Mitch Calvert
The fifth-annual Fort Frances volleyball camp, which focuses on skills development in a fun atmosphere for boys and girls aged 12-17, drew 40 kids to Fort Frances High School for five days of practice last week.
The pleasant surprise of the camp, according to the organizers, was the equal numbers of boys and girls.
“Normally we have more girls here, I don’t know why, but this year we have more boys than usual, which is a nice change,” said camp organizer Bob Kowal of Kenora.
“Normally the Fort camp has more girls,” Kowal added. “When we go in Kenora, we run about a 50/50 split, but it’s good to see more boys out here, definitely.”
Muskie junior boys’ volleyball coach Duane Roen, who also patrols the sidelines for the senior girls’ team, said the change was a welcome surprise.
“A lot of what I assume will be my starting six on the junior boys are all out this year, along with three or four senior boys, and a lot of others who are up-and-coming,” Roen enthused.
“It was almost all girls the first year we had it [the camp].”
Kowal, who was off to Cape Cod on Sunday to continue running camps, said the solid numbers here last week was a good sign considering the elements working against them this year.
“We’re really excited with our numbers,” he stressed. “Considering the recession and the forestry industry being hit so hard, it’s good to see parents putting money towards their kids’ athletics.”
The Muskie volleyball program has fought a losing battle at the senior level in recent years, having gone six years without an OFSAA appearance.
Roen said much of that has to do with the development of club programs in both Kenora and Dryden, which allow players the chance to improve their skills before getting to high school and work on them nearly year-round.
“We were just starting to get to a point where we were at that level of competition [at the NorWOSSA finals against Dryden], but after that the season’s over and you don’t see it again until next November, which is really tough,” Roen lamented.
“We’re the only town in the three-team district that doesn’t have a club program for volleyball, so hopefully we’ll get some people who are interested and find some people who have experience playing this game who are willing to come out and help with something like that,” he added.
“We’re always looking for coaches,” Roen stressed. “It’s been tough for the last while.
“I’ve been coaching two teams for the last couple years because there just aren’t coaches.”
Despite those pitfalls working against the program, a good sign was the way the junior girls battled tooth-and-nail with Dryden last season—winning several head-to-head meetings before eventually bowing out in the final here.
The story was different on the boys’ court, however, as the seniors suffered a winless season while the juniors didn’t fare much better.
“Two seasons ago, [the junior boys] were 6-2, so it’s up and down, but there are strong programs in Dryden and Kenora who aren’t easy to beat,” Roen noted.
“The [Dryden] boys were second this year and the girls were third [at OFSAA],” he added.
Roen said another force working against the success of volleyball here is competition with other sports.
“In the fall you have football and volleyball going on at the same time, and now the hockey program starts in August and they do their training in the fall, so it makes it tough to get more athletes out,” Roen said.
“One way [to change that] is programs like this to get people involved, and it’d be nice to see gyms opening up in the evenings so kids can come out and play and practice and have fun,” he remarked.
Still, Roen said it’s a good sign seeing kids out who are willing to learn and be interested in the sport at the local level.
“A lot of the kids who come out are [high school] players and they want to improve their game,” he noted. “Bob [Kowal] is a very experienced coach and it’s nice to bring him down.
“He works with regional teams and has coached university ball, so he has a lot for the kids to learn.”
The camp doesn’t just teach the basic skills, but also strategy and positioning on the court.
“My purpose for this camp was trying to teach movement on the court,” Kowal said. “Teaching the kids how to be in the right spot and anticipate, and that was my main goal.
“Being in the right spot, you have to learn that, and after that the skills will come,” he reasoned.
“It’s certainly not a static game, so if you’re standing around, you’re doing something wrong, and that’s how I look at it,” echoed Roen.
Kowal, who coached St. Thomas Aquinas (Kenora) to a gold medal at the OFSAA ‘A’ championship this past March, said the OFSAA successes experienced by teams in these parts speak for themselves.
“I think it’s making a difference in Northern Ontario, quite frankly,” he said. “Camps like this one and the one at Lakehead University [run by Chris Green] see a tremendous improvement in the skills.
“We have got several OFSAA medals in volleyball so we’re doing a great job, I think,” Kowal added.
Kowal handed out some individual awards to conclude the camp on Friday.
Adriane Gurski and Carly Taggart earned the “up and comer” awards while the “campers of the week” nods went to Sara Roach and Brandon Sinclair.
