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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Lady Blues sixth and seventh grade campers work on their serving form during volleyball camp Tuesday, July 29. Volleyball head coach Marci Faulk said that the younger grade athletes worked on more basic skills like correct serving form. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Lady Blues eighth and ninth grade campers work on defending serves at volleyball camp Tuesday, July 29. This was a two sided drill with one team being the serving team and the other being the defensive team. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The Lady Blues eighth and ninth grade campers work on precision serving Tuesday, July 29 at volleyball camp. Faulk said that campers in the eighth and ninth grade sections worked on basic skills but also how to apply them to in game situations.
After months of anticipation, the Lady Blues volleyball team has finally turned the corner on the summer offseason and began regular season practices. However, they ended the season with a bang with one final volleyball camp.
This particular slate of sessions was for the sixth grade through ninth grade girls in the community who wanted to learn more about the sport.
Interestingly, this camp took place much deeper into the summer season than the Baby Blues volleyball camp, for incoming first through fourth graders, which took place May 13-15.
However, Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk gave an encouraging insight into this. Faulk said the reason for the separation of camps was due to the high overall turnout that both camps were receiving.
“In this camp, in four grades, we’ve got 98 girls (in attendance),” Faulk said. “We put one grade per court. If we brought in the littles, we wouldn’t have that space and it wouldn’t be as productive.”
For a camp of this size, the coaching staff at Graham High School needed all the space they could use with the sixth and seventh graders taking the two courts in the old gym.
The eighth and ninth graders then naturally took the two other courts in the main gym.
Between the two sessions in May and July, a total of 151 girls in the community came out to become more immersed in the sport of volleyball, something that Faulk is very pleased with.
“I love it,” Faulk said. “It just shows the growth in volleyball, even in the 11 years that I’ve been here. Volleyball is just growing.”
Faulk said that as usual, the different grade levels of kids were working on different skills reflective of their experience level.
The younger kids, being the sixth and seventh graders, worked on basic skills such as passing, setting and serving. The older kids, the eighth and ninth graders, were working on team concepts along with basic skills practice.
One example that Faulk gave of this was a spot serving drill the older kids were practicing.
While the younger kids were mainly focusing on the correct technique for serving, the older kids were learning how to “pick their spots” on the floor to look for more advantageous ways to score points while also working on their form.
Faulk also said that while the kids weren’t exactly working on six on six drills, they were playing smaller scrimmage matches to get that feel of in-game action as well as also giving each of the older players more responsibility than a six on six match would require.
This was done not only to test their abilities but also to help players learn more roles on the floor and be more versatile in the future.
While the regular season may be starting again and it's easy to solely focus on the current Lady Blues teams, it's always important to garner inspiration for the next generation of student athletes.
