High-performance teams spur Mavericks’ growth

“As a club, we thought we needed something unique in the province, so we brought in the high performance stream for those players who really wanted to pursue a higher level,” explains Mavericks competitive coordinator John Spack, who has a girl from Pembroke on the 15 and under HP team he coaches. “With the success of our programs and our youth coming up and developing, we’re starting to get a lot of players from all over – and that never used to be the case.”

Players in the HP program can expect a demanding volleyball schedule with a minimum of three practices a week, two other dry-land training sessions, nutritional and sports psychology clinics, as well as tournaments on many weekends – plus what’s on their table if they play for their school teams. “When they make an HP team, they know they’re here for a purpose,” Spack says. “They don’t complain – they love the work and they know where they want to go. That’s the nature of this program.”

The Mavericks’ indoor program runs for eight months of the year, while athletes are expected to keep in shape during the summer too with beach volleyball and physical conditioning. Tryouts for HP and lower-level competitive teams took place soon after the start of the school year, and at the moment, most squads are playing in their first of five Ontario Volleyball Association tournaments this season. “Not only do I like playing in the tournaments, but I like getting to bond with the team,” says Vanessa Hanrahan, a captain for the 15U HP team, which finished fourth in the Eastern Canadian Championships last season. “I’m always excited to go in the hotel and then hang out in the room before going to bed. We’re all friends.”

It’s not a cheap price tag to play club volleyball, especially at the HP level, but most parents are willing to foot the bill because they enjoy traveling to out-of-town tournaments with their kids.

There’s also the carrot dangling that a future volleyball career may result from playing for the Mavericks – nine of 11 graduating players on last year’s boys’ 18U team now play for university squads, Spack notes. “I can’t guarantee everyone’s going to make a university squad – how can you?” Spack says, outlining seminars on life balance and academic monitoring that should shape Mavericks into second-year level players before they’ve entered post-secondary school. “But we want to give them the best opportunity.”

Spack seldom mentions winning as a goal to his team – becoming a better player is most important – but one usually takes care of the other, he says, and his 15U team’s five-straight victories in their first OVA tournament in Trenton was evidence of that. “The enjoyment is in the progress they make,” Spack says, noting the Mavericks’ popularity has also ballooned in part thanks to its Young Mavs and Spikes programs for pre-high school kids, as well as a new house league. “The enjoyment is not necessarily in winning – that’s something that’s built into you – but it’s really secondary to development.”