Whether or not the recent success and popularity of the Olympic volleyball teams, indoor and outdoor, had anything to do with it is speculative. For years, Kinnelon High School has been running a volleyball camp and this year, just like the ones before it, was attended by more than forty girls in fourth through eighth grades.
"Every year, every sport has the opportunity to run the Sports Academy camp," says high school head coach Stephanie Manco. "We’re just trying to teach them the basic skills. It’s hard for little kids because of their height and they are constantly hitting the ball with their arms, so you have to come up with different things. They enjoy it."
Varying levels of skills can make the coordination of the activities a bit more complicated but Manco and her staff is focused on one thing, and that is to ensure that those in attendance are having an enjoyable experience.
"There are kids that are here for the first time and some that have been coming year after year. It’s hard when you have a wide variety of ages and skills, then you don’t have enough of the better skilled people to do more stuff with, so what we do here is stick to the basics," says Manco.
That means that they spend a lot of time learning the proper methods of passing, the most overlooked and incredibly valuable part of the game of volleyball.
"We don’t try to make things too complicated," says Manco. "But without passing, the rest of the game is difficult."
Kids play the game in physical education class one way, but here at the camp, the idea is to teach them how the game is really played in a competitive team scenario. Manco wants then to realize that the game is more than just hitting the ball, though she admits, that is the most fun.
"Even as adults, the thing that you always want to do is hit the ball," says Manco. "After the first day, they start to realize that it’s a completely different game then they’ve played in class."
Manco thinks the camp has been successful in the number of kids that come back year after year. She also notices the improvement after taking what they have been taught here and applying it.
"It’s amazing at how much better they become from coming here," says Manco. "I can see it in the returning players."
As the high school’s Head Coach Manco is trying to show these young girls that while they have many choices and options when it comes to pursuing an athletic activity once in high school, volleyball can be, and is, a fun alternative.
"I think the personality of myself, my assistant coaches, and the kids I have working here realize that the key at this level is to make them have fun," says Manco. "If they are having fun while they are doing the sport, is what brings them in, more so then if we were here drilling them."
