Monument Valley volleyball camp celebrates 30th year
Submitted The Monument Valley volleyball camp celebrated their 30th anniversary. The Happy Camper of the event are, from left to right, Hannah Poorman, Rhianna Young, Georgia Gray, Aubrey Sheppard, Ellyce Begay and Kolandi Tso.
FRUITLAND
About 12 years ago, Renelle Gilmore was just another camper at the Monument Valley High School volleyball camp.
Now, Gilmore is one of the organizers of the camp that celebrated its 30th anniversary last week and the head coach of the Monument Valley High School volleyball team.
She is one of many former campers who have moved on to become successful athletes, students and or coaches. The camp continues to produce some of the most successful volleyball players in the Four Corners.
“It’s the 30th year since we had Mustang volleyball camp, which is pretty big. This camp is about the same age as me,” Gilmore said. “I believe it started in 1985 or 1986, from then it just every year, it just keeps growing and growing and growing.”
The camp had 107 participants registered last week. Boys and girls from sixth grade to high school seniors all took part, along side a number of younger participants.
For four days, the campers that came from various places throughout the reservation took their places at Monument Valley High School and learned from some of the best coaches in the area.
The four-hour day camp featured a star-studded instruction roster that included former New Mexico State University volleyball and basketball player Bradley Nash, former University of Texas at El Paso volleyball player Naomi Whitehair, Northern Arizona University volleyball player Ohiyah Shirley and Tiara John a sophomore volleyball player at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.
Gilmore said the all-star instructor roster is something camp personnel take pride in.
“We also try to find the best instructors that we can. We also bring back alumni, so we had a pretty good lineup with coaches who all did a wonderful job,” she said. “I’m so glad they were able to come back because they’ve all been apart of Mustang volleyball too.”
The instructor lineup also featured former Monument Valley volleyball players and recent graduates Nekiyah Draper, who is on an academic scholarship at Arizona State University and was this year’s valedictorian, Taniyah Staley, who is on academic scholarship at Utah State University and Shayla Yazzie who will play volleyball for Haskell Indian Nations University.
To read the full article, pick up your copy of the Navajo Times at your nearest newsstand Thursday mornings!
Are you a digital subscriber? Read the most recent three weeks of stories by logging in to your online account.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow