Vikings volleyball camp warms up players for fall

Aug. 17—MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Community College Vikings hosted a training camp last week, bringing in local high school athletes to train alongside this year's collegiate squad at BBCC. This camp helped both the high school and college players warm up ahead of the volleyball season. "I am really happy how the camp went," said Vikings Head Coach Lindsey Linthicum. "You have a lot of excited young athletes from middle school all the way up to high school." The camp ran from Aug. 11-13 and primarily featured volleyball players from the Waterville and Almira/Coulee-Hartline school districts. Linthicum said it was actually those coaches who reached out in the spring with interest to work with the Vikings program. "They're ready to go, they're always enthusiastic and just very coachable," she said. "Ready for the next drill all the time." Throughout the week, players participated in a variety of exercises led by the Vikings players and coaching staff. Wednesday's training consisted of serving drills, working on defensive form, passing to teammates and quick six-on-six matches. Their final exercise of the day was a game of tag that took up the entire gym. Linthicum said the most important aspect of the camp was keeping everything fun so the athletes stayed engaged. "Even when we're teaching the basics of a drill, how do we make it a fun drill afterwards," said the Vikings coach. "I think that's how they engage and they understand how the skill we're trying to teach them actually works." This camp is something Linthicum said was a great benefit for both the high schoolers and college players alike. For the high schoolers, they got to see the different levels of play for volleyball and ways they can further develop the skills that they already have. The Vikings players, now stepping into a coaching position, have to deepen their own knowledge of the sport by breaking each aspect down to teach the younger players. "When they have to get in the coaching situation to teach the skill better, that helps them retain that knowledge a little bit more when they're then in practice for a game," said Linthicum. The Vikings coach said that through this the players are in turn teaching themselves how to be leaders. "They have young freshmen, sophomores, sometimes juniors and even middle schoolers coming in," said Linthicum. "So how do they present themselves as a leader in that sense and get them prepared and help raise up the next group." Overall, she said this camp has helped the Vikings understand the importance of looking to others for support rather than just relying on themselves. This was solidified throughout training as the college players worked together to demonstrate the drills and keep the large groups of young players engaged. With the camp concluded, Linthicum said she was pleased to work with the players from Waterville and ACH and is excited to see what the schools can accomplish this season. "Best of luck to ACH and Waterville for their season," she said. "We're super excited for them and we hope that they go to state and have a great successful year."