Model Lady Devils Volleyball Hosts Biggest Youth Camp Yet

In recent years, the sport of volleyball has seen huge growth locally on the youth, middle school and high school levels, and Model’s youth volleyball camp this week was certainly proof of that.

It also helps that a lot of youngsters in the Model and surrounding community want to be a part of a Lady Devils program that is coming off its best season yet in 2023, winning its first area title, setting a team record for most single-season wins and earning its first berth to the state semifinals.

In the third year holding the camp, head coach Kendall Roberts and her team hosted 95 campers this week — a number that more than doubled from the camp just last summer.

“For this to be our third year and continuing to see how much it has grown in that short amount of time is incredible and makes us so proud,” Roberts said. “We want to continue building up this program and building a tradition with Model volleyball. We want to make it a fun program to be a part of, and I think we had a great week of showing these kids that at camp.

“It was a great group of campers to work with this week. The important thing we wanted to show them was the proper techniques that they can learn and work on at home or with their friends. Once you learn the technique, the skill and improvement will come later. We tried to help them all learn how to do the little things right, from the youngest kids in camp at 6, to the oldest, who were 13 or 14.”

With a larger group than previous years, Roberts said the campers were broken up into two groups that worked in two different gyms over the three days — another first for the camp in its third year. Roberts, her assistant coaches and high school players served as instructors to demonstrate proper techniques, run drills and scrimmages and help the campers hopefully have fun.

“Kudos to my players and coaches. They worked their tails off this week teaching these kids or giving encouragement, or even giving piggy-back rides,” Roberts said. “It is exciting to see how far volleyball has come in just the past few years. We’ve got rec volleyball starting at 9 years old now in Rome, but we had girls out here at camp 6 or 7 years old learning and having fun.”

On the final day of camp Wednesday, each camper received a T-shirt and their own volleyball to take home to use to work on things they were taught this week.

Next up for Roberts and her team is the start of the 2024 season as they look to back up their historic 2023 run with another impressive season to continue to build momentum for the Lady Devils program. Official practice starts this coming Monday, after the team has gone through voluntary summer practices, conditioning and scrimmages.

“We’re so excited to start practice and get after it with this group,” said Roberts, who is going into her 14th year at the helm. “You can see the excitement on the girls’ faces every time they are on the court. We’re a little younger after losing some important seniors from last year, but other girls have stepped up and I think it’s going to be a really fun season.”

The regular-season opener will be Aug. 10 as Model visits Rome High for the Battle of the Counties Tournament.