BIG RAPIDS — Emily VanCulin is entering her second season as Big Rapids girls volleyball coach and is ecstatic with the cooperation she’s gotten from her players over the summer.
This week, VanCulin brought in current Ferris assistant and former collegiate All-America standout Hannah (Nimrick) Wuest as a camp leader for her players.
“We covered just about everything,” Wuest said. “We covered just about everything. We started off with serve and serve receive. That’s the most important in a volleyball game. Then we moved on to defense and attacking. We started with basics. Then we decided to push our range and see how far we can go with defense and attacking.
“We started a drill and we couldn’t finish it the first day. The second day, we finished it within five minutes. It was pretty impressive.”
Wuest said she and head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm do satellite camps for schools across the state where they cover various volleyball skills.
“This summer, we’ve been working with open gyms and some practices,” VanCulin said. “The varsity went to a Ferris team camp last week. Right now we have coach Hannah here from Ferris for a two-day camp and four sessions. We’re working on communication and going for volleyballs.”
VanCulin said she had 22 girls who signed up for the camp entering ninth grade through 12th.
This week’s sessions were extremely helpful, VanCulin said.
“Coach Hannah is a great coach,” he said. “It’s a great way for us to start off.”
The first day of volleyball practice for Big Rapids is Aug. 8 with tryouts for three days. The first action is a tournament at Alma on Aug. 20.
“We’re ahead of the game more than we were last year at this point,” VanCulin said.
