Monday, August 14, 2006
The KU volleyball team held volleyball camps this summer for nearly 750 players in grades six through 12, making this one of their best-attended summers ever. The success may even lead to a better team in the future.
Coach Ray Bechard said “we’ve got to develop talent in our area, so we can have the best players feel like they want to become a part of our program,” Bechard said.
Bechard said the top programs in the country, such as Nebraska, who lost in last season’s national championship game, had a majority of their rosters filled with in-state players.
“This is a vehicle for us to try to increase the enthusiasm and participation in volleyball in this area,” he said.
The camps were hosted by coach Bechard and his staff, which included current and former KU volleyball players.
New this summer were team camps for middle school and high school teams, which served as an alternative to the traditional individual camps. Bechard said he and the staff really enjoyed the team camp format. Bechard said the staff enjoyed the team camp because each team could train as a group.
“We did a great job with that and word will get out and it will grow,” he said.
While the camps were successful, Emily Brown, junior opposite side hitter/setter, came down with meningitis while at the camp.
Brown, who is still easing back into practice, had to take a couple weeks off because of the viral infection.
“It was horrible, I had to go to the hospital,” Brown said. “I was there for three or four days.”
Brown said her mom took her home to Baldwin City for 10 days. She said the camps were a lot of fun, other than the meningitis.
“We get to hang out with a lot of the local girls and get them invested in our program,” Brown said. “It’s nice to see them at our games and make contacts. It was a good time.”
Kansan staff writer Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
—Edited by Travis Robinett
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