Shelby County volleyball holds first youth camp
Published 11:13 am Wednesday, June 11, 2025
The Shelby County High School Volleyball program hosted a youth camp this week, something it hopes will help build the future of the program. (Reporter photos/Andrew Simonson)
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By DANIEL LOCKE | Staff Writer
Columbiana – Summer break is in full swing and over 40 students ranging from kindergarteners through eighth graders dedicated some of their time to developing their volleyball skills.
The SCHS Kiddie Camp took place at Shelby County High School from June 9-11. Head varsity coach Stacy McGehee is pleased with the turnout.
“We got 42 campers this year,” McGehee said. “We were really expecting about 20 so this camp is going beyond our expectations of what it was going to be.”
The camp is an attempt to increase volleyball’s presence in the community, something McGehee believes is vital in building up a successful program.
“We’re trying to increase volleyball in the Columbiana area because we haven’t had one of these before,” McGehee said. “We’re trying to build on the success of the city league that we have a couple of teams in.”
There was a significant amount of interest in a volleyball camp around the community, leading to McGehee’s decision to hold one and do his best to shape the future of the game in Columbiana.
“We had some people in the community reach out and just ask if we would have a camp and just help work on the fundamentals and teach them about the game so maybe we could grow our city league program or just have a little bit more interest in volleyball in our community as well,” McGehee said.
While the high school players are not focused on getting better themselves during the camp, this event has still played a large role in building team chemistry and allowing them to learn how to work together.
“I really think this helps to maybe teach a little bit of leadership for the girls since they’re instructing the camp,” McGehee said. “It builds a little camaraderie with our players as they work together and have fun with each other while we’re still doing the camp as well.”
Teaching the skills to the campers allows the older players to gain some additional practice through mental reps.
“It just reinforces in their mind some of the things that we’re trying to teach them as well,” McGehee said. “What we’ve taught them or are trying to get them to do, they’re telling the campers how we’d like them to play volleyball.”
McGehee said interacting with younger athletes and building up their volleyball skills will pay off in the future as they will be prepared to join the high school roster in the years to come.
“It’s just going to create more interest and hopefully it will peak the curiosity of some of the better athletes growing up,” McGehee said. “This might be a sport that they like and want to play as they get into middle school and on up into high school.”
The main thing McGehee hopes the camp is able to accomplish, however, is strengthening the bond between the program and the community.
“I’m hoping that doing this will bring more people to the games and make them aware that we do have a volleyball program in our community that wants to share with the community,” McGehee said. “Just building up a relationship with them to where they would want to be more supportive of our program.”
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