EDWARDSVILLE – Boys volleyball has been a rising sport in area high school athletic programs since the Illinois High School Association began a state championship series in 1992.
More boys are taking up the sport and the growth in the game in the Midwest has been quite impressive; Edwardsville High School's program is no exception. The team's annual summer camp is going on this week at Lucco-Jackson Gym at the EHS campus and for the first time, the camp is being split into two sessions, a morning session for boys in grades 4-8 and an afternoon session for incoming freshmen and Tiger players looking to improve their games.
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“Camp's been going well,” said Tiger coach Andy Bersett. “We have a two-session camp; from 8:30-11:30 (a.m.), we have a group of fourth- through eighth-graders; we have about 22 of those and those have been going well. A lot of kids have already been playing volleyball and this is kind of an extension of that.
“In the afternoon, we have our incoming freshmen plus some high-school aged kids; we're doing the same type of skills (instruction) and similar drills, but we're doing a little more advanced level than what we're doing in the morning.”
The camp sizes have grown since the first camp took place. “Our camp sizes get bigger and bigger each year,” Bersett said. “A few years back, we were having only one three-hour session because we had just about 20 kids total; this year, we've got 35 kids between the two camps, so we decided to divide it into two sessions, so we get plenty of coaching (for those taking part in the camps).
“We like the ratio to be one coach for every 4-5 campers; the nice thing is, as it's grown, a lot of the former players (for the EHS program) have come back and are now camp counselors; with the high-school aged camp, we've got two guys that have played at high levels. Eric Fitterer and John Pranger were part of our first team that went to state in 2011.
“Eric's playing professionally over in Europe now and John has played volleyball at Quincy (University); he was an assistant coach last year over at McKendree (University in Lebanon) and he plays at a very high level in the summer with club teams.”
Men's volleyball has been popular in regions of the nation for some time, but the game does get noticed during Olympic years. “That's what's great about it; it's an Olympic year, so men's volleyball gets on the map a little bit,” Bersett said. “You get to see it on TV; I saw a game in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday (that was being televised by NBC) and for that to be showcased like that was great. There's a St. Louis kid, Murphy Troy, that went to St. Louis University High School, that's on the Olympic team, and in 2008 (at the Beijing Olympics) that went to Vianney that was on the Olympic team.
“We're seeing (boys volleyball) grow and grow; it's great to see the growth on the Illinois side. McKendree added a program a few years back and they've really gone a long, long way. The NCAA (men's) tournament, the last three years, a Midwest team has won it, whether it be Loyola from Chicago, who won it two years in a row, and then, this past May, Ohio State won. Two years ago, Eric Fitterer was playing for Lewis University (of Chicago) and was serving for a championship point against Loyola; that was one of the best matches I've ever seen.”
Bersett believes Edwardsville's program does have a bright future ahead of it. “We're working hard, we're trying to add a middle-school program, get more club volleyball involved and just get more kids involved at the high-school level. We're hoping to have a freshman team this year, which we were able to have a couple of years back and we'd like to see more and more consistent numbers of freshmen coming here and wanting to play.”
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