Volleyballers hope to net spot in Junior Olympics

Wendy Krell’s multi-generational cheering squad came a long way to watch her play volleyball Saturday.

Krell is a member of the Dallas Juniors, a Texas volleyball club among 230 teams trying to qualify for the Junior Olympics this weekend in Spokane. Her mother, Connie Krell, and grandfather, Reuben Meller, traveled from Dallas to cheer her on.

“It’s the farthest I’ve ever gone for a volleyball game,” Meller said.

Teams arrived from all over the country for the second weekend of the Pacific Northwest Qualifier at the Spokane Convention Center and Eastern Washington University. Organizers say the annual event fills up hotel rooms with an estimated 9,000 visitors and injects millions into the local economy.

The top teams advance to the national Junior Olympics in Florida. The 11th annual Northwest tournament started last weekend with the younger teams, and concludes this weekend with the 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old squads. Three teams from each age group will qualify for nationals.

Tournament director Russ Poage has been running the event since 1998, and he’s enlisted his volleyball-loving family – including his wife, Linda, and daughters April Stark and Rusan Barnes – to help run it. He said the tournament attracts some of the best young players in the sport.

“These kids really love the sport, and that’s what keeps me involved with it,” he said.

Poage said it’s been interesting to watch the improvement of the game over recent years – from the “barbecue ball” of earlier generations to the fast, athletic game of today.

“Some of these kids just jump out of the gym,” he said. “Some of them have 30-inch vertical hops.”

Most teams come from outside the area, though there were clubs from North Idaho and central Washington.

Mike Marsing of Jerome, Idaho, traveled to Spokane with his daughter, Melissa, a 15-year-old member of Club Canyon’s 17-and-younger team. His daughter has played volleyball for three years, in high school and on the club team. But even before that, there was a family tradition in the sport.

“Me and the wife played co-ed volleyball since before she was born,” he said. “It’s one of those sports you can do almost your whole life.”

Melissa Marsing said the Spokane tournament is larger than most club tournaments she’s traveled to around the region. She likes the sport because it’s fast-paced.

“It keeps going,” she said. “There’s no pauses in it.”

Miranda Pratt, an 18-year-old from Kent, Wash., played with the Kent Junior Volleyball Club. Like a lot of the club players, Pratt has played on a USA Volleyball club for years and she hopes to continue the sport in college. Her father, Dean Pratt, said Miranda’s interest in the sport spread through the entire family.

“She made me get into volleyball,” he said. “You pretty much build your life around it.”

As for Connie Krell and her daughter’s Texas team, it was a long way to come to try to qualify for nationals. The busy tournament – and snowy weather – made it hard for them to take in much of their host city.

“It’s pretty much all volleyball,” Connie Krell said. “If it wasn’t for the weather, I’d like to get out and see the city.”