Around 135 campers filled Bollinger Athletic Complex this week as Trinity Lutheran held its volleyball camp.

With a big number to monitor, head coach Janet VanLiew had plenty of help from former and current Cougars.

In addition to the players currently on the TLHS volleyball team, multiple collegiate athletes attended the camp, as well.

Former Trinity players featured Ruthie Bingham, who currently plays at Mount St. Joseph; Stella Kleffman, who currently plays at Kentucky Wesleyan; and Kennedy Hoffman, who currently plays at Otterbein University.

Cortney VanLiew, who went to Columbus East, was also present. She played collegiate volleyball at Florida Gulf Coast University and plans to play professionally in Finland later this year.

“It’s so helpful because they are role models for my high school kids,” coach VanLiew said. “So they can model what we want, and then the Trinity kids come and do the same for the littles. For Trinity and the program but also what it does for little girls as role models, I think it’s really beneficial.”

The age groups went from kindergarten to eighth grade throughout the camp. Kindergarten through second grade was one group, third grade to fifth grade was another and sixth through eighth was the final group.

VanLiew said the middle school group was the biggest, producing around 60 campers. Trinity tried to teach two skills per day, and depending on the age group, would add in more team-oriented drills.

“We try to focus on two skills per day. Some passing and setting, lots of footwork. We’ve done serving and hitting, and depending on the age group, we do defense, teaching them how to rotate,” VanLiew said. “For the older kids, we put in some defensive and offensive skills, and we actually worked on blocking a bit, too.”

In addition to the fundamental skills, there were also a lot of games played to help keep things fun.

“We’ve got what they will think is incredible prizes, and we have a ton of little and big competitions,” VanLiew said. “I think for the youngest, part of it is just understanding movement, athletics and being away from their parents. A lot of these older girls know most of the younger ones, so that’s been helpful.”

It was a good atmosphere all around from Monday to Thursday as the older athletes interacted with all the campers.

VanLiew is impressed with how much skill there is in volleyball in Jackson County. Cortney has a group of college players who play one another every Thursday night around the area, and it creates a lot of high-level volleyball being played.

Holding camps like the one Trinity held this week only helps grow the interest and passion for volleyball in the area.

“I think it grows our program, and I think it just grows the knowledge of volleyball in the area,” coach VanLiew said. “It’s pretty amazing the level of play with volleyball in our area, from the littles to our college kids.”