Joey Payeur
Grab your shorts and hit the court–and don’t forget the sunscreen.
Fort Frances Fire ‘N Ice Volleyball Club head coach Amy Wilson-Hands intends to start a beach volleyball league at the sand courts at Point Park.
The plan is to start the league sometime in mid- to late August, once Wilson-Hands returns from her role as an apprentice coach for the Team Ontario girls’ volleyball squad at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg from July 28-Aug. 13.
“I have seen a few posts of people talking about how we need a beach league in this area [so] I figured let’s give it a go,” noted Wilson-Hands, who also will be the coach of Team Ontario at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games in Toronto from July 16-23.
“It might be tough at first but, as with everything, it’ll just take some time,” she remarked.
“We are going to try and run it after fastball and soccer season is done,” she noted.
“Hopefully, that will draw some players out.”
Wilson-Hands recently accompanied her youngest daughter, Adyson, to Port St. Lucie, Fla. for the Team Ontario High Performance Beach Volleyball Camp.
“I also have seen what it does for other parts of the province, with their athletes playing beach and indoor [volleyball], and it really develops your skills as well as your mental toughness,” she noted.
“It is straightforward,” she added. “There is only two people on the court with no [substitutes].
“If someone is not playing well, the team has to come up with ways to figure it out.
“It is definitely a whole different game,” Wilson-Hands conceded.
“The passing is different, the court is smaller, the setting is way more strict,” she explained.
“But people will catch on quickly to it.
“It is something that will definitely enhance this area’s volleyball, whether it be high school, club, the women’s league, or helping our younger athletes make it to the High Performance Centre,” she stressed.
Wilson-Hands hopes to have the logistics ironed out so she can conduct a registration before she leaves for Canada Games training at the beginning of next month.
If the league is successful in getting off the ground, Wilson-Hands is optimistic it can serve as an impetus for town council to look more seriously at upgrading the beach court area at Point Park.
“I am confident that the town will see this as a need for our area,” she said.
“If we do get new beach courts, I would run leagues, as well as tourneys, all summer,” she added.
“But with the way the beach court is currently, that is hard to do.
“It is in large need of an update and we definitely need more then one,” Wilson-Hands stressed.
“I have thought about where new courts could go, and I think the green space near where the Legion Park and old West End outdoor rink are would be perfect.”
Wilson-Hands said she’s been approached by the grassroots co-ordinator from the Ontario Volleyball Association to apply for a grant, which would help cover such necessities as nets for additional beach courts and 30 Mikasa-brand beach volleyballs.
“All we need is the courts,” she reiterated.
