While indoor club volleyball has wound down for the summer, the sport is just heating up at Hespeler Park in Niverville July with a new four-day beach volleyball camp this July hosted by Team Manitoba athletes Fiona Brown and Selestine Braun Liu-Asomua, with added support from their Canada Summer Games coaches Chloe Reimer McCaughan and Erika Vermette.

For the past two years, McCaughan, who grew up in Sanford, has called Niverville home. But this August, she’s set to travel with the team to St. John’s, Newfoundland as they compete against top athletes from across the country.

Before setting off to Newfoundland, they will arrive in Niverville for the four-day beach development, held from July 28–31. 

“My family and I love this community as our own already,” says McCaughan, “and I am always eager to serve and give back as best I can!”

Brown, from Winnipeg, and Liu-Asomua, from Altona, will host 90-minute sessions for three age categories: U14 mixed (athletes born 2011 or later), U16 girls (born 2009 or later), and U16 boys (born 2009 or later). Proceeds from this camp will assist in supporting this year’s athletes as they prepare for the Games by competing in tournaments in Vancouver and Calgary.

Volleyball has been part of the Canada Games since the inaugural event in 1967. Beach volleyball was added in 2001 and has consistently featured top athletes from across the country since 2009.

McCaughan herself has participated twice as an athlete. After competing in 2009 and 2013, she went on to serve as an assistant coach to former Olympian Wanda Guenette from 2014 to 2017. In 2018, McCaughan took on the role of head coach.

Assistant coach Vermette, a resident of Morris between her seasons at the University of British Columbia, is a two-time U Sports champion and all-star, 2022 Team Manitoba athlete and flagbearer, and former Team Canada beach player.

Hosting this event in Niverville excites McCaughan, who hopes this could also be the beginning of revamping the beach volleyball scene in the southern region.

“Bringing this camp to southeastern Manitoba, which has always had a strong volleyball culture, will be a tremendous step to allowing young athletes to learn the nuanced game of beach volleyball,” McCaughan says, “which develops athletes’ all-around skills and mental toughness in ways the indoor game does not. In beach you are involved in every rally and earning every point, but also every error.”

Parents of camp-goers are encouraged to stay and watch if they are able. By learning more about the game, they may gain insights to better support their child’s progress and development in the sport.

“Beach volleyball will always improve your indoor game because you’re focusing on all of the skills within every rally,” says McCaughan. “The indoor game has become increasingly specific with positions: setter, attacker, for example, but with beach volleyball you have play every position in every rally.”

Playing beach volleyball means more time with the ball, building both physical strength and mental resilience.

“There are only two of you on the court instead of six,” McCaughan says. “You are guaranteed to get more touches in one minute of beach volleyball than you might in almost ten minutes of indoor volleyball.”

She adds that it’s about more than learning hard skills and techniques.

“All four of us played university indoor volleyball,” she adds. “We spent our whole summers playing beach. The indoor game is about power and height. Beach is a lot about tactics and smarts. It’s a lot about reading and anticipating. When you develop that side of your game, you can graft these skills into your indoor game. I think, for all four of us, we wouldn’t have gotten university scholarships without having worked so hard in the sand.  When you’re a smaller athlete, you’re often looked over during recruiting—but being able to bring these extra skills and talents to the court, you become an unstoppable teammate.”

As a sport, volleyball is rooted in community and that spirit carries into this camp. Camp attendees can expect to walk away not just with improved skills but also a stronger mindset.

“Beach volleyball is a challenging sport,” McCaughan says. “The sand is very humbling because it’s hard to move in, and so it’s a great way to build resiliency, determination, and to refine skills or develop new ones on the beach.”

McCaughan understands all too well what it takes to push oneself to improve in the sport.

“You can’t teach height, but you can’t teach heart either. The beach volleyball game brings that out in people.”

Whether it’s a player’s first time in the sand or they’re looking to improve their game, this camp offers young athletes the chance to learn, grow, and connect through sport.