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Valley High School hosted two youth camps this week for local girls, from ages six to 12, interested in Volleyball and Softball. The VHS Coaches for both sports, Madyson Messer and Erin Maurano, and their players pitched in to show the young athletes the fundamentals.

The Volleyball camp was the first of its kind and saw 30 girls attend. Messer said there are not recreational volleyball teams in the area to introduce girls to the sport. 

Many of the athletes were around 12 and in middle school. The coach hopes to see them again at tryouts for the JV team when the year picks back up. 

“We wanted to just spike the interest around the community and get girls to start playing volleyball and getting into volleyball at a younger age,” Messer explained. “We want these girls to know these basic skills before they come to us when they’re in seventh and eighth grade.”

The Softball camp is not new to VHS, but it is the first under Messer’s tenure. They had 15 players at the camp, allowing for more individualized instruction. Most of the girls were under 10 years old, this camp was a good introduction to the game.

Messer and Maurano were helped by all of the players of the VHS softball and volleyball teams adding another element to the camps.

“We definitely saw improvement in both volleyball and softball [for the young girls]. The girls seemed like they really enjoyed it. I think my players really enjoyed it, and also think it was a really good learning opportunity for my players,” Messer said. “They see the game from their side. But this week, they actually got to teach other people the game.”