In a tuneup before the regular season, the Powell High School volleyball team hosted a camp for local youth to attend, bringing excitement to the court before the high school season kicks off.

“It’s so fun and it’s really great to see the girls interacting with the kids,” coach Anna Flitner said. “You can tell that the little kids just look up to them, as they should, they are great girls.”

Over the three day camp, the Panthers taught the younger kids the fundamentals of volleyball, while also bringing in middle schoolers to help advance their skills further before they eventually reach the high school level.

Flitner said that it is important to get kids involved in the sport early, not only because it helps the sport grow, but also because it adds to the Panther fanbase.

“Getting kids interested in the sport is always important, but it also helps us build our fanbase throughout the season,” Flitner said. “I think if we can just build the excitement around volleyball early, I know where I grew up basketball was all the hype and that’s what everyone started early, so hopefully we can build some excitement around volleyball at a young age then we’ll have a lot of girls coming up through the program both at the middle school and elementary school.”

Throughout the camp, both Flitner and junior varsity coach Chelsi Graham taught campers, alongside around 10-15 Panther volleyball players who came in to connect with the kids and teach them the basics of volleyball.

“I think it really reinforces the fundamentals that we go through on a daily basis,” Flitner said. “If they can teach it to someone else I think it is so helpful and strengthens their understanding and practice of skills. That’s probably the biggest thing that is going to increase engagement in the program and build the program is the relationship that the girls form with the elementary students.”

She said the girls enjoy teaching the camp, with some even instructing their younger siblings at the camp.

Flitner said that she was excited with the turnout and may be looking for feedback from the middle school players to see what drills they want to do in the future, as well as the community to see what would help increase the excitement around volleyball.

In addition to the camp, Flitner is hopeful that the Panthers will be able to expand their outreach with volleyball in the coming year.She is looking to expand the sport into elementary school classes and have either herself or the Panther girls help her teach.

“I was trying to figure out if we could do some sort of collaboration with some of the PE classes if it aligned with some of the girls’ study halls or Panther time or I could go in and help out with some of the elementary or middle school PE classes,” Flitner said. “I think that would be a really fun way and then (we will) continue doing the camp. We are still brainstorming some other ideas but we really want to get some things in the works.”

She added that they are also looking at forming a potential community volleyball tournament next year that the community can enter into as a form of fundraiser for the Panther program.