BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Creating a foundation.
That’s what Bradford High School Head Volleyball Coach Chelsea LeMire and assistant coaches Robbie Best and Belinda Phillips are hoping to do. That led to the creation of this year’s youth summer league for those going into grades 4-8.
“We wanted to grow the youth program here,” Phillips said. “There aren’t any volleyball programs hear here to get them introduced (to the sport) before middle school.
“We’re trying to get these girls introduced to volleyball earlier so we can build a program.”
The two-week league consisted of enough youth to create two teams. They participated in multiple practices before playing matches against each other at the end of each week.
BHS has already been offering an annual youth camp, which serves to teach the basic skills and fundamentals of volleyball. Phillips said the ideal situation in future years will be for youth to take part in both the camp and the league.
“Volleyball’s hard,” Phillips said. “It’s hard to play a game if you don’t know how to pass or serve. There’s a lot to playing the game.”
Bradford’s coaches are present to supervise the league and offer guidance when needed, but for the most part, the coaching is done by BHS players. Phillips said she, Best and LeMire basically ran the first day of league practice. On the second day, Phillips said she and the coaches told the BHS players, “We’re passing this on to you. You all figure out what drills you’re going to do.”
“They did well,” Phillips said, adding, “Our girls have loved it. They’ve said that they love coaching and that it’s fun.”
LeMire likes the idea of letting the youth be coached by high school players, saying, “I feel like the kids look up to older players more so than they would to us three (coaches). They see the high school girls, and they want to be them one day.”
That’s what LeMire hopes the summer camp and league will do — inspire youth to want to follow in the footsteps of BHS Tornado volleyball players.
“I want for them to come back and keep doing it (every summer),” LeMire said, adding, “Hopefully, they’ll come and watch (the Tornadoes) this season and that’ll make them want to continue.”
