New varsity coach Chelsea Dowd leads Greenville youth volleyball camp

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GREENVILLE – More than 50 girls in the third through eighth grades attended Greenville’s youth volleyball camp this week.

“It was a great turnout,” Greenville varsity volleyball coach Chelsea Dowd said. “Last year I think we only had maybe 30, 35. So we had way more kids come out this year. It’s exciting for us.”

Dowd, who is in her first season as Greenville’s varsity volleyball coach, led the camp along with junior varsity coach Janelle Gerlach and the Lady Wave’s high school athletes.

“For the young girls they like to see the older girls,” Dowd said of the high school players helping to lead the camp. “They look up to them. I always think it’s better for the high school girls to give them advice than it is for me to give them advice because I think they think I’m a little bit scary and they like the high school girls.”

During the four-day camp, which lasted three hours each morning, Dowd and her staff tried to teach the girls basic concepts such as passing, setting, serving and footwork.

“It was unbelievable to see them the first day,” Dowd said of the youngest campers. “They’ve never touched a volleyball before to this last day playing with seventh and eighth graders and keeping the ball alive and being excited to play. It was crazy how much progress they made.”

The older campers had volleyball experience but still were able to make progress throughout the week.

“Janelle and I want to break bad habits so for those girls who are still in middle school or junior high and they’re playing, it’s good for them to come to see kind of what we expect,” Dowd said.

On the final day of the camp, Dowd and Gerlach invited all of the campers’ parents to stay and watch the camp so they could see the progress their girls made through the week.

“Janelle and I both really believe that when the parents are really into it, the girls are really into it,” Dowd said. “And we want girls to play volleyball. So if their parents are excited about it and they like the sport and the girls are excited about it and they like the sport, it’s just kind of this perfect storm.”

Dowd, who helped coach the Greenville junior varsity volleyball team last year with Gerlach, is excited about the progress the Lady Wave are making and expects them to be much improved this season.

“We saw them get so much better from day one to the very last day that we played,” she said of last year’s team. “It was unbelievable. A lot of those girls we have coming back this year so we’ll be I think much more competitive than we have been the past couple years.”

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More than 50 girls in the third through eighth grades attended Greenville’s youth volleyball camp.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Greenville-WEB-16.jpgMore than 50 girls in the third through eighth grades attended Greenville’s youth volleyball camp. Kyle Shaner|The Daily Advocate

By Kyle Shaner

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Kyle Shaner may be reached at 937-569-4316. Follow me on Twitter @KShanerAdvocate or get updates on Facebook by searching Darke County Sports or Advocate 360. For more features online go to dailyadvocate.com.

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