Top Coaches, Athletes Provide Electric Atmosphere at Sting Elite Camp
Tons of talents, amazing coaches, and electrifying energy. @stingvb1988 center hosting their college elite camp open to all players! pic.twitter.com/PDo97G8lpt
— Prep Dig Wisconsin (@PrepDigWI) June 12, 2018
Electrifying. An understatement when describing the atmosphere at the Milwaukee Sting Center at their College Elite Camp.
Coaches from all the in state Division 1 universities (Green Bay, Marquette, Milwaukee, and Wisconsin) along with UIC, Northwestern, Illinois, Loyola, South Dakota, IUPUI, Louisville, Kentucky, Troy, Illinois State, and Iowa State were all instructing along the way.
This camp was open to any athlete playing club volleyball entering grades 7-12. Milwaukee Sting had a large contingency, but athletes from Motion, Revolution, Wisconsin Power, Wisconsin Volleyball Academy, FC Elite, and Wisconsin Premier to name a few clubs were in attendance as well.
Coach Joe Lynch of Iowa State gives defensive instruction with Kelli Bates assisting.The Set Up
Each court had a different skill and drill that rotated every 15 minutes. Coaches were teaming up together, even ones in the same conference, rivals even. Abbey Sutherland, head coach at Green Bay and Lindsey Vanden Berg, associate head coach at UW-Milwaukee were teaching serve receive while Gary White, the assistant coach at Wisconsin was teaming up with Mike Owen, a Middleton native and assistant coach at UIC with various ball control drills and 6 on 6 chaos drills. Athletes were receiving constant feedback, solid instruction, and then had breakout sessions for positions as well. There was also more 6 on 6 play throughout the day to finish.
A Chance For Coaches To Learn Too
The volleyball community is separated by very few degrees. Coaches are constantly learning from each other and to go work camps during the summer is very common for all coaches at any level. Being able to learn from each other by picking up new drills or philosophies is what grows the games and even gives aspiring coaches a chance to network and learn from some of the best.
Household volleyball names in the state of Wisconsin and Badger alums, Kelli Bates and Haleigh Nelson were in attendance as well. They will make great coaches once their professional careers have wrapped up. For the athletes to have a chance to pepper with Bates or learn blocking technique from Nelson has to be a bit surreal after having watched them on ESPN and The Big Ten Network.
The Final Tune Up Before Nationals
Many of these players will be heading to either Orlando for AAU Nationals or Detroit for USA Nationals. 14s and 15s will be starting play on Sunday, with two more sessions to follow with the other age divisions.
With players having the same scene, coaches, and training the past six months part of their club season can become a bit monotonous. Hearing a technique, a strategy, or mindset from another coach can be refreshing (and is probably similar to the coaches athletes have been working with since December). A fresh tune up is exactly what athletes need before going up against the best in the nation.