By Nathan Kanter

Battlefords Volleyball Club holds 2017 ID camps

Dec 6, 2016 | 6:20 AM

On Monday evening 18 kids at the NationWest Fieldhouse learnt a new sport as Paul Sarsons shouted words of encouragement and instruction.

That’s because the Battlefords Volleyball Club (BVC) was wrapping up their 2017 ID camp for boys aged 14 and younger, run by its club president, Sarsons. On Sunday, they held camps for girls anywhere from 12-years-old right on up to 18, as well as boys aged 15 and 16.

No cuts, no sad faces, no disappointment, just kids getting active and involved with a new sport.

Sarsons said although this is the fourth year they’ve hosted a 14-U boys camp, they’ve never had 18 kids show up for this division. It’s part of how he has seen volleyball grow over the last several years in the province.

“A few years ago, there may have been 200 boys playing the sport,” he said. “Now we have about 600 in the last five years, and girls, it has really taken off over the last 10 years. Now there’s probably well over 1,000 girls playing.”

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Yes, there has been growth, but there is still work to be done, which is why Battlefords Volleyball Club exists in the first place. On their website, it states the club is “focused on growing the sport with the Battlefords and surrounding communities.”

For Sarsons and the rest of the club’s executive, that means getting kids enrolled at an early age.

“The younger we get the athletes, the better skills we can develop with them and we can basically get them hooked on the sport so we can keep them playing,” Sarsons said. “It’s [also] easier to teach them the skills since they’re so new to the sport and they’re still learning motor patterns and things like that.”

In a country where most kids choose hockey and soccer, volleyball is an option many parents just don’t think about for their kids.

Sarsons believed because of a lower enrolment, it actually gives kids a better opportunity to be successful beyond the high school level.

“There are better opportunities for colleges and universities because of the low amount of kids that are actually playing it currently,” he said.

For younger kids who find they like the sport, their parents can enrol them in BVC’s “atomic league,” which will begin in January (registration will open later this month). The club also has in place the proper channels for players to transition to an elite level.

The other thing that makes BVC unique, according to Sarsons, is the quality of coaching.

“We have a lot of coaches who are starting to become very well known, not only in the province, but in the western region,” Sarsons said. “We have a coach named Jana Friedenstab, whose son is actually here right now playing, and she just got her level three, which is not very common. So she’s now able to educate coaches and train them to be better coaches.”

Sarsons also added that the entire BVC executive is committed to making the program enjoyable for all kids involved.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.Kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11