St. Regis hosts volleyball camp

Volleyballs and kneepads, as well as a net, were the needed equipment last Thursday as the first day of a three-day camp for St. Regis girls, ages fifth through eighth grade got underway.

"Are you ready to play?" Coach Janelle Pruitt asked the girls.

"Yeah," they responded.

Ten girls showed up for the first day, but Pruitt said that they were missing some and anticipated around 20 girls for the next two days. The girls slipped into their knee pads, while Pruitt explained what the three days were going to look like.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," Pruitt told them. "It's going to be fast-paced. We got a lot of stuff to go through so this isn't a time to be lazy."

The first focus of the day was getting into the ready position. With your feet spaced apart, under your shoulders, you want to get down low to the ground by bending your knees and have your eyes up.

"In volleyball, you have to be ready to move," Pruitt said. "You have to move with the ball."

Once in the ready position, you want your arms out in front of you at about a 45 degree angle. And when you bring your arms together, you want the lower arm flat and together, so the ball will bounce right off.

"You hands should never come above you chin," Pruitt explained to the girls. "Always make sure you call the ball and have patience. Wait for the ball to come to you."

Once Pruitt finished explaining, the drills started. The girls practiced moving their feet on the court and then they moved in a series of different bumping drills. As they moved through a move and pass drill, Pruitt commented, "you guys aren't rusty at all."

"I was really impressed," Pruitt said. "The girls I had last year picked up right where they left off and the fifth graders caught on really fast."

As the girls moved through the drills, they clapped for and encouraged each other, helping teammates out where they could with simple instructions. When they finished with the first set of drills, it was time for a water break.

"(Your working on) a lot more basic skills with younger players," Pruitt said. "You're looking at the smaller things such as whether or not their bending their knees."

Upon finishing the water break, the girls moved into a shoulder roll drill, a maneuver in which players roll over the backs of their shoulders to get up quickly after they've dived for a ball and found themselves on the floor. Pruitt and the assistance coaches were praising the girls for their hustle and for when they accomplished something.

This was the first camp that Pruitt has held for the girls as she is the new coach that will be guiding the team this year. She said that camp is a great time for them to build on skills, especially because the regular season is so short.

"The regular volleyball season is only one month, two months max, and so that's ten months where they are just sitting and doing nothing," Pruitt said. "I want to get the girls ready for regular season and this also gives the young players a head start."

Pruitt said that she is also hoping that the camp exposes to the girls to the sport and that it will get them involved and encourage them to play the sport as they continue into high school.

"It gets the players more involved with the sports program here and it brings them in. I want them to enjoy it so they'll continue playing through high school," Pruitt said.

The camp ended on Saturday and focused on other skills throughout its remainder including blocking, spiking, hitting and setting.