Weekend 1 of the Beach Ontario Championships (BOCs) kicks off at Ashbridges Bay at 9am on Saturday, August 5th with the 12U, 14U, 16U, 18U and Adult tournaments.
This weekend the beach will host 276 teams on 75 courts, with a bleacher surrounded feature court. The feature court will host the top games of the tournaments with commentators, music and will be streamed, so keep an eye out on socials for stream links!
Sorra and Law-Heese celebrate gold at 2022 BOCs
The returning champions of the 2022 Adult Women’s division, Kayla Law-Heese and Ruby Sorra, are the top ranked team heading into this tournament. The pair are both veterans of the BOCs, having competed multiple times and brought home medals from the tournament as youths. These athletes have also had success in the Beach National Championships, have been a part of Team Ontario, and competed at the FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championships. Ruby, with partner Emma Glagau, won bronze in 2021 becoming just the third Canadian Women’s pair to bring home a U19 FIVB medal. While Kayla carries a heavy name in Canadian Beach Volleyball circles, she has firmly stepped into her own light coming off a successful season at University of Alabama at Birmingham where she was named to the Conference USA All-Tournament Team.
Their partnership began at the beginning of last summer and after the success at last year’s BOCs, they have spent this year strengthening their team with tournaments in Calgary and Vancouver, as well as an FIVB event in Italy. They enter this weekend firing on all cylinders and excited to be back on the sand at Ashbridges. “I’m looking forward to seeing centre court and playing in front of the crowd, I love playing in front of the crowd,” said Sorra. “We’re excited for the competition, there are a lot of good teams this year”.
Kemp and Losier celebrate bronze at 2022 BOCs
On the men’s side, the Adult Tournament seeding is led by the duo of Max Losier and Robbie Kemp. The bronze medalists from last year enter the tournament with revenge on their minds. Last year, the pair came together in mid-summer and were knocked out in the semi-finals by the silver medal pair of Alex Russell and Jake MacNeil. Both players feel they are more prepared this year to take on the big teams heading into this tournament.
Kemp and Losier are both veterans of FIVB Youth events and NORCECA Tournaments and have come through Team Ontario development programs. A former Thundercats player, Kemp says “I’m looking forward to seeing the teams and seeing the show court. It’s always a good time with the announcers making the games more interesting with the commentary and a little chirping”.
Losier, a former youth National Champion who has been playing in OVA tournaments at the adult division since he was 16, is excited to play provincials again. “The Ontario Championships is one of the more fun tournaments with a great atmosphere on the beach with the boardwalk and crowds,” he said. “We are ready for them this year. We just have to take it one game at a time and if we get matched up (with Russell and MacNeil) we are ready for a battle.”
The women’s and men’s brackets are riddled with former Team Ontario and Canada athletes and even Olympians. The weather is looking perfect for the athletes and spectators alike, so head out to the beach and enjoy the best beach volleyball this province has to offer. And as always, entrance is free!
If you cannot make it out this weekend, make sure you head to the beach August 12th and 13th when weekend 2 will feature 13U, 15U, 17U and Youth Open tournaments. Registration for weekend 2 tournaments closes Monday, August 7. As always, head over to mrs.ontariovolleyball.org/Calendar to register.