Keaton Proud’s accomplishments are plentiful and continues to work on a legacy of giving back to the sport he loves. A co-founder of the Pegasus Beach Volleyball Club in 2016, he served as a Director for three years, managing, marketing, planning, and coaching the program that provided opportunities to approximately 60 athletes aged 10-18 years old. Since Keaton’s first year as Director, he increased weekly programs, ensured a small coach to athlete ratio, and saw the program size nearly triple from year one to year three.

While he founded a successful program on the beach, Keaton’s roots in volleyball began with the indoor game. Acting as the Grassroots Program Manager for the Pegasus Volleyball Club in 2018, he also organized house leagues and multiple youth club teams at the developmental ages including the 13U and 14U club programs in the Kingston community, with 26 male athletes at the 13U age division. Outside of the club programs, Keaton has mentored young athletes through the Ontario Volleyball Association’s Smashball programs for elementary schools in Region 6 and its surrounding area while continuing to give back to his previous club, Thundercats Volleyball, through camps and various programs in Richmond Hill.

Keaton always keeps one toe in the sand and in 2018 was the Assistant Coach for the 16U Boys Team Ontario Beach Program and the Assistant Coach for the 18U Boys team the following year. He currently shares his passion for developing athletes as an Assistant Coach with the Team Ontario White indoor program.

Continuing to expand his development coaching experiences in 2018 he also joined the post-secondary ranks and is currently the Lead Assistant Coach with the Queen’s University men’s program. Keaton works to develop the use of data analytics within the game simplifying statistical data for the coaching staff and athletes in training, competition, and post-match environments. Aside from coaching volleyball, Keaton is also the Sport Clubs Assistant with the Golden Gaels Athletics and Recreation Department where he supports varsity and recreational clubs.

In 2019, Keaton was awarded the Hawk Award from Pegasus Volleyball Club for his outstanding contributions to grassroots, indoor and beach programs within the organization. He not only excels as a mentor on the volleyball courts but is also a stellar performer in the classroom at Queen’s University. Keaton has been recognized on the Dean’s List for the past three years with a combined GPA of at least 3.50 over the year. Thank you for all your dedication to the sport and being an extraordinary role model for athletes across the province! Congratulations Keaton!

Meagan Nederveen set out on her volleyball career as a 12-year-old athlete playing for the Mountain Volleyball Club in Hamilton, Ontario. Through her passion and talent for the game she has become highly decorated, earning numerous Award of Excellence, the Evelyn Holick Award, and now bestowed with the Female Development Coach of the Year award.

Following her youth career, where she also represented Region 3 and Team Ontario, Meagan continued to excel as a five-year varsity athlete for McMaster University, capturing two OUA silver medals. As captain, she demonstrated and refined her leadership style and communication skills while balancing an ability to collaborate in high stress situations. Through commitment and excellent time management, she earned her place on the Dean’s List achieving CIS Academic All-Canadian status while being named team MVP and OUA All-Star in 2013. In Meagan’s 4th and 5th years at McMaster, she added to her accolades earning the OUA Libero of the Year, OUA Award of Merit, and the prestigious CIS Therese Quigley Award awarded to a top volleyball athlete who combines academics and community involvement.

Balancing more than just classes and varsity sport, Meagan also contribute to the local volleyball community volunteering as a club representative for the Hamilton-Wentworth Focus on Youth Program which delivers free or low-cost high-quality summer programs and providing sport and literacy programs for disadvantaged youth in Hamilton. She continued to oversee the volleyball and literacy portion of the Focus on Youth Program until 2017. With a passion to explore, she took her social coaching on the road, visiting a village in Uganda while working as a volunteer hospital worker.

Meagan embodies a passion for the grass roots and for the past nine years has also taken on head coaching duties for the MVC’s developmental house league and summer camps. She is currently the Director of MVP VolleyTotz, which is a developmental program for children in junior kindergarten through grade two that engages young children in both the sport of volleyball and physical play. This program combines motor development with physical literacy and volleyball skills in a fun environment and is the first of its kind in Ontario.

Her grassroots contribution has not been restricted to the development of athletes and Meagan assists in the curation of the Mountain Volleyball Club Coaching Certification Program. The MVCCP is a unique program that recruits young club athletes to become coaches, which currently has coaches ranging from 11U to 18U. Meagan has been active in instructing the younger coaches on teaching, mentoring and leadership skills aimed at teaching others. In 2017, Meagan was selected as a Mentor Coach by the Coaches Association of Ontario in their “Changing the Game, Changing the Conversation” which is a signature initiative under the Ontario 150 Program dedicated to identify and reduce barriers to women participating and coaching in sport. To date, Meagan has co-mentored nearly 30 young coaches.

In 2017, she stepped onto the OVA courts again, this time as a co-coach of the 11U team. Meagan is currently co-coaching the 14U developmental team and continues to pursue her coaching credentials. In 2018-2019, Meagan acted as the co-technical Director for Mountain Volleyball Club working with the 11U- 14U teams.

Thank you for your tireless passion and dedication to the sport and for instilling your passion for coaching development in the volleyball community. Congratulations Meagan on this very deserving award.