Volleyball Nutrition 101

By: Reid Hall Strength and Conditioning Coach theathletematrix.com Most volleyball players have a hard time understanding how important nutrition is on performance because they have NEVER had a healthy diet. An athlete with a bad diet is like owning an expensive car, giving it the lowest grade fuel and not taking it in for regular oil checks, ... More

New Website for the GTA Premier League

The GTA Premier League is arguably the most popular program in our club. This high-performance volleyball training program for girls in grades 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12. We now have a dedicated website for this program which features all the teams and their weekly game results. Check it out at gtapremierleague.com Check PAKMEN's High ... More

Player spiking a ball in beach volleyball

The Difference Between Beach and Indoor Volleyball

A lot of people usually prefer to play the game of volleyball in summer. In fact, there are two main types of volleyball – beach volleyball and indoor volleyball. Beach volleyball and indoor volleyball is played by women and men. It is worth saying that beach and indoor volleyball have a lot of common things. However, there are a lot of ... More

PAKMEN’S 5th Annual Christmas Party

Party # 1 Who: All Pakmen members, their friends and families What: Free Party with games, music, food, and prizes When: Friday, December 11th, 5 pm to 9 pm. Where: Beach Blast - 7 court indoor sand courts - 15 Leswyn Rd. Toronto Why: To celebrate another great year at Pakmen! Free pizza/pop for kids 18 and under. Party # 2 Who: All ... More

A Case for the Two Point Play

by Orest Stanko The Federation Internationale de Volleyball’s (FIVB) latest tinkering with the rules of volleyball has done nothing to make the game more exciting. And, it’s nothing new. Net violations of any kind are once again not to be tolerated. WAHOO! The officials will be afforded the opportunity to pucker-up and blow their ... More

Pakmen team timeout during volleyball game

TIME OUTs: DO’s & DON’Ts in Volleyball

by Orest Stanko Game management is an area of volleyball that is not often on the agenda at coach clinics. Ordinarily topics include technical skill development, offensive and defensive systems, training the setter, sport-specific strength and conditioning, etc. And, if you depart the clinic with a set of new drills then it was worth your time ... More

Volleyball Pakmen girls team celebrating

The History of Volleyball

Today, the sport of volleyball is extremely popular in the United States and other countries of the world. Without a doubt, volleyball is a wonderful game. There are both men’s and women’s volleyball. According to the statistics, about 46 million people of all ages play volleyball on a regular basis in the United States these days. Approx... More

Catching-up With the Rest of the World

by Orest Stanko Recently Canada’s national teams accounted themselves very well at several important international competitions: Canada’s U21 men’s team finished a very respectable eighth at the FIVB World Championships in Mexico; our senior men’s team won gold at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship after beating Cuba 3-1; and ... More

First Touches: Keys to Success in Volleyball!

by Orest Stanko If you ask any athlete that I have coached to date, "…what is Orest’s singular preoccupation as a volleyball coach?" he/she will undoubtedly remark, "…first touches". Simply put, serving and service receive are the foundations of winning volleyball, regardless of the level that you’re playing. If you serve ineffect... More

The Game is Played Across the Net

by Orest Stanko In case you haven’t noticed, the game of volleyball is played across a net that separates two (2) opposing teams. My statement is not meant to be condescending. It simply begs the question: why do coaches spend an excessive amount of time in practices running same-side partner drills? I’m not inferring that same-side ... More