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It happened in the Gold Medal game between Pakmen 17U Gold and Phoenix Legacy (17U) at OVA Challenge Cup, on Dec 2 2023, in Oakville:
By DAVID WINER Special The Pakmen have drawn a line in the sand that may never be crossed. Competing at the Ontario Volleyball Association Beach Provincials, the Pakmen Volleyball Club prevailed with a flurry of gold medal performances that would confound the most optimistic prognosticator. “It was a record performance!” said ecstatic Pakmen director Kelly Smith. “These were the most Tier 1 gold medals at a Provincial Championship in OVA history.” Many of the 200 enthusiastic youngsters, who took to the six regulation sized courts this summer to participate in Elite Beach training, competed at an unworldly level resulting in 10 out of a possible 15 Tier 1 gold medal showings. “We are especially proud of head coach Jessy Satti after coming off a record-breaking indoor season,” said Smith. “His 18U boys won Provincials and Nationals, and he became the first coach to ever win three consecutive 18U national titles. Now, his male beach athletes performed so well, winning almost every single event, including several all-Pakmen finals, and in some cases, winning gold, silver and bronze. “Also, Arjun Selhi, who played for Jessy as an indoor player and was one of Jessy’s assistant coaches on the beach for three years is now in charge of the girls’ program and they also enjoyed a lot of success.” Assisting Satti on the boys’ side were Omar Abu Jazar, Saad Shaikh and Kadeem Clarke, while Selhi was assisted by Osemi Efosa. “Across the board on the boys and girls side we’ve had a tremendous amount of success, said Satti. “I give a lot of credit to the athletes, who make the conscious decision to stick with their teammates and do beach volleyball with the club. It creates a really good dynamic and team culture. There’s lots of opportunities for players to do different beach programs with other coaches, but I’ve found our athletes enjoy our beach program. It shows that the club is able to offer high quality programming 12 months of the year, and our results from indoor and beach proves that.” Setting the tone were Pakmen trailblazers Salma Abdelrazak on the girls’ side and the tandem of Misha Panasiouk and Aleksa Rakic on the boys’ side who worked overtime to collect two gold medals apiece. Panasiouk and Rakic mastered the 15U and 16U Tier 1 age groups that were chock-full of Pakmen teammates. “I think Misha and Aleks had a great summer. When they played up (16U) and won, it was definitely a special moment,” said Satti. “I think they showed people that the way beach volleyball is played can outweigh factors like size and athleticism. We make sure to teach beach the way we feel it should be played, and we’ve done that since the inception of our club. By getting athletes to buy into the training and structure, it puts them in a position to have a lot of success.” The 15U division, contested August 12-13 at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay, was swept by Panasiouk and Rakic, followed by silver medalists Davis Hinshelwoods and Spencer Ham and bronze medalists Cooper Spehr and Jonathan Sousa. Pakmen inhabited two of the three podium placings in the 16U competition on August 5-6 with Yahia Elsayed and Chris Tang securing the bronze. The highlight of the tournament for both Panasiouk and Rakic was beating Elsayed and Tang in the 16U semi-final. “We lost to them in the final at an earlier tournament and they became the duo that we always wanted to play and beat,” explained Rakic. “While we lost to them in the first set, we fought through it and eventually won the third set 18-16.” “Even though we were ranked No. 1 entering the competition, the favorites were Yahia and Chris, who are both really good beach players and were also the tournament winners last year,” added Panasiouk. “We are also a year younger than them. But in a really close third game we were able to win, despite the fact the majority of the audience supported the opposing team.” A lot of planning had to go into Rakic and Panasiouk’s style of play considering there would be extra wear and tear on their bodies competing on back-to-back weekends. “Having to play multiple games a day with only about an hour of time for a break, it came down to how efficiently we used our time to rest and recover,” explained Rakic. “Sitting in the shade, and wearing towels and shirts to conserve our energy, was a must. After finishing each day we used our time to recover using ice, a roller and massage gun to prepare us for the next day and stay as fresh as possible.” However, the biggest reason for success, other than talent, is the rapport the two have developed. “Since Misha joined our rep team two years ago we’ve stayed close friends,” said Rakic, who attends Mississauga’s Applewood Secondary School. “Being able to connect easily from this friendship, it was easy to play together. All the time that we spent practicing on the beach and indoors made our basic skills better and helped us learn how to help each other through our struggles. If I’m struggling Misha is there to help me, and if Misha is struggling, I am there to help him.” Panasiouk, who attends Earl Haig in North York, says there’s a number of factors for their success. “The first is, of course, trust. We know that at the most crucial and stressful moment we will make the right decision that will lead the team to success. The second is communication. We are good at making our jobs easier and more efficient by communicating on the court; and the third is we are strong players in terms of set of skills no matter who the opponent serves, we know that we will definitely score a point.” “We are able to adapt and learn from our opponents,” added Rakic. “We understand how our opponents play and not only play to our strengths, but to their
By DAVID WINER
Ava Mann and Kaylee Glagau began the summer with two objectives.
After their first goal of capturing the OVA Provincial Beach Championships was derailed by a three-set semi-final upset, the Mississauga Pakmen indoor teammates were hell bent on not allowing such an outcome to recur.
“Coming third in Ontario really pushed us to get better and train harder for Nationals,” explained Glagau.
And the duo lived up to their pact, not dropping a single set, on the way to claiming Volleyball Canada’s Youth Beach 14UGirls Nationals title at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay August 19-21.
Having to play 11 matches over three days, conserving their strength and stamina was essential, and Mann and Glagau prevailed in decisive fashion, capturing the gold medal with a 21-5, 21-10 win over Charlotte Bilodeau and Solveig Roy of Quebec.
“We had a very tough loss in the semis at Provincials (to Phoenix Lee and Tia Shum that went to 14-16 in the third set) and after that we decided to train harder because we had three weeks before Nationals and we wanted to be the best we could be,” explained a determined Mann. “All year we were working towards gold at Provincials and Nationals, so when we didn’t get it at Provincials, we knew we would play stronger than ever at Nationals.”
On hand to give them moral and technical support was Pakmen coach Aleks Mamuzic, who couldn’t say enough about Mann and Glagau’s work ethic and tenacity.
“Even though the girls won the bronze after losing the semis at Provincials, it is always rough losing a third set by two points,” said Mamuzic. “(But) the girls didn’t let that loss stop them from working hard on and off the beach courts (in preparations for their next opportunity at Nationals).”
And, because their expectations never varied throughout the season, it appeared as if there was little place for shock, or even surprise, when Mann and Glagau claimed their spot at the top of the podium at Nationals.
“I think our win wasn’t surprising to us because we train a lot and we put a lot of effort into our beach season,” said Glagau. “We also take private beach lessons, which helps us, because we get a lot of one on two coaching and we can work on specific things, which I think helped us to get to where we are right now.”
And where they are right now is in pretty select company as one of three Pakmen teams to win National beach titles this summer.
“The girls were focused all tournament,” raved Mamuzic. “They passed well, set aggressively, and that allowed them to have a lot of scoring opportunities on their attacks.”
“(The gold medal) definitely feels special because we achieved a personal goal and we were really proud to represent Pakmen,” said the 5-foot-10 Mann upon reflection.
“It feels amazing because all of our hard work finally paid off,” she added. “I’m proud of both Kaylee and myself.”
“It feels pretty good. Especially since Ava and I ended our 14U season on a great note,” added the 6-foot-1 Glagau. “I’m looking forward to many more championships.”
Mamuzic feels there’s still a lot more talent to be untapped, especially with Glagau’s height advantage at the net.
“Although both girls have solid fundamentals, it doesn’t hurt that Kaylee put up the biggest block in the 14U division,” said Mamuzic. “Most teams try to set the ball off the net more, which makes peeling and playing defense a lot easier. (Meanwhile) Ava is a workhorse on defense, she chases down every ball. Even if she doesn’t get it up, it’s that type of attitude that makes her partner play better.”
“The coaching that we got from Aleks was definitely key to our success,” said Mann. “We had also been doing extra physical training with Reid Hall. Also we both know each other as partners and were trying to achieve the gold together.”
That partnership Mann refers to is pivotal.
“Kaylee and I have been a team for two years now and I think we know each other’s personalities really well, so when one of us is down the other knows how to bring the other one back into the game.”
Another strength, according to Glagau is the professional way each player conducts herself, whether it’s at game time, or at practice.
“The secret to our success is that we try to train like national champions by never slacking off at practices,” explained Glagau. “Also, having a really good relationship and friendship with your partner is important, because without that, we couldn’t have won Nationals.
It’s therefore not surprising that Mann and Glagau have every intention of keeping their partnership.
“We plan on remaining a team and I hope we remain a team forever because I couldn’t imagine myself playing with anyone else,” said Glagau. “Not only is Ava my beach partner, she is also my best friend, and if somehow we are not beach partners in the future, I hope we could still be friends.
“I also think our games complement each other very well,” added Glagau. “Who knows how far we can go with hard work, determination and always remembering to have fun.”
Unfortunately, the two friends couldn’t celebrate their championship together, because both families had to rush off on holidays, but the two agreed to take a rain check.
“We didn’t celebrate together after because we had to go to our cottages, but I would have liked to,” explained Glagau. “We usually do at the end of other tournaments.
“Our parents have a good relationship with each other too,” she added. “We are all very close and get along very well.”
Mann, who will attend Burlington’s Dr. Frank J Hayden Secondary at the start of the school year, and Glagau, who will go to Mississauga’s Streetsville Secondary School, defeated Quebec’s Laurence Huard and Sarah-Jeanne Beaulieu in the semi-finals, 21-8, 21-4, and bested Markham’s Isabella Samadzadeh and Sonya Bogatchev 21-19, 21-6 in the quarter-fiinals.
In earlier preliminary round action, the Pakmen duo defeated Makayla Harte and Angela Freiburger of Kitchener-Waterloo, 21-12, 21-15; Niagara’s Emma Hilts and Grace Teal, 21-3, 21-8; Toronto’s Kyle Deverell and Livia Collinson, 21-5, 21-12; Quebec’s Olivia Apostolis and Sara Malik, 21-8, 21-10; Bilodeau and Roy, 21-10, 21-11; Burlington’s Lauren Pastor and Julia Capone 21-8, 21-13; Toronto’s Regan Miller and Megan Monteith, 21-11, 21-9; and Alberta’s Sadie Clark and Alex Sinik, 21-6, 21-6.
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