by Sylene Argent
Every aspiring athlete has an idol. For local elementary school students, sometimes those mentors are older students at the high school, who may not have realized just how much they have improved their on-court roles and just how professional they appear to young eyes.
Local elementary school students were invited to participate in a volleyball workshop hosted at Essex District High School last Friday evening, where the young, aspiring athletes learned tricks-of-the-trade from members of the high school’s Senior Boys’ Volleyball Team.
With participation from students, in grade five through eight, at Gosfield North Public School and Colchester North Public School, event coordinators, Izzy and Deen Oozeer, were pleased to have over 50 students take advantage of the unique learning opportunity. The father/son duo are helping coach the EDHS Senior Boys’ Volleyball team this season.
Izzy, who was a popular coach at Colchester North Public School until his retirement in 2017, and Deen, who recently played on the St. Clair College volleyball team, were happy to coordinate the event, but to also allow the members of the Senior Boys’ Volleyball team to run the workshop and drills designed to allow the participating elementary school student learn as much as they could.
“I want these [high school] kids to see they were young at one point, and these [elementary school students] to know they can get to their [senior high school] level,” Izzy said of the participating students.
“These guys have been great,” Izzy said of the athletes of the Senior Boys’ Volleyball Team. “They have been asking me about this [workshop] all week.”
Another great benefit of they volleyball workshop was that it introduced many grade school and high school students, which will make transitioning into secondary school much easier in the future for the younger students.
It is hoped the volleyball workshop will be hosted again next year and that it will have an even better turnout than the inaugural event.
Izzy said coaching the EDHS Senior Boys’ Volleyball Team with his son has been a great experience.
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