Different set: Volleyball camp gives players a global perspective

PALMER - When the high school volleyball season starts next fall, there's a chance a few players in the Valley will approach the game a little differently.

They may have altered the way they leap for a hit or step toward a set, just as if they saw the game from a different perspective - an international perspective.

For nearly 50 players in the Mat-Su Valley, volleyball has gone global.

The group of spikers worked through the inaugural Alaska International Volleyball Camp, a week-long clinic that featured the teachings of volleyball coaches who have taught and competed all over the globe.

Claudia Farias-Pinard, the founder and organizer of the event, said she wanted to give the local volleyball talent a different perspective and new opportunity. The Palmer High School coach would see her players travel to the Lower 48 or across the state to attend volleyball camps, but she said she didn't see a whole lot of improvement. So she created her camp, and decided to give it a little international flare.

Farias-Pinard, a native of Brazil, solicited the help of fellow Brazilian Celso Assumpcao, a man who coached her in youth volleyball.

She also brought Juan Ortega, a coach from Mexico, and Steve Henry, a former coach at the Division I level and at the World Volleyball Training Center.

Farias-Pinard thought it was important to stress technique and give the local players a taste of the ever-changing international game.

&#8220Volleyball changes every year at the international level,” Ortega said as he took a break from one of the drills on Thursday.

Ortega watched as a group of about a dozen players practiced hitting the ball at a different angle. This is just one example of several techniques the camp's coaching staff covered during instruction.

The ideas were simple - most focused on movement and approach - but have the potential to greatly increase the skill level, the coaches said. Each coach was pleased with how well the players responded to the new ideas.

&#8220(They are) very open to receive different information,” Assumpcao said.

The camp also covered volleyball systems and concepts. On Thursday Henry introduced new defensive systems to a group of younger players.

Farias-Pinard said she sees the explanation of the concepts and skills as an invaluable part of the camp. She said the players not only need to see how things are done, but why.

Other featured instructors at the camp included Palmer head coach Steve Reynolds and former Valley standouts who have gone on to play college volleyball, such as Jessie Macknicki and Emily Sakis.

Macknicki recently committed to play for Eastern New Mexico, a Division II program, while Sakis is preparing for her final season at Division I Montana.

Farias-Pinard said the local coaches and the college players were learning as much at the camp as the high school players. She said it its important for the local coaches to be able to continue to teach these new concepts to their players.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz sports@

frontiersman.com.