Highlands Today
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Streaks Dig Volleyball Camp
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Published: July 24, 2008
SEBRING - Four days, 22 athletes and all the potential in the world.
Webber International University volleyball head coach Tim Edfors is the sculptor and the Sebring varsity and junior varsity teams are the clay, as he chips away to find the player the Streaks want to be during the coaching clinic that has Sebring head coach Venessa Sinnesss jumping for joy.
"I'm so thankful to have Coach Edfors here for this clinic," Sinness said. "The kids have responded well to his style of teaching, and this camp is so much different than the ones we've gone to in the past."
The fact that Coach Edfors traveled to coach the girls in their own gym was a blessing for the Streaks, who made the trek up to Gainesville to the Florida Gator Camp last year, but only members of the varsity squad were allowed to attend.
Knowing that she has a group of young and talented girls just coming into their own at junior varsity, Sinness didn't think twice about having a coach of Edfors' caliber to help tutor his team on the finer points of the game.
"That was the biggest reason for having this camp is that all the girls could participate," said the Blue Streak coach. "Many of the girls played club volleyball with Edors and spoke very highly of him. He is a very knowledgeable coach, and you can't beat having a Division 1 coach working with your team."
It didn't take much for Edfors to earn the respect of the girls, as the Webber coach has already established roots in Highlands County. He was an assistant coach for the South Florida Community College from 2002-04, where he helped increase the Panthers' win total into double digits before taking the head coaching position at WIU.
Under Edfors' tutelage, the Warriors went 29-6 last season, and he believes his biggest strengths as a coach are communication skills, experience and the ability to motivate.
"I love coaching, and it's great to come to a school where the girls want to learn," Edfors said. "These girls are hungry to get better and make my job easy. I don't have to motivate but just instruct and help them become better players."
The difference in Edfors' camp in comparison to other volleyball camps statewide is that he fine-tunes the instruction to the needs of the team.
For the Streaks, Sinness requested that Edfors work on passing and defense during his four-day course. Edfors geared his training toward making sure the girls are used to working with the volleyball and show no fear when on the court.
"It's all about touch when you're playing volleyball," Edfors said. "So the Streaks are doing a lot of touching with the ball. All the exercises entail them getting use to the proper ways to hit the ball, digs while working on conditioning.
"The best thing about this camp is that the girls learn to work as a team, so we're also building the bond between players and strengthening the basis of a team," Edfors said. "Communication has been another key area that you always strive to improve no matter the skill level and we're working on that quite a bit."
Sebring senior Hannah Shoop has been privy to many volleyball camps in her varsity career, but finds Edfors' camp - which runs through Friday - extremely helpful due to the one-on-one instruction that she hadn't gotten from previous camps.
"It's actually a lot of fun," said Shoop of Edfors' camp. "It's great to be here with the junior varsity players so they can learn the same techniques and go through the process of learning as the varsity players are.
"I just want to get better every single day, and I feel that Coach Edfors is helping me achieve that."
Sinness is hopeful that this experience will translate into wins for the young Blue Streaks squad, who begin training camp on Aug. 18 and host the Blue Streak Fall Preseason Classic on Aug 26 and 28. The tournament will feature Avon Park, Lake Placid and Hardee, and with DeSoto and Braden River still at the top of the district, Sinness understands that summer is where titles are won or lost.
"I guarantee you that DeSoto isn't standing by waiting for us to get better," Sinness said. "They're working hard and are going to be as good if not better than last year and you can't ever count out Braden River.
"I hope this camp can be used as a positive launching pad going into training camp and then into the season."
Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.
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