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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Volleyball heats up in summer for some schools

Summers at University High School is one of those phrases people can take a number of ways.

On the one hand, the summer season is a hub of activity in and around the school, as most of the sports U-Hi offers have summer leagues, camps or plain-old workouts.

On the other hand, Mike Summers is the third-year U-Hi volleyball coach, and he’s brought a new take on his namesake season.

“We like to open up our gym and let kids get in there and work on their skills – it’s not required, but we encourage our players to take part,” Summers said. “We run our own league – we don’t keep score and don’t have standings, but we will put 30 minutes on the clock and have kids go at it. And we take part in some tournaments, too.”

Summers’ summer program isn’t limited to just U-Hi students, either. West Valley coach Julie Yearout credits the Titans’ coach with helping her get valuable experience for her squad.

“We played in their league and we take a bunch of kids there for open gym nights,” she said early in the season. “Our kids learned a lot and got a lot of good experience and some great instruction from Mike and his coaching staff.”

“We do like to break down and get in some drills to help kids work on their skills,” Summers said. “We want to get as much instruction in as we can.”

Summers said his goal is to get young players a taste of what it’s like to play varsity-level volleyball in the Greater Spokane League, which is one of the toughest conferences in the state year in and year out.

“Mostly we want our incoming freshmen to get a feel for the speed of the game,” he said. “We teach them how we like to do things, which is somewhat different from how they’ve learned them at middle school. We have a different philosophy on defense, for example. In middle school you just rotate and if you’re in the middle of the front row you’re the setter.”

For incoming freshmen, summer sessions can be a first chance to be on the court with experienced varsity players. Playing with bigger, stronger players helps set a standard for new players to both aspire to and learn from.

It may be summer, but Summers said he likes to get as much out of the workout sessions as possible. The push to improve is front and center. In fact, the only thing missing from the atmosphere practice sessions will have beginning August 24 is the sense of urgency that comes from having a season opener looming.

Summer workouts are also a time when senior leadership plays a big role in forming a team.

“We have some very good senior leadership to work with,” Summers said. “Our seniors have been working on some team-building events with everyone.”

Now, with less than three weeks to go until the first official practice sessions for the fall season, the volleyballs have been locked away under WIAA rules, but Summers said he’s still concentrating on getting his players prepared for the season.

“We’re allowed to do conditioning workouts,” he said. “At U-Hi, we have a speed and strength program that kids can be a part of. For the most part we like to focus our players on improving their strength and flexibility. It isn’t realistic to set out to improve a player’s vertical by a few inches, so we don’t necessarily concentrate work on that. But we can work on strengthening their hamstrings, which are very important in volleyball. We can work on strengthening their quads. But just as important, we can work on their agility and their foot speed.

“We can help them improve their core fitness and help us prevent injuries down the road.”