Vision
We created this program to give more kids the opportunity to be part of a competitive team and play the game of volleyball at a high level both regionally and provincially. This program is all about education and development. It is geared towards athletes who have had some exposure to volleyball and are looking to take their skills to the club level. The idea is to educate the athletes about sportsmanship, discipline, competitiveness, teamwork, cooperation, and how to empower each other. Throughout the course of the season, the development component will focus on the overall athleticism of all the participants first and foremost and on their volleyball skills. We would like to spread the love of the game and the love of activity to as many kids as possible. We believe that with sustained hard work and dedication to improve, winning in your various divisions will follow, but winning is not the focus here. Hard work, fun, building lasting friendships and development are the focus.

Mission
Dome Defenders will provide great coaches who are extremely passionate and dedicated to the education of athletes when it comes to the fundamental skills of volleyball and being part of a team. These coaches will care about the kids not only as athletes but as people first. We pride ourselves in providing great facilities, administration, leadership and communication with parents and athletes.

Philosophy
As mentioned above Dome Defenders is all about Education and Development.

• 1. We would like the ideals of sportsmanship, discipline, positive attitude and work ethic to be the main focus of this program. This should be exhibited by both the athletes and the coaches.

• 2. We want to develop not only volleyball players but well rounded athletes. There will be training components included for each team once a week. 12U to 14U athletes will have physical literacy included in their weekend practice time. 15U and 16U athletes will have a training session with Young Fitness once a week included in their club fees.

• 3. We believe in having larger groups of athletes who all learn the game of volleyball together. This gives athletes the chance to be exposed and to adapt to several different teammates and coaches. It gives the athletes more access to a group of coaches with more overall knowledge of the game and several different ways of teaching the various skills. It also gives coaches more opportunities to work on specialized skills with the groups that particularly need them (example: setters & middles working together on connecting, leftsides and liberos working together on passing).

• 4. This is a developmental program. Although equal playing time cannot be promised, we understand that all athletes should have the opportunity to be in game situations in order to develop throughout the course of the season. We find that athletes who attend the most practices, listen and work hard do tend to develop the quickest, and sometimes earn more playing time. Please see the Volleyball Alberta website for specific rules about "fair play" for the various age groups.