Summer volleyball is in full swing
Tue, 06/21/2016 - 10:32am
admin
By:
Carlye Kiesow, Eagle Intern
The summer JO volleyball program has been around for a long time! Not much about it has changed, but one major change they did have was the person organizing it. Brooke Olson has undergone the strenuous job of putting together the summer program. Not only will she be organizing JOs, she will also be head coach for girls volleyball during regular season. Brooke has been coaching for 6 years and this will be the highest coaching position she has held in that time. She is very excited to see what the season holds and is hoping for no injuries. She enjoys seeing the girls practice and getting better during the summer JOs.
JOs is actually short for Junior Olympics. That is just what these girls are; little Olympians. They give up a whole month of their summer to better themselves in a sport they enjoy; practicing and participating in tournaments throughout the whole week. Brooke finds when girls play summer JOs they work better together on a team and can easily read each other on the court.
The girls in JOs range from sixth grade to eleventh grade. Girls being from Goodridge and Grygla. This year we have four teams for the summer. There is the ‘18s team’ coached by Kember Anderson; a ‘16s team’ coached by Mariah Coan; and a ‘14s A and B squad’ coached by Katelyn Tharaldson.
These girls, no matter their age, will benefit from this program. Brooke believes it is very important to introduce girls to volleyball at a young age to get them more prepared for when they can play regular season. The older girls benefit from this also. They play better together and master their fundamental skills.
This season, the whole entire JOs volleyball team was bestowed with new jerseys. The jerseys were made and designed by Salo Signs. The money to pay for the new jerseys was generously donated from area businesses, though not all the stuff to pay for JOs is donated. The girls have to fundraise to help pay for the fee to play in JOs. Brooke not only finds improvement on the girls volleyball skills but they seem to be more responsible. They have to make sure they get to practice and tournaments on time. They are held accountable, and this can help with general life skills that are good to have.
Some girls not only go to practices and tournaments, but they work out on their own time, having motivation to be better. The extra things these girls do to get better can help Brooke teach them more advanced moves and techniques to help the team succeed.
The JOs volleyball program ends in June, but the girls will continue to play volleyball. They will continue to play at open gyms throughout the rest of the summer alternating between Goodridge and Grygla Schools. Head Coach, Brooke Olson, is ready for this season and feels the girls working in the summer will be in shape to accel during the regular season. As for the younger girls doing the summer program, they will get a feel as to how it is to compete in actual games. They build fundamentals and this will help them in years to come.
It helps build a bond for the girls who will be playing with each other for the rest of their high school career.