A total of 46 athletes participated in the Rebels Volleyball Camp held at Bashaw School from Aug. 19 to 23.
This was the second year of the camp, which has been well-received in Bashaw and surrounding communities.
The camp was open to any and all junior high and high school athletes who wanted to participated and campers came from Alix, Mecca Glen and New Norway as well as Bashaw to participate in this camp.
The camp has grown from the first year, which had just 35 athletes registered.
It’s a big boon to be able to participate in a camp that is close by and is affordable, says Al Middleton, athletic director at Bashaw School and organizer of the camp.
The camp’s coaches all volunteer their time, which keeps the registration fee down to a low $60, rather than upwards of $200 at comparable camps in Camrose or Red Deer, which is where students would have to go otherwise.
The camp is also sponsored by Bashaw and District Support Services (BDSS) and Bashaw Area Recreation Board (BARB) to help make it more affordable.
For the registration fee, campers received 15 hours of instruction over the week, a t-shirt, a nutritional snack each day and prizes at the end of camp.
Nutrition breaks were provided by Yvonne King and Superstore.
The camp goes over all the basics of volleyball with forearm and over head passes, serving, attacks and offensive and defensive formations.
The senior group went into more advanced formations and complicated quick attacks and combinations.
The students ran drills, including one where they wore a clean pair of socks on their hands in order to save their skin during the repeated dives and slides to the floor.
They worked on tandem attacks and crosses, where a player comes in front of a setter and ones comes from behind.
“Our hope is not only that they have fun but that they come away with something new,” said Middleton.
The timing is ideal, right before school starts and the athletes start the season with their different teams.
“It’s just a chance to get some touches on the volleyball before they meet with their teams … to get back into the swing of things.”
Middleton is hoping to be able to run the camp again next year but it will come down to time in his schedule and having enough coaches.
He likes to keep a ratio of six to seven players per coach to ensure each athlete receives enough individualized instruction.
The camp something to do in the summer to bring up their skills, so they aren’t starting from scratch in the fall, he says.
