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Athletes Beat the Heat at the 2022 Beach Ontario Championships

By Ontario Volleyball Association, 08/11/22, 1:15PM EDT

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The Beach Ontario Championships were held over the past two weekends at Ashbridges Bay Beach Volleyball courts. 4 days, 9 age categories, 37 divisions, 876 athletes, 71 courts and soaring temperatures, this tournament put the athletes to the test, and they didn’t disappoint.

Great action was seen across all the divisions as the tournament brought together some of the best players from across the province and even some national level players. The adult division medal matches were streamed live and can be rewatched on the OVA YouTube channel.

Former Canadian Olympian Josh Binstock took home first place in the Adult Male Premier Tier 1 division with his partner Ivan Reka. Both men remember coming to this tournament as youth players and reflected on the importance of the experiences on their careers. “I think just playing against, well, guys that I am now, but I remember coming up playing against Olympians and National Team members and it’s kind of a, you know, you can inspire them [youth athletes],” said Binstock. “You can chat with them, you can watch them, and connect with them and their parents, and try to motivate them to continue on your path.” Reka, a Volleyball Canada Beach Next Gen, FIVB and NORECA competitor, shared his own unique experience, “I remember about 13 or 12 years ago when I was playing nationals here, I was playing U16, or whatever it was, and this guy [Binstock] was playing senior, and I was watching him play here and that basically inspired me. Just watching guys like him competing at a high level and now I’m playing with him.”

The youth divisions were also full of high-level competition. Scattered throughout the groups you could see Team Ontario Regional Program and Team Ontario Red and Black participants. “Really great competitions, our finals game was awesome,” said Beatrice Pengelly, winner of 14U Female Premier T1 with her partner Sophie Hancock, a Team O Beach member.

Youth Open Male division Gold Medalist Jack Svendsen was happy with the level of play, “The tournament was really fun, lots of good competition, especially the last day. The finals, semis and quarters, they were all really good games.” His partner Anton Kiriakou agreed, “W tournament!” “So fun, very good experience, we did well. First! Very good,” boasted Kendra Baker, who took home the 14U Female Championship Tier 1 Gold with her partner Emma Edmonds. “Meeting new people and talking to the new athletes that are here was the best for me.” She went on to invite other athletes thinking of entering the tournament next year to “definitely try it, it’s a really good experience, I really enjoyed it, we really enjoyed it. It’s really good teammate wise, you meet a lot of new people, it’s very fun.”

OVA would like to thank all of the volunteers, referees and parents for their hard work and selfless contributions. This event could not have happened without your support.

Congratulations to all participants for a great couple days of competition and a reminder, for those looking for some end of season games, Beach Tour events continue until the end of August.

Below is a list of division winners. A complete list of results, rankings and future tour events can be found here.

July 30/31, 2022

13U Male - R.VanDasselaar/C.Bartels
13U Female T1 - A.Brenner/M.Gortnar
13U Female T2 - L.Moldawa/S.Condoyannis
15U Female Premier T1 - A.Lonardi/T.Wilson
15U Female Premier T2 - B.Pengelly/J.Melnyk
15U Female Championship T1 - M.Titianu/J.Tatangelo
15U Female Championship T2 - R.Crane/A.Massimiliano
15U Male Premier T1 - C.Tang/Y.Elsayed
15U Male Premier T2 - C.Bolton/I.Johnson
17U Female Premier T1 - S.Gilbank/O.Odigie
17U Female Premier T2 - A.Hannivan/A.Hannivan
17U Male Premier - D.Nikashov/Y.Brown
18U Female Premier - M.McNabney/R.Lalli
18U Male Premier T1 - E.Sachik/B.Davies
18U Male Premier T2 - A.Ignat/J.Chan

August 6/7, 2022

12U Female Premier - D.Wilson/V.Vargas
12U Female Championship - M.Morra/S.Santiago
14U Female Premier T1 - S.Hancock/B.Pengelly
14U Female Premier T2 - J.Dufour/M.Plouffe
14U Female Championship T1 - K.Baker/E.Edmonds
14U Female Championship T2 - B.Barbosa/E.Tan
14U Male Premier T1 - N.Hatvani/J.Chow
14U Male Premier T2 - A.Bertovic/W.Clarmo
16U Female Premier T1 - C.Kok/R.Lalli
16U Female Premier T2 - L.Davenport/J.Goodman
16U Female Championship T1 - A. Mikel/K.Ilewellyn
16U Female Championship T2 - M. Buckrell/J.Elsley
16U Female Challenger T1 - M.Lemay-Evans/H.Crane
16U Challenger T2 - K.Fischer/K.Chu
16U Male Premier T1 - P. Ocampo/W.Basilio
16U Male Premier T2 - W.Stanley/B.Tuck
Youth Open Female Premier T1 - M.McNabney/K.Drozd
Youth Open Male Premier T1 – A.Kiriakou/J.Svendsen
Adult Female Premier T1 - R.Sorra/M.Law-Heese
Adult Female Premier T2 - J.Ionardi/J.Ennis
Adult Male Premier T1 - J.Binstock/I.Reka
Adult Male Premier T2 - D. Dorey/M.Bratsberg