About Club Volleyball
Volleyball is an exciting and rewarding sport that allows players to combine physical, athletic, and mental prowess to develop their game at both a personal and team level. Durham Rebels has been home to many successful volleyball athletes who have achieved post-secondary and professional success both on and off the court.
Making the decision to commit to a rep sport is an important one for families and we hope the information below will assist you in understanding what it means to be a member of our Club.
Visit our Rep Teams section to learn more about each team.
Divisions in Ontario Volleyball (2022/23)
The Ontario Volleyball Association has restructured its playing divisions for the 2021/22 season. Coaches of teams in the EC division will select what format of volleyball (or combination) their team will play.
EC
Teams playing in the Early Contact division will play either 4 vs 4 or 6 vs 6 Rallyball (formerly called Triple Ball). Athletes of varying ages may be involved in one tournament.
formerly 11U – 13U
TLS
Teams playing in the Traditional Limited Specialized division will play regular volleyball but players are not allowed to specialize (setter, outside hitter, middle blocker) and must rotate through all positions.
formerly 14U
Traditional
Teams playing in the Traditional division will play regular volleyball. Athletes begin to specialize with the Libero position being introduced in 16U.
15U – 18U
What is involved in playing Club Volleyball?
Please review the Frequently Asking Questions below.
For the 2022/23 season, our practices will officially begin the first Monday in October 2022 and continue through the end of April. Teams taking part in Nationals or a U.S. tournament may start their season early or continue their season until the end of May; athletes must be prepared to commit to the full season. There are usually no practices or competitions over the Christmas break but some coaches may schedule travel tournaments (i.e. Montreal Classic first weekend in January) during this period. The OVA may schedule competitions at the beginning or end of March Break. Some of our senior teams travel to the U.S. (ie. Washington, Chicago, Columbus) over the Family Day weekend to take part in President’s Day tournaments while many of our teams travel to Pittsburgh in May to take part in the East Coast Championship.
The terms ‘Club, ‘Rep’, and ‘Competitive’ are interchangeable but while certain sports use the other terms, the sport of volleyball has moved towards the term “Club Team” to describe their competitive teams.
- Athletes are permitted to try out for multiple clubs in any area (there is no residency rule), however, once an athlete formally commits to a club, that athlete may no longer attend tryouts or tryout clinics with other clubs.
- All athletes must be pre-registered online before attending tryouts.
- In addition to registering with our Club for tryouts, athletes must register through the Ontario Volleyball Association’s Member Registration System (MRS) as a tryout athlete .
- Tryouts fees apply and will be announced with the tryout schedule.
- Some teams may record athlete statistics (height, reach, vertical jump, etc) at tryouts and take an athlete’s headshot to help coaches accurately identify athletes when making their decisions.
- Players being offered a spot on a team will receive a written offer as well as a deadline (24 to 72 hours) to accept their offer.
- The Ontario Volleyball Association stipulates when offers can be made for specific age groups (a specific date, usually mid to late September)
- Offers must be on an Ontario Volleyball Association offer form.
- Clubs in Ontario must follow a Tryout policy, information on this policy may be found on the OVA website.
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Most Rebels teams practise a minimum of two evenings per week. Junior teams typically practise from 6-8 p.m., while senior teams practise from 8-10 p.m. High performance teams may choose to have a third practice each week but this will be at the discretion of the head coach and communicated to families in advance.
Senior girls teams (15U and older) also take part in our Athlete Wellness Program. This includes a weekly off-court training program that includes strength and conditioning, nutrition sessions, and mental preparedness sessions. These sessions must be viewed as part of the team practices and participation is just as crucial as on-court practices. Depending on gym availability, these sessions may take place on a separate day/evening or before/after the one of the team’s court practices. The Athlete Wellness Program is not an optional addition and athletes must be prepared to take part in all AWP sessions.
At the time of publishing, our teams will be practising at The Playground on Boundary Road in south Oshawa, Canada Christian College on Water Street in south Whitby, Garnier Secondary School in north Whitby, and Pickering Christian School in north Ajax. Other facilities may be added as school permits become available.
During COVID-19 restrictions, practice times, duration, and locations may be altered to accommodate limited capacities and venues.
- Game play is tournament-format only and consists of about one tournament per month unless a team plays up in an older age division as well as their own.
- Tier 1 teams are expected to compete in two age divisions (their designated age division plus the division above) and take part in the National Championships or a comparable year-end travel tournament.
- Teams are seeded (ranked) after each tournament with tournament locations being announced approximately two weeks prior to the tournament date.
- There is no league play or loops in the Ontario Volleyball Association.
- Teams can expect to play anywhere in the province including Durham, Cobourg, Newmarket, Barrie, Halton, Ottawa, and elsewhere.
- Most OVA tournaments are within a one to four-hour radius of Durham. The typical team attends 2 to 3 out of town tournaments in a season, but this cannot be predicted ahead of time. Younger teams usually have less travel.
- The OVA master tournament schedule is posted over the summer enabling families to know most of a team’s tournament schedule in advance.
- Tournaments are typically one full day on the weekend with the exception of Provincials and Nationals which take place over 2-3 days, depending on the age division.
While we encourage athletes to play multiple sports, our club teams tend to be quite competitive and we generally ask our athletes to be fully committed to their team from October 1 – April 30 (or May 31 for teams travelling to Nationals or US tournaments). It is an expectation that athletes attend all practices, strength & conditioning sessions, and team events and use time management skills to balance academics with playing a competitive sport. The progress of a team can be hindered by athletes who fail to attend practices on a regular basis.
Athletes playing another rep sport must discuss their commitment with the head coach prior to accepting their Rebels offer.
In OVA tournaments, teams participating in 11U through 14U follow a “Fair Play” rule which stipulates any player not starting the first set in a game, must start the second set and cannot be substituted unless the player becomes ill or injured. During the third set of play, coaches may play any player he/she chooses. In 11U-13U game play, a Rally Ball (formerly called Triple Ball) format is used during OVA tournaments. Information on Rally Ball may be obtained from the OVA website.
In the 15U division and 16U trillium division, coaches follow the Fair Play rule in pool play, then choose their line-ups freely once they enter cross-overs.
From 16U through 18U, coaches may play whichever line-ups they choose.
If an athlete has not been in regular attendance at practices, a coach reserves the right to scratch that athlete from the tournament/game roster until his/her attendance improves and the coach believes it is safe and fair to have that athlete take part in competitions.
Club volleyball is competitive volleyball and play time is often linked to a player’s ability, attitude, and coachability. Not all coaches place the same weight on each of these values. As players move into older age divisions, the level of competition becomes extremely high and some athletes will see more playing time than other athletes.
Athletes on female teams 15U and older (may vary, based on the season) are required to take part in the Athlete Wellness Program. This program combines strength and conditioning with mental preparedness and nutritional sessions. When an athlete is committing to a team, they must ensure they are available and prepared to attend the AWP with their team. The AWP is included in the athlete’s club fees and typically takes place on a Sunday afternoon or an evening before or after one of their team’s practice nights. Our 15U and 16U teams train with Elite Training Systems in Whitby while our 17U and 18U teams train in-house with Monica Dyment. Athletes attend AWP once per week and coaches reserve the right to reduce the playing time of athletes not attending their team’s AWP sessions.
Many of our teams will compete in at least 1 U.S. tournament; these athletes (and their accompanying parent) will require a valid passport if their team will be travelling to the U.S.
Like any sport or activity, athletes need an engaged and supportive parent who is able to commit to providing their young athlete with rides to and from team events.
In order to keep team costs at a minimum and help the season run smoothly, all teams require team parents to volunteer with the team. Parents are needed as team managers/parent reps, bookkeepers, meal and travel planners, fundraising planners, photographers/videographers, social media managers, game scorekeepers and line judges, banquet reps and more. If your family is committing to Club volleyball, please be prepared to assist with your child’s team. The commitment time is very minimal when all parents assist.
Any team assigned tournament hosting duties by the OVA is compensated for their duties and must fulfill this obligation.
When teams go to tournaments, athletes are not permitted to leave the venue during the tournament day. As part of their team bonding experience and for convenience, teams set up lunch buffets (when permitted) and parents contribute items to the buffet on a rotating basis. All parents are expected to participate in and contribute to, the team buffet. Athletes with food allergies must ensure the team is made aware of this concern while those with food aversions will find the variety of items can accommodate any picky eater.
At least one parent must complete the Respect in Sport online parent program on behalf of their child athlete. This 60-minute learning resource is dedicated to the prevention of bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination (BAHD). The cost of the certification is $12 (payable by the parent) and once complete, parents should enter the certificate number in their OVA member profile. Any athlete whose parent has not completed the online program by the OVA deadline will NOT be permitted to compete in further OVA events until this requirement is met. RIS is a one-time certification and is not required annually. Learn more about RIS.
All athletes are charged Base Fees by the Club. Teams that take part in additional competitions (invitationals, playing “up” in OVA tournaments, National Championships, and US tournaments) will also have team fees. The budget for team fees will be presented as early in the season as possible. Review the section below to see what’s included in each.
Base Fees are the fees for your team’s regular season. These are collected by the Club in three instalments. At this time, the OVA has not provided us with its tournament registration fees, nor have we heard from school boards about permits for the upcoming season. Parents will be presented with the Base Fee outline with their offer.
Athlete travel and accommodation for out-of-town tournaments are the responsibility of the parent.
Base Fees include:
11U – 14U Girls & Boys
• 4 regular season OVA tournaments (own division)
• 1 Ontario Provincial Championship event
• Coach travel and accommodations (max. 2 rooms / 2 vehicles per team) to the tournaments listed above
• OVA and Volleyball Canada membership fees
• Athlete clothing package
• Insurance
• COVID-19 safety supplies for the team
• Team equipment (balls, net, first aid kit, ball cart, and ball bag)
• Purchase and ongoing maintenance of club equipment
• Team and individual digital photo by professional photographer
• Gym permits for 2 practices per week
• Year-end banquet
15U – 18U Girls
• 4 regular season OVA tournaments for 15U-17U / 5 regular season OVA tournaments for 18U (own division)
• 1 Ontario Provincial Championship event
• Coach travel and accommodations (max. 2 rooms / 2 vehicles per team) to the tournaments listed above
• OVA and Volleyball Canada membership fees
• Athlete clothing package
• Insurance
• COVID-19 safety supplies for team
• Team equipment (balls, net, first aid kit, ball cart, and ball bag)
• Purchase and ongoing maintenance of club equipment
• Team and individual digital photo by professional photographer
• Gym permits for 2 practices per week
• Technical Director
• Mandatory Athlete Wellness Program (strength and conditioning training, nutrition, and mental preparedness)
• Year-end banquet
Boys Teams
• 4 regular season OVA tournaments (own division)
• 1 Ontario Provincial Championship event
• Coach travel and accommodations (max. 2 rooms / 2 vehicles per team) to the tournaments listed above
• OVA and Volleyball Canada membership fees
• Athlete clothing package
• Insurance
• COVID-19 safety supplies for team
• Team equipment (balls, net, first aid kit, ball cart, and ball bag)
• Purchase and ongoing maintenance of club equipment
• Team and individual digital photo by professional photographer
• Gym permits for 2 practices per week
• Technical Director
• Year-end banquet
Team fees are costs for additional tournaments/events not included in base fees. Not all teams participate in additional tournaments or events so team fees may not be applicable. Coaches will advise parents of the additional tournaments as early as possible, but information for invitational tournaments is generally not available until November. Team fees are collected by the team’s banker and may include:
- Invitational tournaments
- National Championships (locations vary based on age division)
- Additional OVA tournaments (playing up)
- Special events such as team-building activities
- Coach travel expenses for out-of-town invitationals and tournaments outside of own age group
Many teams are successful in acquiring sponsorships or fundraising to cover all or part of their team fees. Team budgets are prepared based on the number of rostered players on a team and all families share equally in additional costs incurred by a team, regardless of a player’s availability to participate in a given tournament or event.
Many teams are successful in acquiring sponsorships or fundraising to cover all or part of their team fees. Team budgets are prepared based on the number of rostered players on a team and all families share equally in additional costs incurred by a team, regardless of a player’s availability to participate in a given tournament or event.
Some teams acquire these extra funds through sponsorship, fundraising, or parent contributions with the latter being more difficult for some families. Fundraising should be a group decision but parents must be mindful that not all families have the same financial ability to pay for additional costs, therefore, assisting with fundraising or sponsorship activities ensures each family can get the financial support they need during the season.
All athletes will receive an athlete clothing kit. During games, all athletes must have their game jersey(s), navy blue shorts (athlete’s choice of cut/style), and navy blue or white crew socks.
During practices, athletes must wear either a Durham Rebels, Ontario Volleyball, or Volleyball Canada tshirt. It is recommended that senior athletes wear their numbered practice t-shirt to help identify them easier when teams are filming recruitment videos.
The athlete clothing package is currently being negotiated with our vendor and will include athlete game jersey(s).
Optional branded items such as backpacks, hats, volleyballs, shorts, socks and other fanwear items will be available to order online directly from our clothing supplier for a short time after our registration. Athletes may wish to visit our official clothing supplier, Canuck Stuff Sports, in-person to purchase unbranded items such as socks, shorts, court shoes, and other volleyball-related items. Identify yourself as a Durham Rebels member to receive a Club discount.
Learning to be a good citizen is critical to the growth and development of young athletes. Our Rebels for a Cause initiative encourages teams to take on at least one community service project during the season. We encourage projects that have athletes personally engaged in helping their community, and not parents simply giving money to a loal charity (though we don’t discourage that either). By engaging in community service, young athletes experience and joy and value that one person or group can bring to the lives of others. Some of our past community service projects include:
