About Us

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Brant Youth Volleyball Club, home of the Tornadoes.

The Brant Youth Volleyball Club was established by Sandy and Rick Beedham in 1998 to give youth volleyball players in the Brant area a competitive club program in which to participate.  The club plays in Region 3 of the Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) and has achieved many successes over the years.  In addition to the OVA, we are also affiliated with the Recreation Departments of the City of Brantford and County of Brant.

Below is a little bit about club volleyball in general, about our club, it’s philosophies, and what it takes to be successful in our program.

We believe that learning a life-long sport, making friends from a variety of schools, and having fun is often the reason a young player will get interested in volleyball.  We strive to develop the athlete not only as a player but also as a person.  In addition to volleyball skills, you will learn life-long skills such as teamwork and interpersonal skills, the ability to handle pressure situations, and to effectively use goal setting to accomplish your dreams.

Athletic talent, a positive attitude, ability to accept constructive criticism, and good work habits are all necessary for success as an elite player.  If you have a sincere desire to improve, then you will do well in our program.

The OVA has embraced the concept of Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD).  The BYVC fully supports this concept and as a result, we want to develop your child as a complete volleyball player.  This includes not only technical volleyball skills but also includes physical and mental skills and strategy.

OUR VISION

To promote and enhance an individual’s participation in the sport of volleyball resulting in a life-long love of the game.

OUR VALUES

Follow Long Term Athlete Development Principles developed by our governing bodies (CVA/OVA)

Develop the complete volleyball player – technical skills, physical skills, mental skills, and volleyball strategy.

Recognize that work ethic, attitude and sportsmanship are more important than winning at all costs.  Use the life lessons learned in practice and competition to become productive members of society.

BYVC HISTORY 1998 – 2022

2022 – BYVC introduced Parent/Child (Parent and child work together on the court to develop basic fundamental movement skills to get ready for skill development. Focus is on movements involved in volleyball such as running, jumping, catching, coordination skills)

2021 – The Covid Year – along with the rest of the province, BYVC made a pivot from on the court to on line.  Worked with OVA and local health authorities to be able to offer an on-line program and when allowed a modified on court program for four competitive teams.  The developmental program was put on hold.

2020 – during Covid shortened season, our 15u team had the highest performance ever for a BYVC team – finishing the season ranked 10/122 teams.  The year before as 14u they had finished 15/128 teams.

2019 – Co-Founder Sandy Beedham was recognized for her long-time contribution to volleyball at the provincial level by being honored as a recipient of the Diane Wood Special Achievement Award.

2016 – BYVC is one of five clubs in Ontario endorsed to run SMASHBALL program. Travelled to Taipei City, Taiwan 2016 International Children’s Games  with girl’s indoor team.

2015 – Record number of participants in our SPIKES fall program.  Travel to Alkmaar, Netherlands for 2015 International Childrens Games  with girl’s indoor team and pairs of girls and boys in the first ever ICG beach volleyball competition.  Girls pair of Tori & Emerald make the medal round.  In the fall of 2015 we introduced our Little Diggers program to bring fundamental movement and introductory volleyball skills to the grades 1-3 age range.  In partnership with the County of Brant and through the generous support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, BYVC builds 3 outdoor beach volleyball courts at Green Lane Sports Park in Paris.

2013 – Alumni Holly Motheral becomes Volleyball Head Coach at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.  We take both a boys team and girls team to participate in ICG Windsor.

2012 – Alumni Rachel Roorda earns an OUA All Star Award with the Brock Badgers and goes on to make the National Senior B team.  This year’s ICG group travels to Daegu, South Korea.

2011 – Our first trips across the border to compete in US age group tournaments.  Each team was able to compete in a tournament in Buffalo New York.  We also took combined 14/15U and 16/17U teams to participate in the USA East Coast Championships in Pittsburgh in late May.

2009 – ICG Athens – Again were able to take a boys team and a girls team to compete in the birthplace of the modern Olympics.

2008 – ICG San Francisco.  Took both a girls and a boys team.  The boys team defeated Jerusalem in the semi-final to bring home a bronze medal.

2007 – This year was a banner year for our alumni.  We had former members playing for the University of Guelph, Mohawk College, Humber College, Fanshawe College and our first U.S. recruited athlete at Houghton College in New York state.  In total we had 5 females and 3 males competing at the post-secondary level.

2006 – ICG Bangkok.  24 athletes – 12 males and 12 females.

2005 – Caribbean tour.  Played against teams from Dominica and Aruba while enjoying some Caribbean hospitality.

2004 – A new group of girls got to be a part of the ICG experience as we travelled to Cleveland, Ohio to compete in that year’s games.  We played against teams from Switzerland, Slovakia, South Korea, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

2003 – Our first overseas excursion!  We competed  in the Sun ‘n Surf tournament held in Honolulu Hawaii.  Some of the original ICG girls were also a part of this trip.  A great time was had by all and we won a few games.  The tournament consisted of high school and club teams from Hawaii, British Columbia and Ontario.

2002 – Through the generosity and support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we established our house league program.  This program was developed to offer skill development to a younger age group and those interested in playing at a more recreational level than our competitive teams.

A personal highlight this year was when co-founder Sandy Beedham was recognized by the OVA with the Female Developmental Coach of the Year award.  This award is presented annually to two outstanding coaches (one female, one male) for their history in developing athletes/ teams within the OVA and for their contribution to the development of our sport in the province.

2000 – This year marked our first foray onto the international stage.  That summer, Hamilton was hosting the International Children’s Games.  We applied for acceptance and were able to take nine female and nine male volleyball players.  The kids had a great time representing their country and getting a taste of competition at the international level.  Although we didn’t win many games, they took away great memories from the experience and an appreciation of the hard work and dedication required to succeed.  Many of these players went on to become leaders making a significant contribution to their high school teams.

1999 – The original boys were still interested in playing but had moved up to the Midget (U16) age group.  We recruited some grade 10 boys to supplement the original group to make us more competitive.  Realizing that we needed a younger team to feed the original group when the new grade 10 recruits moved up an age group, we also fielded a team at the bantam (U14) age group.  Now we had two boys’ teams of which none of our own children played on.  Our daughter was in grade seven at the time, so we decided that we should do a girls’ team as well.  Most of those original female players were from Sandy’s summertime fastball team.

1998 – The first team in the Club was a mixture of boys from St. George-German and Paris District elementary schools.  These teams were the finalists in the County playoffs and boys from both teams were eager to keep playing.  We called the OVA to enquire about registering them for an OVA age group tournament only to be told that to play in OVA tournaments you had to enter as a Club.  The paperwork was filled out and the Brant Youth Volleyball Club was born!