ALTON – The Summer Volleyball League, designed for younger players to become involved in the sport, recently completed a very successful third season, with over 100 players involved in the activities.
The league attracted players from eight local schools – St, Ambrose Catholic, Evangelical, Sts. Peter and Paul, Zion Lutheran, St. Mary’s, Alton Middle School, Our Lady Queen of Peace and Jersey Middle School. Players from both Alton High and Marquette Catholic served as match officials and other volunteer work, with students from Marquette earning community service hours for their work.
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“I think it was organized pandemonium from the start,” said league director Phil Hamilton, “but we broke the kids up into groups to manage the numbers we had, and it worked out really well.”
Activities for the players included hitting and serving clinics, drills, and short court matches. The younger players and older players were each divided into four teams for matches and tournament play at the end, with matches played at St. Mary’s Suddes Hall, and tournaments at the Catholic Children’s Home in Alton. The younger players’ tournament was won by Anna’s Fireballs, while Torrie’s Gold Diggers took the older players’ tournament.
“We achieved our goal of keeping our players playing, and keeping it fun, too,” Hamilton said.
And another goal was to have the players from the various schools meet each other for friendship, and that goal also was achieved.
“We had large groups, where we mixed them up onto different teams,” Hamilton said. “The idea was to mix schools and players up, so they had the chance to meet the other players.”
An essay contest was also held, with the subject “Why I Love Volleyball,” for the players. The fourth-grade winner was Sophia Jacobs of St. Mary’s, the fifth-grade winner was Mady Henkhaus of Evangelical, St. Mary’s Kaydence Everett won the sixth-grade contest, Payton Crane of Sts. Peter and Paul was the seventh-grade winner, and the eighth-grade contest was won by Emily Pryor of Jersey Middle. Each winner was awarded a plaque for her efforts.
A combined seventh and eighth-grade team was also entered into summer tournament at Civic Memorial High School, and a ninth-grade team held a scrimmage against the CM Freshman/JV combined team.
Plans are underway for open gyms starting in December for the start of the grade school and junior high volleyball seasons, and the league will be held again in 2020. The motto for the 2020 season will be “Keep Swingin’!”
