Volleyball players from across Barrhead had the unique opportunity to be coached by some of the best international players during the Impact Volleyball Camp August 11-15.
This was the third annual Impact Volleyball Camp in Barrhead and there were 31 kids registered for this year’s camp. Michael Amoroso, Camp Director, explained the decrease in participants for the camp.
“It was a good number for us to have considering this was the first year we did a camp in Westlock as well. Originally, Westlock was one of our locations and then Barrhead parents petitioned us to come here so we shifted over. We decided to split the difference and go to both towns,” said Amoroso.
Amoroso admitted that he was pleased with the number of participants as it provided some valuable one-on-one time with the players.
“As you can probably see, we had a good athlete to coach ratio. There was no court that seemed overstuffed. The most kids we had in any gym was the boys’ gym and they always had a second coach with them. There was always a lot of attention, especially for the younger kids,” he said.
Amoroso went on to discuss the caliber of athletes at this year’s camp.
“Barrhead is great. Inheritantly, there is a lot of volleyball culture in town. I know the senior boys at the high school here in town were finalists at provincials this past year, which I am particularly proud of because I had a lot of those kids at the camp last year,” Amoroso said. “We just want to cultivate interest in volleyball and if there is a need to come here, we want to be here. Barrhead has great athletes, which is good to see.”
This was Amoroso’s second year at the Barrhead camp and he discussed what it was like to come back for another year.
“I can’t even put it into words. Two of the athletes I had on my court last year, received scholarships to play university volleyball this year. One of them was a member of the Western Elite Alberta provincial team for kids’ 16-years-old and under. To see them sort of following the route it takes to get to where we are now is really cool to see. I expect to see a lot of these players go to the next level and watch proudly,” he said.
Professional volleyball players Casper Munk Christiansen, Martin Stenderup, and Lykke Haley from Denmark along with Anneka Hastings from Scotland joined Amoroso during this year’s stop in Barrhead. Amoroso explained the importance of bringing in these international players.
“It’s interesting because anywhere you go in the world, you see similar players struggling with similar aspects of the game but everybody teaches things differently. It is refreshing for the kids to get a completely new perspective on the game and an international perspective on the game,” he said. “The things that work in club volleyball don’t work in university volleyball. We wanted to present a new, higher level of thinking for these kids so when they go back into their school or club teams they have this type of thinking.”
Participants of the camp went through a number of drills over the week-long camp including setting, passing, attacking, blocking, serving and individual and team defense drills. Amoroso explained the importance of breaking down these drills so the kids had a better understanding of what they learned.
“We don’t have the luxury of having these kids for a full club season or a full school season. We get them for one week and about six hours a day so it is condensed and we have to give them a lot of information in a short period of time,” he said. “It is really easy, when you have limited time, to rush through things. The last thing I wanted from this camp is for kids to get better because they were doing drills over and over again. We wanted them to understand why they were doing the drills and to grasp the concept of the drills.”
Amoroso said he was “really happy” with this year’s camp.
“We had six athletes that came back for their third or more season and that is a testament that the camp is working and the kids are getting what they need out of it, which is great for us,” he said. “At the same time, the fact we are seeing new faces means new interest is building for the camps and the sport of volleyball.”
Amoroso shared his final thoughts on this year’s Impact Volleyball Camp.
“At the end of the day, we as coaches see small gains from each player and then by the end of the week you see such a tremendous amount of growth from all of the players that it is so rewarding. This is the future of volleyball right here. Barrhead schools have been very successful in volleyball and we would like that to continue for many years to come,” concluded Amoroso.
