A mix of professional and college volleyball players will attack the net during a scrimmage in the Malibu High School gym on Thursday night.
The contest highlights an evening, hosted by the Malibu High girls’ volleyball team, in which youth and high school volleyball players and their parents will mingle with the more experienced players in the sport.
New Sharks volleyball coach Derek Saenz said parents and their grade school-aged volleyball players sometimes don’t look beyond their current status in the sport.
“They don’t see the picture and how it all really works,” he said. “This will be a good chance for them to talk with a bunch of women [who] are doing everything beyond high school and club volleyball.”
The 90-minute event will occur during the second week of the five-week volleyball camp Malibu’s coaches are holding this summer. More than 20 beginning and experienced volleyball players, from fifth to 12th grades, are participating in the camp. The program is geared toward teaching the players skill development and setting a foundation for a continuously successful Malibu High girls volleyball program.
The list of scrimmage participants was unfinalized at press time. The players are Southern California natives who spend their off-seasons preparing for their upcoming professional or collegiate seasons at beaches and gyms in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Saenz, a former college volleyball player, said the high-level players will talk about their paths to success in the sport. He told the story of former Cal State-San Bernardino standout Samantha Middleborn, a top-ranked pro player who found out she was pregnant before the start of the 2017 season with a professional team in Korea. The 6-foot-1 middle blocker did not compete in Korea due to the pregnancy, but after the birth of her twins played for Chieri ‘76, a professional team in Italy.
“She won a European championship,” Saenz said. “She is set to go back in the fall. Not the most routine story, but it’s a chance to see where people come from and how they make it to a successful level.”
The first-year Sharks coach noted how the younger players should see similarities between themselves and the older players. Saenz mentioned how Marymount California University volleyball coach Chrissie Courtney, known as a powerful hitter during her standout playing days at UCLA and on the AVP Tour despite being 5-foot-3, inspired budding girls in volleyball who also weren’t towering figures on the court.
The young volleyball players and their parents can ask the experienced players anything concerning the sport, such as how to pick a college if you are recruited.
The volleyball camp, held Tuesday to Thursday each week, is a chance for the youth players to play at the beach and in the gym. Saenz and his coaches are using the camp as an opportunity to allow the players discover a love for volleyball. He hopes the scrimmage has a similar effect.
“It adds value to the program and excitement about the sport,” Saenz said.
