Spikes and serves were the order of the day at Chatelech Secondary School and West Sechelt Elementary School last week at the annual Sunshine Coast summer volleyball camp.
Approximately 90 kids from grades 4 to 12 participated in the five-day camp that focused on everything from passing and serving, to blocking and ball control.
University of British Columbia (UBC) women's assistant coach Bethan Thomas was the head instructor alongside UBC alumni Jan Richey, Chat athletic director and coach Quinn Campbell, coach Sara Schutz and Chat coach Ellen Thomas.
Campbell said he was pleased with the turnout and the enthusiasm shown by the players.
"The real focus all week has been on ball control, passing and serving the simple parts of the game that are so important in rally point serving," said Campbell. "It's been your typical camp. The enthusiasm was really high on Monday and by Wednesday all the players, and for that matter the coaches I think I hit 400 balls yesterday are getting a bit tired, but by today (Thursday) the enthusiasm and the energy is picking back up as we get into some mini-tournaments and some games."
Campbell said he expects to see both Chat and Elphinstone competitive in the always-tough North Shore Secondary School's Athletic Association this season.
"We had a bit of a lull when Kyla [Richey's] group graduated, but it's starting to come back," added Campbell. "Sara has a good group that she's been working with for a lot of years. Now they're in Grade 11, so our senior team at Chat looks pretty good. I think Elphi will be strong this year too and in Pender, we have three or four girls from Pender at the camp, so I see resurgence in Pender too. It's great to have a third school to play right here on the Coast."
Last Thursday, Kyla paid a visit to the camp. Coming off a busy summer with the Canadian National Team, and a trip to the University Games in Serbia, she said she is looking forward to her third year at UBC.
"The University Games were amazing. It was like a mini-Olympics," she said. "It's such a different atmosphere playing on UBC then on the national team. You're playing with all your best friends and it's so much fun, but playing on the national team is great too. It's pretty much the best of both worlds."
She said it was an interesting feeling coming back to coach at the camp a summer camp that she was a player at only a few short years ago.
"It's too bad that there are not more of these camps, because it's great there is no much potential here," Richey said. "It's funny because I was here just a few years ago. I gave one of my jerseys away today. To me it's just one of my jerseys, but to the girl I gave it too, it was really special. It's kind of neat to come back."
Richey said most of her UBC teammates are playing at beach nationals or at the Canada Summer Games, so she won't be back on campus for two weeks. She's looking forward to the rest, before re-focusing her energies on helping the T-Birds win their third consecutive national title.
"We had a large target on our backs last year and it will be even larger this year," she said. "Our team is really good at focusing in on one game at a time. We know we have a good team. If we play together as a team, we're going to be tough to beat."
