By Clay Whittington
The Belton Journal
Summer camp is intended to help aspiring players improve both physically and mentally. It also can have emotional effects, though.
Every year, numerous kids attend Lake Belton’s summer volleyball camp for several days of drills, instruction and games with the hopes everyone in attendance departs with a better understanding of the sport and a greater ability to perform on the court.
But players are not the only ones reaping benefits.
More than 180 kids took part in this year’s installment of the camp, and while the focus was on the participants, Lady Broncos head coach Allison Waits admits the experience is equally valuable on a personal level.
“Every year,” she said, “camp is a reminder of why we do what we do. These kids are excited to do the littlest things, they are excited to just put it all together and when it all works, you can see their faces light up.
“Then, with my high school players helping, it is an opportunity for me to spend time with them and enjoy each other in this setting. I’m getting to joke around and have a good time with them, but it is also really special to see them come into their own when working with the campers.”
With the camp welcoming any third- through ninth-grader, the event was broken into two sessions, dividing the group between sixth and seventh grade.
A majority of the participants were in the session of older kids, who accounted for approximately 125 attendees, allowing for Waits’ staff to work primarily on more advanced aspects of the sport.
Regardless of age, however, the same principles were involved.
“We start off by breaking down individualized skills,” Waits said. “Then, we come together to scrimmage and put it all together. For the younger kids, we will break things down even further and spend less time scrimmaging.
“The setups are very similar, though.”
Entering her second season overseeing the Lady Broncos, Waits saw a similar turnout to what the camp drew last year, and she continues to be impressed with the talent in attendance.
She is also excited about the players she is familiar with too.
Along with her coaching staff, Waits utilizes juniors and seniors from her roster to help conduct the camp. With so many kids taking part, the players’ presences were vital in simply maintaining organization, but they were also assets in other ways.
“The kids just really look up to my players,” Waits said, “and it is fun to see how well they work with these kids and how willing they are to step in and run drills. They want to help other kids get better at the sport, and I love getting to put them in the spotlight to show what a Lady Bronco volleyball player is.
“My players have been asking for weeks about when camp would be, which is amazing, because we are fortunate to have these girls playing club ball”
