Personal thoughts

I have been in a reflective mood today on my last day off before high school summer conditioning starts up next week. What a week we had in youth volleyball at the 15th annual Wild west camp. It was truly amazing to see the way youth volleyball has really exploded in Venice. We had over 80 kids ranging from kindergarten to 8th graders having a great time at camp. It is amazing to look back over the years to see how far ahead some of our younger kids are compared to back then. I remember the 1st annual when we had about 20 kids and went from 8 AM to 4 PM monday through Friday. It was pretty exhausting. I want to thank our camp counselors who made the week a total success. Jillian Allen, Whitney Steranko, Dorothy Rahal, Kaylee Ream, Ashley Graf, Jessica Costanzo, Brittany Burrows, and Kelsey McNamee. Coach Lanham and myself were so impressed with the way they handled themselves throughout the week. They were role models that that our campers looked up to each day. They were extremely positive and energetic. Whitneys wacky wierdo's came up big in the last match against Jessica's Hot Tamales to take the the camp championship While Ashley's Hippies won the spirit award. This camp is all about getting young girls to learn to love to play the sport of volleyball and have a passion for it. It was really cool to watch our counselors keep their teams up and energetic when their team was struggling. I think it was one of our best camps ever because of how well the kids responded to the coaches. To some, it was their first ever experience to be on the other side of the fence (coaching). Our VHS players and those going to the next level will be better volleyball players because of their coaching experience. Dorothy Rahal keeps telling me that after she graduates, she is going to come back to Venice and take my coaching job because I will really be "an old man then". I just keep telling her to watch out for the senior skit!!!! I can't wait to pour my heart into our new team and start Summer Volleyball on Monday!