Serving up volleyball skills
Athletes develop abilities with assistance
Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, December 4, 2014
INUVIK
Stacey Christie is serving up a slice of skills development with a clinical approach to volleyball.
Keenan Wolki stretches his towering frame to make a volley during the volleyball skills clinic being offered by Stacey Christie Nov. 29 at East Three school. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
|
Christie, a talented multi-sport athlete who is also a well-known volleyball coach, is offering volleyball clinics to school-age youth free of charge in a bid to bump the profile of the sport.
While it's a very popular pastime among adults in the area, volleyball doesn't seem to have quite the same panache with Delta youth, Christie said, although it's certainly not an unknown sport.
That's why she decided to try a series of clinics for skills development in the sport at East Three school.
"I was just trying to see how much interest there was and how many people would come out," she said of the largely-informal program.
She's planning on evaluating whether there's enough interest to continue the program on a more formal basis.
On Nov. 29, the clinic was arguably at least halfway to success. While Christie failed to attract anyone from the public school group she was really hoping for, nearly a dozen secondary school-age students showed up to participate in an enthusiastic workout.
Christie said she was particularly hoping for more from the younger age group, because most youth in Inuvik don't have an introduction to volleyball until around Grade 7 or Grade 8, she said.
"Those guys don't really get to know what volleyball is until then," Christie said. "Grade 8 is when they start coming out of the woodwork. Early exposure is key, just so they can see what the sport is all about."
While that's still more than early enough to gain the necessary skills, earlier play does offer a definite advantage in terms of skill development and general enthusiasm for the game.
Christie also noted that for students, the volleyball season tends to be only two to three months long before its supplanted by core sports such as basketball and hockey.
"It's just me trying to get kids out and interested in the sport. I want that both for general interest and so we can be more competitive at the territorial level.
"I think just because it's such a short season, there's not enough interaction with volleyball to get more people familiar with it. You have some real keeners, then you have some other people who just want to try it, that if they had the opportunity to come out and try in a non-competitive environment, they wold like it."
Christie added that while there's impressive athleticism to be found here in Inuvik, often it's the same youth playing everything, and that means they can be stretched too thin.
The biggest thing to develop skills, as in any sport, is how "many repetitions you get, and how many touches of the ball," Christie said.
"That's true in any sport," she said.
Annamay Andre-Niditchie, originally from Tsiigehtchic, said she is a fairly volleyball regular player, particularly when she's back home in the hamlet, where it's very popular.
"I'd like to help my skills develop a little bit more," she said, adding she was happy to have a chance to participate in a program such as what Christie was offering.
Nora Amos, who comes from one of the most prominent volleyball-playing families in Inuvik, said she "wanted to develop her skills."
"I just like playing volleyball," she added. "It's really fun. This program is really good. I'd like to keep coming back if it keeps being offered."
