A volleyball clinic was held at Notre Dame High School Sunday for players from the U16 Lakeland Sharks and some U18 players as well. Coach of the two club teams, Tyler Collins, brought in Dr. Lorne Sawula, a highly experienced volleyball coach, to run the clinic.
Sawula has a lengthy resume of both coaching and playing volleyball, including coaching stints for the U of A Pandas, the Canadian National Women's team, as well as the national teams of Switzerland, Australia and Sweden.
The camp was a four-hour, non-stop learning experience, said Sawula, who tries to show volleyball players that they are students of the game.
“We work in small groups and try to give kids a better technical ability. We want to build on what they've got and take it one step further.”
Sawula keeps his clinic up beat and positive and appears very enthusiastic about coaching. But the girls are pushed hard and do not get time to slack off.
“We try to show the intensity in training and the focus required for training.”
Sawula said he definitely sees some potential in many of the players at the clinic. “The biggest thing is giving them the aspirations that they are capable of a little bit more.”
After starting a U15 club team two years ago, Collins and the Sharks have come a long way.
Last season there was only the U16 Lakeland Sharks. This year there is both a U16 and U18 club team and Collins is looking forward to the season ahead.
“I like that we now have a program, as opposed to just one team. Now we graduate players and develop players,” said Collins. “We have about four U15s on the team this year that will be well-prepared for next year.”
Last year's Sharks were very impressive, especially towards the end of the season. They picked up a few consolation medals and improved 22 spots overall in one tournament. Collins said, “We were beating teams in higher divisions. I feel we finished the year on a high note. We're hoping to carry that momentum into this year.”
The chances of improving on last season's performance are good, with six returning players on the U16 team and four returnees on the U18s.
Though it will be a big step up, Collins said he is anticipating finishing the season with a top 20 ranking in division I in the province, which is the highest division at the U16 and U18 levels.
Commitment of the players is a major factor in team success, and Collins believes he has a good core of reliable players. “We have a lot of girls exclusively committed to volleyball and we have some very talented ladies, some heavy hitters.”
Collins could see the commitment in his players by the attendance and effort shown at the clinic Sunday. And he feels this extra training will go a long way to helping the team reach its goals this season.
“It's so invaluable to our success, to get these fundamentals broken down and taught by a person with vast amounts of experience,” he said.
Collins said he also learned a lot during the clinic and is looking forward to putting it into practice immediately.
And since the Sharks' first tournament of the season is not until the last weekend in February, Collins and his players will have lots of time to put this new-found knowledge to work during practices over the next few weeks.
