Lorne's Volleyball Lab


 THE LAB

ASPIRE believes that greatness begins at an early age. Lorne's Lab was created to identify young athletes as early as U13 to join a program that would follow these athletes up to U16 and beyond and aid in their growth and development. The Lab was created to give a unique opportunity to certain individual athletes to train with internationally reknowned coach, Dr. Lorne Sawula along with various other ASPIRE Staff Coaches. 

Lorne's Lab will provide guidance to athletes and their parents throughout the year. There will be suggestions as to how to continue to improve in the off season through physical training and physiotherapy recovery programs. It is our intent in subsequent years to take another group of U13-U14  aged athletes and begin them in a similar program. We feel that this is a serious commitment by ASPIRE and expect the athletes to understand that this is the same commitment for them.
COMMITMENT

ASPIRE's Commitment
1. Our intent is to ’select’ athletes that we consider to have athletic ability, who will work hard to represent their teams and ASPIRE at the same time. 
  • Criteria for selection will include:
    • potential
    • desire to train & improve
    • willingness to attend all training
    • ability to accept feedback and make changes in skill and personality
    • desire to work and improve themselves in the 4 main components of volleyball - "Technical, Tactical, Mental & Physical”
    • aim at showing leadership and respect within their club teams and training environment
2. To follow athletes throughout the 4 month training season to provide:
  • feedback on athletes play with positive and negative analysis
  • give direction and advice to parents on their children - practices are open for their attendance
  • potential video analysis, if video is made available by the athlete
  • advice on handling special situations that they encounter
  • be available for e-mail contact and support. It might be possible to watch athletes when they perform in competition in Edmonton.
  • offer to provide ‘extra' individual or small group training sessions (additional costs - see Pricing)
  • provide basic physical and technical testing that will help to develop the athletes over a potential 3-4 year period
  • provide and inform athletes about extra physical, mental or training opportunities that may help them continue to grow. These may offered by ASPIRE or ASPIRE’s recommended partners.
Athlete's Commitment
1. Attend and fulfill the criteria set out by ASPIRE and their respective coaches on other teams
2. Attend all training sessions, unless there is joint agreement where sessions are missed (ASPIRE will provide "make-up" sessions as well as Drop-In dates)
3. Work hard and accept that athletes have ‘responsibilities' and thus are ‘accountable' for their actions on and off the court. It is this responsibility and accountability that athletes will be measured for in order to continue their involvement in the program.
4. Continue to be open to ‘frank’ exchanges with ASPIRE Staff Coaches
The Selection Process

Athletes will be selected on a named basis or via ASPIRE's Selection Camp (Friday, January 18th, 2010 - 5:30pm - 7:30pm)


Unless there are extenuating circumstances, athletes will be evaluated at the end of each 4 month training program and given opportunities to continue in the program. This is ‘elite’ training and expectations will be high.

Athletes and their parents should understand that selection for the program is entirely ASPIRE’s and they can decide to share or not share why they select or not select the athletes for the program. The long term intent is to give athletes a solid foundation and eventually a better chance to play with top clubs, colleges and university programs.


The Program:

1. Training 1 X every two weeks for the months of January, February, March and April. (8 sessions - Friday's)
2. Training time 2 hrs - Sessions will include classroom and gymnasium training. We want to be able to help athletes who find they need improvements after playing with their clubs. Their main training still comes from the club team and their coaches.
3. Female athletes aged 13 & 14
4. Up to 8 -14 athletes will be selected to train. Some athletes may be selected later in the club season and be asked to join the program.
  • Also includes:
    • Two one-of-a-kind ASPIRE 'The LAB' t-shirts
    • Mental Diary by Derek Thiessen (Author of the Daily Athlete) (additional cost - $15)
    • Unforgettable experience with Edmonton's best coaches