Lancer Recruits The Best In Province
Over the last 3 years, the Windsor Lancers have had a meteoric rise in the Ontario University Association (OUA) with such praises as Williamson being the OUA Player of the Year and All Canadian, retired Coach Huub Kemmere, Coach of The Year in 2009 and a steady line of awards with rookies and play off runs. But if there is to be any longevity in a program the Lancers have found a way to measure more accolades from players not even on the roster yet. Signed and committed athletes for the inbound class of 2011, Blasé Wasser and Andrew Chelladurai have been chosen to the Ontario High Performance Center (HPC) for summer of 2011.
“Being identified to this HPC is no small feat.” Comments Lippert. “Being named means that you have been identified as the best 17 and 18 year old in Ontario. That basically puts you in the top 10% of high school athletes in the Country.”
Chelladurai and Wasser signed their Letter Of Intent (LOI) earlier in the year and they are scheduled to make their Lancer debut at camp at the end of August. Being named to the HPC Center makes them both one of the best setters in the province.
The Long Term Athlete Development Program (LTAD) mandated by Volleyball Canada and administered by the Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) puts the HPC Center at the second to last level in the pyramid of development. LTAD is also about identifying potential and providing appropriate developmental pathways for that potential to be fully realized. This is the path to reaching the highest level of volleyball athlete including the National and Olympic team.
According to Volleyball Canada, the main objectives of this stage in the HPC Center are to optimize fitness preparation, volleyball specific skills, and position-specific skills and to commit to a pathway which will also optimize performance. Individual and position specific training is provided to players with training volumes and intensities gradually raised to high levels. Volleyball skills are performed under a variety of competitive conditions during training and athletes are exposed to international competition for the first time. In many athletes this is also the time at which peak strength velocity and peak weight velocity coincide with the period of opportunity for greatest strength gain. Therefore this stage should also emphasize the development of strength and aerobic power, two athletic qualities important to volleyball success.
Coach Lippert adds, “On our current roster and as talented as they are, this level of athlete inbound has never been injected in our pool of talent so early. Sometimes we have had transfers but mostly we have had to spend the first couple years developing. Having HPC athletes gives us a head start in our development and we should see results quicker as they adjust to the speed and subtleties of varsity volleyball at the CIS level.”
The Lancers have made strides over the last 3 years to being one of the premier programs in the country. The evolution of this process might have made a tremendous jump with the rookie class of 2011. The Lancers begin camp on August 27, later in the summer.