Jessica Behrman, an incoming senior at Moffat County High School, serves the ball during a drill Tuesday at the MCHS gym. The Volleyball team is taking part in a skills camp led by Colorado Northwestern Community College volleyball coaches.
Volleyball is known for its violent spikes and dominating blocks, but the fundamentals of passing and ball control are just as important to success on the court.
That's the message that Colorado Northwestern Community College volleyball coaches were stressing to Moffat County High School players at a volleyball skills camp which began Tuesday and continues today.
Sanchez, a 2006 graduate of MCHS, is leading the camp with CNCC head coach Richard Barker, who said they are also trying to teach the team out-of-system play, when a point doesn't go as planned.
"We're doing out-of-system offense. The in-system stuff is when everything goes perfect, and coaches can take care of that," Barker said. "So we're doing out-of-system offensive things, like emergency skills to place the ball, or attack the ball, do things besides giving a giant free ball over the net.
The Bulldogs volleyball team is coming off a difficult 5-13 season and will have to replace four seniors, but is moving down to Class 3A in 2012. Barker said he liked a lot of what he saw during day one of the camp.
This is the first organized MCHS volleyball event for the summer, and it precedes the team's trip to the University of Northern Colorado for a team camp.
Bulldogs coach Sandy Camilletti reached out to Sanchez to put the skills camp together, feeling it was important for her team to develop individual skills before going to the team camp, which is more fun, she said.
"This camp is really meant more to develop individual skills, the camp at UNC is a team camp where we'll go and play a bunch of games," Camilletti said.
Sanchez said she like the way the team responded to learning a side of volleyball that can be less fun.