Parker Salomon
Sports Editor
Junior Piper Monk, sophomore Olivia Bakos and freshman Maya Harvey traveled to the the Olympic Training Center over the winter break to further improve their volleyball skills and techniques.
Annually during winter break, a four day volleyball clinic is held by the United States Olympic Committee at the Olympic Training Center. In the morning and afternoon there are two high intensity practices and at night players got to learn more about the sport such as what a professional career in volleyball is like from their coaches.
“The camp at the Olympic training center packed so much into each practice and it really helped me develop into a better player,” Monk said. “All of the coaches were super helpful and they all added something to the camp.”
To qualify for the Olympic training Center winter camp, players must be on the Youth National Volleyball team’s high performance division. The Youth National team holds tryouts every year, and the team is comprised of the top volleyball players from across the country.
“It’s very difficult to make it onto the Youth national team, but it gives you access to some of the best training camps,” Monk said.
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During the morning practice, players would start out with basic drills such as pepper and later advance to more advanced hitting and passing drills. In the afternoon practice, the girls would usually warm up with some conditioning and then move on to scrimmaging.
“I really benefitted from the camp by being able to play with so many different players,” Harvey said. “The training was also more challenging than what i was used to so it helped me improve my game.”
After a day of tiring training, the players sat down with their coaches and get to hear from their first-hand accounts of their experience playing volleyball for a career, in the olympics and in college. Monk said that these talks opened her eyes to her potential in volleyball.
“Talking to these coaches was very inspiring because once i realized all they had accomplished it made me want to do the same,” Monk said.
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A main goal of this camp is to prepare players to compete in the olympics by practicing with high caliber coaches and players. Both Harvey and Monk have high hopes to someday compete in the olympics and this camp is one of their main ways of preparing to qualify for the olympics.
“It would be an amazing experience to go to the Olympics some day,” Harvey said. “I know I will have to work hard to get there but if i ever go the chance I would definitely take it.”
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