Some of the best beach volleyball players in Canada will be in competition this weekend at Ashbridges Bay.

Volleyball Canada will be hosting the Beach Nationals championships for the country’s top players from the age of 14 and up on Friday, Aug. 15, Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17, at the Ashbridges Bay beach volleyball courts on Woodbine Beach.

Matches will be played in both boys and girls divisions for under-14, under-15, under-16, under-17, under-18 players. There will also be Senior women’s and men’s matches this weekend.

Competition begins on Friday and continues through to Sunday afternoon.

Local residents are invited to come out to watch the action and see some of Canada’s future beach volleyball stars on the Ashbridges Bay courts as they seek to win national titles.

Beach volleyball has a long history in the East Toronto area with the Balmy Beach Club being one of the most popular places to play as far back as the late 1950s and 1960s. The sport’s popularity continued to grow and the beach volleyball courts at Ashbridges Bay are among the most used in the country.

In August of last year, Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkereson (both of Toronto) teamed up to win the silver medal in women’s beach volleyball at the Paris Olympic Games.  Canada’s other Olympic medal in beach volleyball was a bronze won by the men’s team of John Child and Mark Hesse, who both grew up in East Toronto, at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

For more information on this weekend’s tournament, please go to the Volleyball Canada Beach Nationals stie at https://volleyball.ca/en/competitions/2025-beach-nationals#:~:text=Volleyball%20Canada%20is%20excited%20to,well%20as%2020U%20and%20Senior.

With the spotlight ready to shine on the continent’s top U18 water polo players, European Aquatics has launched three dedicated new websites for the upcoming Men’s Elite and Division 1 European Championships, and the Women’s European Championships.

The websites will feature daily reviews from each prestigious competition and contain links to all the squad lists, fixtures, results and standings. Media outlets can also access photos of the action via the Media Center menu.

Live streaming details will be available as well, ensuring all fans are kept fully up-to-date across all three exciting tournaments.

The U18 Men’s Elite European Championships will take place in Oradea, Romania, from 18-24 August and the website for this event can be found by clicking here.

Four groups of four will contest the preliminary stage in Oradea, with Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, Montenegro, Serbia, France, Poland, Romania, Türkiye, Georgia, Germany, Malta and Ukraine the 16 teams vying for the trophy.

The U18 Men’s Division 1 European Championships is being held in Rio Maior, Portugal, from 18-24 August and the website for this tournament can be accessed by clicking here.

Two groups of four, one group of three, and one group of two will contest the preliminary stage in Rio Maior, with Czechia, Moldova, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Israel, Lithuania and Portugal the 13 teams competing.

The U18 Women’s European Championships is to be played in Gzira, Malta, from 31 August-7 September and the website for this competition can be viewed by clicking here.

Two groups of four, one group of five, and one group of six will feature in the preliminary stage, with Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Türkiye, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Israel, Germany, Ireland, Malta, Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czechia, Great Britain, Romania, Switzerland and Slovakia the 19 countries taking part.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 14, 2025) – USA Volleyball is sending two beach teams to compete at the Junior Pan American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay, Aug.18-22, 2025. The Games, held August 9-23, feature more than 4,000 athletes from 41 countries and serve as the largest sporting event in Paraguay’s history.

The Junior Pan American Games is a major multi-sport competition featuring athletes aged 17-22 from North, Central and South America. The competition offers 218 qualification spots for the 2027 Pan American Games in Lima and valuable international experience for athletes working toward senior-level international representation. In beach volleyball, 16 teams per gender will compete at the Los Pynandi World Cup Stadium.

The first Junior Pan American Games was held in 2021, and this is the first time that USA Volleyball is sending beach teams to the event. The Junior Pan Am Games is also a Team USA event, meaning the athletes will represent not only USA Volleyball but the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee on the international stage.

The U.S. teams earned their spots at the USA Volleyball Junior Pan American Games Trials in January.

Portia Sherman and Emma Donley, who both play beach volleyball at Cal, will represent the U.S. on the women’s side. Thomas Hurst (UC Irvine) and Gage Basey (Colorado) are the U.S. men’s competitors.

Both pairs arrive with recent international success. Donley and Sherman won gold at the U23 NORCECA Tour stop in the Dominican Republic and took bronze at the 2025 NORCECA Beach Tour event in Honduras. Hurst and Basey earned silver at U23 NORCECA Dominican Republic and finished ninth at the 2025 World University Games.

UCLA assistant coach Kelly Reeves will coach the women’s team, and Beach Nation’s Mark Fishman will coach the men.

“The Pan American Games is a special tournament. It’s an opportunity not only to compete against some of the best athletes in the world, but also to represent the future,” Reeves said. “It’s a true honor to coach Emma and Portia on this journey. They come from a strong collegiate program at the University of California, Berkeley, and bring a great deal of experience and leadership. As a group, we’re excited, locked in, and ready to compete.”

“Talent wins games, but intelligence and teamwork win championships,” Fishman said. “Thomas and Gage are just getting better and growing as a team. They are two of the smartest young men in the game and their best is in front of them. I’m honored to represent the United States and be part of this amazing team.”

Women’s Roster
Portia Sherman (5-9, Goleta, Calif., Cal)
Emma Donley (6-4, Los Altos, Calif., Cal)

Men’s Roster
Gage Basey (6-5, Lyons, Colo., Univ. of Colorado)
Thomas Hurst (6-4, Plano, Texas, UC Irvine)

Coaches/Staff
Women’s Coach: Kelly Reeves (UCLA assistant coach)
Men’s Coach: Mark Fishman (Beach Nation)
Team Leader: Carolina Garbato (Beach NTDP)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Central Washington University saw 110 student-athletes receive the Division II Athletics Director Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Award the association announced today for the 2024-25 athletics year.
 
The D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award is in its 18th year and recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level. For the first time since inception, there were more than 20,000 student-athletes recognized (22,756) from a record 202 institutions for the 2024-25 Academic Achievement Award. This year’s totals are the highest in the program’s history.
 
CWU’s 110 student-athletes were the second-most in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with Western Oregon leading the way with 113 total student-athletes honored. Five different GNAC institutions had student-athletes honored.
 
In order to qualify for the Academic Achievement Award, a student-athlete must:
 

• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
• Have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work.
• Have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year.

 
The Wildcats had the following breakdown of recipients of each NCAA Division II sport:
 
Baseball – 15
Football – 31
Men’s Basketball – 3

Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field – 7
Softball – 9
Women’s Basketball – 7

Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field – 15
Women’s Soccer – 15
Women’s Volleyball – 8
 
To view the full D2 ADA article click HERE
To view the full breakdown of CWU student-athletes click HERE
 

RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Preseason workouts are looking a little different for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team this year. 
 
The NCAA allowed Div. I teams to start a few days earlier than usual in 2025. With the extra days and nine newcomers on the roster, head coach Todd Lowery is using a slow and steady approach to really emphasize things like passing angles, tempo of setting, seam coverage and other fundamentals to make sure everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goal. 
 
The mission behind the new preseason approach is connected to the main goal UTRGV has every year – win a conference championship and reach the NCAA Tournament. In recent seasons, Lowery felt the team often peaked too early and ran out of gas when the season got long. This year, they’re slowing things down to focus on having a higher ceiling and playing their best volleyball late in the year to make a postseason run. 
 
“As we looked through the calendar we had a lot more practice time than we have in the past and it’s allowed us, with nine new faces, to want to get things right before we start throwing them together,” Lowery explained. “Our focus, by really breaking things down, is can we get to perfection by November instead of good enough by October. 
 
“We have the same goals everybody does – to win a championship. But stepping back from that is how do we continue to get better and learn from the things that we didn’t do well last year?” he continued. “That’s been a big focus – how do we collectively buy into this being bigger than ourselves? How does volleyball become our why? Our key is not losing control for a set or two and putting ourselves in bad positions. That’s what slowing things down is also allowing us to do, learning how to reset to our basics and stay disciplined.” 
 

The Vaqueros are doing two practices per day, going two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, and spending an hour in the weight room after morning practice during the three weeks of preseason. Through the first 10 practices, they haven’t done any live six-on action. They’ve emphasized spot serving, hitting angles, blocking, defense, and will put all those lessons together for the first time during the orange & gray scrimmage. 
 
Lowery has been impressed with the work his team is doing so far. He said the “core group” of returners, including juniors setter Isabella Costantini, outside hitter Nadine Zech, and middle blocker Julianna Bryant all came back after spring ball more physical and healthy and ready to take a step up. Junior middle blocker Aaliyah Snead joined the team at midterm and has been a big plus in the gym through spring, summer and preseason workouts. 
 
UTRGV has five freshmen joining the ranks, and Lowery has liked what he’s seen in their first two weeks with the squad. Ana Julia Peixoto, Maria Angeliki Tsagkopoulou and Dimitra Nanou have stood out, but the whole group looks poised to contribute in Year 1 with the Vaqueros. 
 
“I don’t think we’ve been this far ahead with a group of freshmen in as long as I can remember. They bring a lot of good things to the table,” Lowery said. “They’re young and there are some things – serve receive, blocking – that are hard and take time and they might be struggling a bit. But they’re learning the technique that we want them to do in those things. As each of them develop in little things, they’re going to be really good.” 
 
The Vaqueros have developed a quick camaraderie despite over half the team being new. Lowery said they’re a fun group to work with because everyone in the gym truly wants to get better and they’re all pushing each other toward the same goals. UTRGV will continue to focus on the details as they implement more live play into practice as the countdown to match day draws near.