Camp Serves Volleyball Players

Abigail Agaran watches volleyball players smack spikes and serves as a counselor at MVP Sports Camps. The hard part is not jumping in with the players. Agaran taught girls in grades 8-12 during a session Thursday. "Sometimes I wish that I could get in there with them,'' Abigail says. "Sometimes I forget that I'm the one coaching."

The camp at Trinity Catholic focuses on individual skills. Campers also play games. Smeriglio recruits former players to help teach. Agaran and Mallory Nadro worked with co-directors Mike Smeriglio and Tom Kriz at the Thursday's session. Both are former campers and played under Smeriglio at Stamford High School.

"We like having former campers because they know the drills," Smeriglio said. "They also know these girls feel because they've been through it. Volleyball's a hard sport to learn."

Teaching at the camp felt a bit awkward for Agaran. She played at the camp with some of the girls. "It's a little weird being the counselor now,'' Abigail said. "It's rewarding though."

Like Abigail, Mallory also squashes the impulse to jump on to the court to play. "It's hard to go from playing to coaching. I just want to jump out on the court. It's a great place to be. The kids love it." Nearly 50 girls smacked balls at the steamy Trinity gym on Sunday. Counselors kept the players involved drills including passing, setting, serving and spiking. Some players have little volleyball experience. By the end of the weeklong camp, their skills have improved dramatically.

"There was a girl here this week who started and she was getting so frustrated with her spikes,'' Mallory said. "Today she was awesome. She has it now. She's ready for high school tryouts. You get one on one individual attention here. I think it's very beneficial."

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