Four teams of elementary kids went to the Cromwell Jamboree last Saturday and each team played 8 games. Head coach Kirsten van den Berg used positive comments to help her kids do the best that they could. Alisha Smith served the ball well at Cromwell.
A caravan of Cook County fans and young volleyball players traveled to Cromwell last Saturday to watch and to participate in the Cromwell Jamboree. Starting time from Grand Marais was 5 a.m. and the day ended when the wheels of the van hit Grand Marais at 5 p.m. In between the long drive to and fro was a ton of great volleyball.
Four teams, three of them a mix of fifth and sixth graders and one team comprised of fourth graders, represented Cook County in an outstanding manner. They displayed gritty determination and great sportsmanship while having a ton of fun.
Each team played eight games with three of those teams winning half of their games. One of the teams, named appropriately enough the Vikings, was captained by Tarin Hanson. Her team won seven out of eight games. Sarah Gonzales captained a 5th/6th grade team called the Cougars and Clair Sherburne captained the other 5th/6th grade team called the Vikettes. Sophie Eliasen captained the 4th grade Comets.
On a special note, 4th grader Reilly Wahlers served 19 points in a row to help her team win a game. “That is quite a feat!” said Head Coach Kirsten van den Berg.
Theemphasis of the games was to match players of similar skills to play against each other in game competitions. Coaches from all four schools did a good job of that, because most of the games were very close and players seemed to be very evenly matched.
“The kids demonstrated a lot of skill, a lot of determination and great sportsmanship,” said van den Berg.
As van den Berg noted, “At the end of the day the girls were exhausted, but happy!”
Assisting van den Berg in coaching at Cromwell were Sue Prom and Sherri Deschampe. Kayla O’Bryan also coaches the kids but couldn’t make it to the tournament.
The young volleyball players began practicing in early September and will end their season before MEA break.
“We might be able to play another squad in the next week or two,” said van den Berg, who is in the process of lining up one more match, if it’s possible.
All in all 37 girls participated in volleyball this fall. The program is run through Community Education and is open to all 4th, 5th and 6th grade girls.
“It has been a fun season,” van den Berg said. “Thegirls are working hard and it’s been great to see them improve every time we get together. They are very enthusiastic and I’m sure we will see quite a few of these young ladies grow into accomplished volleyball players.”
Leave a Reply