Volleyball in Yuma

In Yuma, Volleyball is Offered for Elementary Kids

By Todd Pernsteiner, Pernsteiner Creative Group

A popular youth volleyball program in the City of Yuma has been going strong for more than 17 years thanks to Ron Wills, Yuma’s Park and Recreation Director who started the program in 2005. While many communities offer volleyball leagues and classes, Yuma’s program is unique in how young their new participants are. The “Wee Volleyball” program is geared to young people in grades Kindergarten through 3rd, and the “VolleyStars” program works with youth in grades 4th through 6th. Wills says the goal for the Wee program is for kids to get an introduction to the sport. Teaching very basic fundamental skills, serving, and passing. “We tell the kids ‘you have to be able to serve or you can’t score any points and once the other team serves, you have to learn to pass the ball back over the net.’ Again, very basic skills, and we add fun little games so they compete but are laughing while learning,” he said. “We are working with very young kids whose motor skills are still improving, so we stay away from setting and any footwork that could lead up to spiking. Those skills will come in time.”

On average, Yuma’s Wee Volleyball program has roughly 35-40 kids participating. While volleyball is a coed sport, the city typically has around 10 boys participating in the program on average. Yuma’s popular Flag Football program runs at the same time of year and that takes most of the boys. To accommodate the height of players as young as age 5, Wee Volleyball uses badminton nets that are about 4-feet off the ground. They use 6-inch beach balls for K-1st graders, as this is an early learning time for most of the kids. The beach ball floats in the air longer and is softer. Volleylite volleyballs, which are closer to regular volleyballs but lighter, are used for 2nd & 3rd graders. The free volleyball camp for the Wee Volleyballers just starting out is one of the biggest highlights for the new participants. “We start our volleyball season with all the players, grades K-6th participating in a free volleyball camp put on by our high school coaches and players. This is a great opportunity for the young girls to get instruction from the high schoolers that they get to watch on the big court!” said Wills. “I’ve always believed that both the young girls and high schoolers gain so much from this interaction.”