A new club volleyball program has been founded in West Kelowna and there’s hope that it’ll become a staple in the community for years to come.
The West Kelowna Thunder Volleyball Club is the westside’s answer to a pair of established clubs in Kelowna.
The hope is to fill the void of a formal club in West Kelowna and to give kids the chance to grow and develop through sports.
“Offering the girls an experience that’s more than just the playing is important, it’s about the on and off court commitment, to inspire and motivate them to become great individuals within the community,” said team manager, Julie Hill. “To do that we’ve been incorporating team building initiatives and different programs including guest speakers and meet and greets.”
It’s not just a weekly pickup game either.
The club has a full coaching staff, led by longtime coach Mark Cooper, has gone through all the proper channels to be recognized by Volleyball BC.
“We wanted to establish credibility within the volleyball world and in B.C. that means being part of Volleyball BC” explained Hill. “With that, you have to go through a process that includes online applications, your club’s mission statement and other stuff like that.”
Volleyball BC has very specific legislation and policies in place, which are all hoops the club had to jump through to make sure they were doing things right.
Currently, the program only has one team, the U13 girls team, but the hope is to grow this into a big program in the community.
For now, however, it’s just the one team and the Thunder’s season is just about to get underway with the first of seven tournaments they’ve lined up, the Okanagan Volleyball Association’s Kamloops tournament on January 29th.
They’ll have three more tournaments through the Okanagan Volleyball Association and three more through Volleyball BC, including provincials in Abbotsford in April.
While the girls focus on their game, the behind the scenes staff will be looking to lock up more sponsors and interested players in an effort to expand the program to more than just one team next year.
You can follow along with their inaugural season through Facebook or Instagram.
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