WNCC volleyball camps begin next week

The Cougar volleyball camps that start next week provide a good way for the college volleyball staff to interact with the community and to offer valuable instruction to local youth, WNCC’s head volleyball coach said Thursday.

                “I think summer camps are a very important part of Cougar volleyball because we are here to help those younger girls succeed in the sport and help them get better at it,” said coach Giovana Melo, who was recently selected as the Omaha World Herald’s Midlands Coach of the Year. “The state of Nebraska lives and breathes volleyball and we have the opportunity to show those kids what we do in our gym.

“It is very important that our players interact with the campers as much as they possibly can because they have been in their shoes before and they know how excited each camper is to be here. They will have lots of fun in our camp as well as learn a lot from it.”

                The first of the many Cougar volleyball camps begin Monday, July 11 with a 2-day Little Cougars camp for girls in 4^th through 6^th grade. The camp runs July 11 and 12. The camp will run from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. with an hour lunch break at 11:30 a.m.

                The second camp will be July 13 and 14 will be an individual skills camp for 7^th and 8^th graders from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with an hour break for lunch.

                Former Cougar and Gering High volleyball players Whitney Roth and Brooke Blomenkamp, along with Melo and assistant coach Cesar Benatti, will help instruct these two camps.

                The second week of camp will include a setters and hitters clinic on July 18 and 19 for girls in sixth through ninth grades from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. , followed by an individual skills camp for girls in the night through 12 grade July 20-21.

                These camps will be taught by Melo, Benatti, assistant coach Lindsey Gonzalez and former Cougar and Scottsbluff volleyball star Mackenzie Westphal.

                The final week of camps will be July 25 and 26 with a setters and hitters camp and then a team camp on July 28 and 29. The setters and hitters camp is for girls in the 10^th through 12^th grade. The team camp is open to junior varsity and varsity high school teams.

Fatima Balza, who won three national volleyball titles during her collegiate career, will help instruct the camp. Balza won a national title for WNCC in 2007 and then helped Penn State win national titles in 2009 and 2010. Balza will also serve as an assistant coach for the Cougars this coming season.

                Melo encourages pre-registering for the camps, but will take registrations the first day of each camp. Individuals can register online at www.wnccvolleyball.com or download a camp flyer off the Cougar website at sports.wncc.edu.

                For more information, contact Melo at  melog@wncc.edu or at 308-635-6028.

5 WNCC Cougar athletes earn NJCAA Acadenic Honors

            Five Western Nebraska Community College athletes received NJCAA academic honors for the past year.

                WNCC volleyball players Kathryn Stock and Emily Hoehn earned Superior Academic honors. Stock earned a grade point average of 3.95, while Hoehn had a 3.83 GPA.

                Hauns Brereton and Preston Eaton from the men’s basketball team, and Tim Beard from the baseball team all earned Exemplary Academic Achievement recognition. Beard had a 3.75 GPA, Brereton a 3.76 GPA and Eaton a 3.6 grade average.  Over 1,470 NJCAA student-athletes met the requirements for individual academic honors and more than 370 teams qualified for academic team accolades.

                The honor is a tremendous accomplishment for the five athletes since they juggled sports and academics.

                “Being named Academic All-American is a huge privilege. It is such an honor to have my passion for learning and sports commemorated on a national level,” said Hoehn, who will be attending C.W. Post-Long Island on a volleyball scholarship. “The secret to juggling sports and academics lies in your priorities. After a day filled with classes and a strenuous practice, it is hard to focus and study properly for your classes. You have to be persistent and tenacious.”

                Eaton credits his parents for instilling in him the importance of hard work.

                “My parents taught me the importance of hard work at an early age because without hard work you can't accomplish much in life,” the freshman from Mapleton, Utah, said. “Being named to academic All-American means a lot to me because it is a public recognition and approval of one of my priorities in my life and that is the pursuit of excellence. It makes me feel good about all the work I have done and grateful for all the people who helped me along the way.”

                The five athletes said the coaches at WNCC put a huge emphasis on grades. Beard, a communications major from Australia, credits his academic success to his pitching coach Ulysses Roque.

                “Coach Roque really drilled into us pitchers how important grades are if, one, we want to play Division One baseball and, two, If we wish to ensure a financially successful future,” he said. “I really don’t think there’s any secret to juggling sports and school. The trick is to go to class and do your work as soon as you can. It is nice to be recognized for performance off the field.”

                Hoehn said the volleyball coaches, Giovana Melo and Cesar Benatti, underscored the importance of academics with mandatory study hall.

                “Every night for four nights a week, we had a two-hour mandatory study hall,” the Kearney Catholic High School graduate said. “This helped me limit my distractions and dedicate two solid hours to studying. It’s nice to know that my coaches are concerned not only with my present, but also with my future.”
                Hoehn, who is majoring in environmental science, said she learned the value of an education from her parents.

                “From a young age,” she said, “my mom taught me the importance of having an education, especially as a woman. She always told me in order to have a strong foundation for life, I need a strong education to support myself. My father taught me the value of passion and diligent effort. He never let me quit and through his examples has taught me that if you don’t push yourself to excel in every aspect of your life, you are cheating yourself from achieving your ultimate abilities.”

                Like Hoehn, Beard said the hours the baseball team put in during study hall paid off.

                “Coach [Mike] Jones definitely had a strong influence on this achievement. He is very big into making sure we get our school work done, and the hours he made us do in study hall really helped,” Beard said. “Coach Jones and Coach [Ryan] Burgner really policed our hours in study hall during the spring. Their consistency of making sure we were getting our work done helped.”

                Eaton, who is planning to major in psychology, said one of the rules that the men’s basketball team had was to attend study hall throughout the year. He added getting good grades comes down to one thing – one’s desire to succeed.

                “The secret to juggling sports and school work is managing your time effectively,” he said. “It also comes down to desire. If you want something and desire it, you will make time and do all that is necessary to obtain it. That is why I credit my parents for most of my academic success because they taught me the importance of hard work at an early age. Without hard work you can't accomplish much in life.”

Hoehn, who won a national title with the Cougar volleyball team last November, said that coming to WNCC was like a second home.

“I really would like to thank all of the fans, teachers and coaches at WNCC because you really made coming to Scottsbluff feel like a second home,” she said. “Without you, I wouldn’t have succeeded so well at WNCC.”

The 2010-2011 season marks the 28th year the NJCAA has recognized the success of its student-athletes in the classroom. With minimal changes, the NJCAA academic awards program has been in place since 1983.