Young volleyball players on the Coast were treated to some first class coaching during this year's Sunshine Coast Volleyball Camp.
The camp ran from Aug. 22 to 25 and saw 48 players learn from coaches Jesse Knight and Ali Sandholm from the University of Calgary.
Knight is the full-time head coach of the women's volleyball team, while Campbell River native Sandholm is a fourth year middle for the Dinos and has played with Team BC at the Canada Games.
"In order to stay competitive, we have to have top quality instruction," said Chatelech teacher, coach and camp co-ordinator Ellen Thomas.
Students from Grade 4 to Grade 12 benefited greatly from the camp that focused on simplifying movements and then practising them in a game setting.
"We've done some work and found out that kids like three to four skill keys per skill, because they can't remember more," said Knight. "So if I'm teaching how to hit a volleyball, the three things we want to focus on are torque, elbow lead, wrist snap. Whereas if you bombard players with the 30 things that you have to do to hit, they won't get it."
Once each skill was mastered, Knight had students practise them in a game setting, rather than running drills daily.
"Anybody can be good at doing a skill during a drill, but you can really see them put those skills in to practice in a game setting," Knight said.
He has taught at volleyball camps on the Coast before from 2002 to 2005 and said this year he can see the skill level of students has improved greatly.
"The talent here is unreal. Before you used to have one or two good players carrying the rest of the team, and now you have full teams of volleyball players on the court," he said.
He credits the coaching and enthusiasm of local school coaches as the reason for the heightened skill level.
"All the high school coaches here have such a passion for the game that it's going to spill over onto these guys," he said.
Thomas said much of what was taught to students at this year's volleyball camp has been taught by local coaches in the past.
"We've been teaching that way forever, but it's kind of like a parent telling their kids what to do. They need someone else to say it before they take it seriously," she said.
The cost to take part in the volleyball camp was just $80, a far cry from the $600 Thomas said it would cost to stay in the city and get the same level of coaching for students.
"As long as our coaches are willing to be here for not a lot of money, we can continue to offer these camps at these prices," Thomas said, noting once fees get over $100 many students can no longer take part.
Thomas said she has been offering the volleyball camps on the Coast for at least a decade. The vision came out of the popular basketball camps that have been running on the Coast for 18 years.
Thomas plans to continue offering the skill development camps for local youth and she is also putting together a website to keep the public informed about what is available.
The new website at www.coastsportscamps.ca is up in a preliminary way right now and is expected to be completed by April of next year. It will include information on sports groups, events and games. Thomas said it will also feature a blog as well as links to a Facebook page and sports groups on the Coast.
