Teamwork crossed sporting lines Monday and Tuesday at Fort Calhoun High School.
The Pioneers' volleyball and girls basketball programs put together a combo youth camp of sorts with one session of one sport 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. before another of the other sport from noon to 3 p.m.
Participants in grades 3-8 and their families had the option to attend just one for a fee or both with a discount.
“Day one, we were talking about this,” said Eric Jones, the new FCHS girls hoops coach.
“We had conversations about multi-sport athletes and how we want to support that,” volleyball coach Liz Sevcik explained. “So, we thought this would be a great idea to try and encourage to try both.”
Both coaches are in full support of their student-athletes playing for more than one Pioneers program each school year. They would like to see more kids try more sports at a young age, too.
“We have way too many kids that think they need to specialize in their sport by third, fourth grade,” Jones said. “Speaking frankly, that's insane. You should be trying everything at this age.”
Altogether, he noted how the goal of Monday and Tuesday's combined efforts were to get girls interested, emphasize multi-sport athletes and show how even a fall sport and a winter sport can work as a team, too.
There are other benefits as well.
“(It) even makes it easier on the parents,” Sevcik said. “They can drop off in the morning, pick up in the afternoon and their kids are getting worn out playing volleyball and basketball.”
The school-day long camps don't have to feel arduous, though.
“(A combo camp) mixes the day up, so they're not doing a full day of basketball or volleyball,” the volleyball coach said. “They're, kind of, getting a mix and keeping it fresh and interesting.”
In the end, the volleyball camp had about 60 participants, while the basketball camp had 37. Some of the kids changed their clothes in-between, sporting a volleyball T-shirt for one and a hoops shirt for the other.
“It's kind of just like holding a big practice, basically,” Jones said of his basketball session. “It's kind of nice.”
His mission statement was show kids how fun basketball can be, while also showing how it's important to take work on the court seriously.
“Having fun, but also being intensely focused on what you're trying to do. Trying to get them to understand that concept early,” Jones explained in his own words.
The coach wanted his campers to have fun first, “But, when it comes time to listen and get your rep in, you're competing and you're intense and you're focused and pushing your teammates to get better,” he said.
Sevcik said her camp objective was to teach the girls gathered about volleyball, to make sure they had fun and to leave them wanting to play more of the sport in the future. Camp staff rotated the young players through stations on the court throughout, introducing new skills as they moved along.
“Each station, and every time they moved, they just were energized to learn something different and new at that station,” the coach said.
To finish things off, though, Sevcik turned off the lights Tuesday morning and handed out glow sticks. Black lights set up around the gym lit the girls' camp shirts up, giving the youngsters time to send the ball back and fourth over the net, while also glowing like lightning bugs.
Soon enough, though, it was time for lunch and then some basketball with Coach Jones. The volleyball nets had to come down first, however.
Jones finds new position 'surreal'
Jones didn't view himself initially as a lead candidate to replace the departing Marty Plum as the new Pioneers girls basketball coach.
But, then, the right people started to talk to him about the job.
“I know it's kind of cheesy, but I started just thinking about it and I would get chills,” Jones said Tuesday. “It was exciting me, and I was like, 'You know what? I think I should do this.'”
It's still a bit surreal, though, leading the girls program through offseason work after spending four seasons on coach TJ O'Connor's boys basketball staff.
“I've been watching all of these girls now for four years,” Jones said. “I've seen every single they've played, you know?”
The new coach always appreciated what he saw out of the roster while preparing for the boys' games.
“I'd watch them and I'd go, 'This would be a lot of fun to coach these girls,'” he said. “They're great kids.”
Jones feels as though this opportunity has lit a fire in him. He said he's excited for the upcoming school year and season at FCHS.
