Another successful week of spikes, sets and volleys took place at Chatelech Secondary School this week.
Close to 70 players from grades 7 to 12 took part in the annual summer volleyball camp.
Led by local coaches Jan Richey and Quinn Campbell, the athletes were put to the test during the week long camp.For the first part of the week, Rae Mitchell, assistant varsity coach with the Simon Fraser University women's team was guest instructor. The second half of the week, Jesse Knight, who has coached here in previous years, was back to offer his skills.
Other coaches included Linden Williams, Sara Schutz and Kyla Richey who helped out with the younger players in the mornings and then took part in the high school camp in the afternoons.
"So far it's been going very well," said Mitchell on Tuesday afternoon. "The enthusiasm is quite high and everyone seems eager to learn new skills and refine their existing skills. I love coming up to the Sunshine Coast. Instructing at this camp is a pretty good excuse to get away and take a bit of a holiday too."
Players in grades 4 to 6 will take part in a two-day mini camp next Monday and Tuesday.
"This year we decided to split off the younger kids," said Richey. "Some of the kids in those grades have never touched a volleyball, so it's hard to have them all together when their skill development is so different. It's the first time we've split up the camps. I hope it works. I think we have about 15 players registered. The idea is to introduce the game to the younger players and build up their skills so when they get to the high school level they already have an introduction to the game under their belts. Volleyball BC is trying to focus on younger players and their development and we want to do the same here on the Coast with all of our teams."
In other volleyball news, Kyla has just returned from Mexico where she competed with the junior national team.
Kyla qualified for the squad for the second year in a row through a three-day tryout camp in July in Regina.
She trained with the team for three weeks in Regina then the team went to Winnipeg to train with the senior team prior to heading to Mexico for the North American Central Caribbean Championships.
The tournament featured eight teams with the top three qualifying for the world championships next year in China.
Unfortunately for Kyla and Team Canada, they lost in the bronze medal game and failed to qualify.
"Kyla had a good tournament. She started at middle position and played a lot," said Richey.
Last weekend the Richeys were in Washington State on a scouting trip at the University of Washington. Kyla has also received recruiting letters from Florida State, Colorado, Pittsburgh and the University of British Columbia.
"We have lots of options," Kyla said. "I want to play pro in Europe some day, so playing in the U.S. would really help with that. UBC would be great too. I know all the coaches, so I would feel really comfortable playing there. We'll just have to see what happens."
