Over the past 10 years, volleyball clubs within Volleyball Alberta have exploded with an increase in teams; U13/14 30%, U15/16 60% & U17/18 66%.

For this reason, NAVC is proud to offer 17 teams for the 2017/2018 club season.  Our 13U, 14U, 15U, 16U, 17U & 18U men's teams along with our 15U, 16U, 17U & 18U women's teams will follow the traditional team model with each team of up to 13 athletes chosen during tryouts.

Our 13U & 14U women's teams will be run under our revised cohort model to aid in the development of these athletes.  For competition, the 13U women's cohort team will be divided into three teams of 9 athletes each while our 14U women's cohort team will be divided into two teams of 12, at the coaches' discretion.

NAVC believes that the cohort model for the younger age groups provides a sound developmental strategy in line with Volleyball Canada and the long term athlete development program (LTAD).  The LTAD is also about identifying and providing appropriate developmental pathways so that full potential of each athlete can be fully realized.

For that reason, NAVC has chosen to run developmental teams for our 13U age groups to ensure that everyone who wants to learn the sport of volleyball has the opportunity.  All female athletes chosen for our 13U team will practice as one large team while developing with the input of a higher coach to athlete ratio than a normal team of 12 athletes.  Each group will be divided into their respective teams for all tournaments.  These teams will be selected during the season based upon their development and what is in the best interest of each individual athlete.

The 14U teams will run with a modified version of the above with final team selection completed during the first week of February.  This will allow the athletes time to develop during the early stages of the season, participate in various tournaments or leagues to better aid our coaches in team selections as the season progresses.  Again, all athletes will be training as a large group until team selection is completed.  At that time, each team will begin to focus on its individual needs as well as developing each athlete to obtain their individual goals while supporting the team concept.

"The best sport development programs have a long-term vision, adapt and account for the rates at which an athlete matures rather than planning programs based solely on chronological age, are athlete centered, coach driven, but strongly supported by administration, sport science, and sponsors."  This is the hope of NAVC as we develop these young athletes so that they not only become good club volleyball players, but will enjoy the sport for life, no matter where it takes them.