Camp sees record turnout - Central Oregonian

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Lon Austin

Laughter rang out in the Crook County High School gymnasium as excited groups of girls put on humorous skits.

Groups huddled together in the hallways developing team goals, while shouts of “mine” and “go” rang out across the court.

Beginning on Friday, volleyball teams from throughout the state descended on Prineville for the annual team camp put on by Rimrock Volleyball Club. Teams came from as far away as Tillamook to the west, and Cove and Imbler to the east — intent on improving their volleyball skills.

“The competition was the highest level it has ever been,” said Crook County High School volleyball coach Rosie Honl, who was also the camp director. “With Barlow and Tillamook here, and even the 1A schools were tough. It was just an awesome camp.”

This year’s camp saw 16 different teams representing 14 schools participate. Teams ranged from perennial state 6A powerhouse Barlow, to up-and-coming 1A schools such as North Powder and Dufur. This year’s camp was so large that there wasn’t room in Crook County High School’s two gyms for all the teams. Players worked on skills in the high school commons, on the grass outside the school, and at the middle school. Every available open space was utilized by the camp. Yet in spite of moving campers outside the gyms, there were so many groups at the camp that teams still had to periodically sit out a drill due to a lack of court space.

“This is as big as I can possibly go,” Honl said. “Fourteen teams would be better because then nobody would ever sit out.”

Once teams arrived at the camp they were assigned a coach from outside of their own program. Coaches providing instruction at the camp included college coaches and coaches several coaches who have won state championships.

The camp focused on team bonding, goal setting, and team play, while also spending time on individual skills. Correct footwork, passing, setting, and hitting skills were all covered daily at the camp along with team strategies. The goal of the camp is that each team will go into the regular volleyball season ready to play at their highest possible level.

However, the camp isn’t just about doing drills and competition.

“The camp is about making volleyball players better,” Honl said. “And they did get better and better as camp went on. But it’s also about team bonding and having fun. From the comments I got back from people it was the best camp they had ever been to with lots of instruction and no sitting.”

Points were awarded to teams throughout the four-day camp based on performance. Sisters High School won the competition for best skit, while Barlow won the end of camp tournament. North Powder won the tournament in the silver bracket, while Tillamook earned the most team points at the camp.

Crook County, who has won the end of camp tournament each of the last five years finished second to Barlow this year.

Although Honl is recognized as one of the most successful coaches in Oregon, she does not coach at the camp. Instead, she spends her time making sure that campers have all the equipment and supplies that they need.

Meanwhile Crook County JV?volleyball coach, Jerry Honl spends much of his time during the camp in the kitchen.

“I cooked a taco meal for 205 people on Sunday,” he said. “It’s my job to make sure that the coaches are all fed and taken care of,” he said.

“All in all it was a great camp,” Honl said. “The coaches all enjoyed it and said that they want to come back, but some of them complained that they gained 10 pounds while they were here.”