interrupted by March Break and Easter).

The Maverick Volleyball Club fields gender-specific competitive teams at all age groups from 11U to 18U where sufficient numbers and coaches exist.

The Maverick Volleyball Club prides itself in following the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model for our national-level teams. Accordingly, at Maverick Volleyball, our 13U-16U national-level teams follow the “learn to train” LTAD model, and the 17U-18U national-level teams follow the “train to compete” model.

For details please review “Fee Structures – Regional-level CTC” in our Parent Handbook.

Competitive fees are set by the Club Financial Officer to cover all fixed operating costs, such as: OVA player registration, a certain number of tournament entry fees, uniform (jersey, shorts, socks, and practice T’s), coaching, and practice requirements (gyms, balls, equipment, med kits, etc.), and year-end celebrations for the athletes. Any additional competitions, travel and accommodation are “pay as you go” based on the parent-approved season plan.

As a not-for-profit organization, Maverick national-level team fees are set by each individual team (within Club parameters), and each team must achieve a zero-based budgeting outcome. Team budgets are proposed by the coaching staff in cooperation with, and approved by that team’s parent group, and submitted by the Team Treasurer. Fees include OVA registration fees, all tournament entry fees (including Provincial and National Championships and international or interprovincial play), may include travel and accommodation to tournaments, practice requirements (gyms, balls, equipment), team gear, coaching, supplemental training (strength and conditioning, nutrition, sport psychology experts). Before the end of the season, budgets will be reconciled and any remaining balance will returned to the parents (or shortages will be due before Provincials).

Contact admin@maverickvolleyball.ca