By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
Some say the best way to breed success for a sports program is to start building from the ground up. The Moapa Valley High School Volleyball program utilized that idea, as they held their annual Pirate Junior Volleyball camp last week.
This year, the turnout for the popular annual program reached 45 participants, proving once more that interest in Moapa Valley volleyball is soaring in both older and younger ages.
The camp is hosted by the MVHS volleyball team and is open for athletes from the third grade all the way to those that are freshmen in high school.
“It definitely makes you feel excited,” said Pirate head coach Mandie Matheson, who coordinated the camp. “There’s girls from anywhere between wanting to try something new and waiting all year for this, so it’s exciting to be able to expose them to volleyball in a fun way.”
While the coaches play a major role in teaching many of the skills to the camp’s athletes, a variety of skills are also taught by current volleyball players at the high school, mostly juniors and seniors in the program.
“We try to have players run a lot of it, but it is all of us together, players and coaches,” Matheson said.
With the older athletes involved in the education of the younger ones, both age groups are able to benefit. The high school volleyball players had recently attended their own training camp.
“The older players had their team camp the week before and so they took what they learned and were able to teach it,” Matheson said. “I think it really helps them to break down the skills even for themselves.”
In the past, the camp was a multiple day program. But due to scheduling, this year it was combined into one day.
The camp was divided into two different sessions, separated by a lunch break. It accumulating to equal about five hours of playing.
As for what techniques the athletes developed particularly, Matheson said that the girls focused on the major components of the game, but also learned through experience.
“We mostly worked on passing and serving because those are the key elements of playing the game,” she said. “We did a little bit of setting, but we did a lot of both individual competitions and team competitions too.”
Considering the wide age difference between the youngest and oldest camp participants, Coach Matheson, who has helped with the camp for many years, gets to see development over a long period of time.
“It’s a small town so you get to know the girls as they come in their first year, and then watch them grow and develop with their technique as well as getting stronger and more athletic as they get older,” Matheson said.
As for progress seen over the course of the day alone, the Pirate head coach said she saw quite a bit of that taking place as well.
“A lot of them come in a little bit intimidated,” Matheson said. “But we definitely see a lot of improvement in being more aggressive in diving after balls and just having fun out there.”
Substantial development from year to year bodes well for the Moapa Valley Pirates volleyball team in both the long and short term, and the Pirates hope to continue to see strong turnout in the coming years.
