BUHS volleyball serves community with free camp
BRAWLEY — Brawley Union High’s free, threeday youth volleyball camp was such a hit last year, it basically found itself on the hook to do it again.
“During the offseason, we just had a lot of parents emailing me, texting me, asking when the camp was going to be,” BUHS Head Volleyball Coach Phil Finnell said. “Basically their kids remembered last year, and they wanted to be a part of it this year.”
Attendance more than doubled for this year’s camp, which started Monday and end Wednesday. There were 87 campers this year, compared to about 40 last year.
Throughout the three days, girls, ages 7 to 14, from throughout the Valley were able to practice team dynamics, conditioning and individuals skills such as passing, setting and serving with guidance from BUHS volleyball coaches and players.
Being able to refine
how young players go about passing the ball was one of the most satisfying accomplishments for BUHS senior Lilly Martinez.
“They would all swing their arms, and you’re really not supposed to swing your arms,” she said. “But seeing the happiness in their face when they would hit the ball over, it was a really fun experience.”
Finnell hoped the three-day camp helped polish the skills of some experienced camp-goers while also sparking the interest of those who perhaps haven’t had an interest in sports — or in any particular subject.
“This gives everybody of all shapes and sizes a joyful opportunity to interact with other girls, older girls and younger girls and make them feel accepted,” he said. “In a society where we have all kinds of things that are going on, they can come into this great school, this great program and feel like they belong.”
The final day of the camp also marked the final day of summer training for the BUHS team, which had its own 5:30 a.m. practice Wednesday just before the 8 a.m. camp start time.
Last year, the team held a fundraiser to create 400 care packages, which were sent to U.S. troops all over the world.
This year, the team plans on helping local veteran groups in some way, said Finnell, who is entering his 19th year as the team’s head coach.
“I just think it’s nice to do things that don’t have a price tag on them,” he explained. “Because of that, we’ve gotten generous donations, and people have sponsored us and helped us out in different ways, but it’s just been a true blessing to do this (camp) for free.”
For Martinez, the camp is what the team is truly about.
“It’s kind of just us giving back a free camp to the girls and, like, saying thank you to Brawley for giving back to us as a volleyball team,” she said.
“It just kind of brings us all together,” Martinez’s teammate Dilynn Gill added.