Even though volleyball is one of the fastest-growing girls’ sports in Mississippi, it has struggled to gain a foothold at the youth level in Warren County. A handful of people are trying to change that, however.

Each Sunday for the past month, the Vicksburg YMCA has conducted a series of clinics designed to teach fundamentals and spur local participation in the sport. Organizers hope it will lead to the formation of a youth league and club teams that will keep young girls involved in the sport for years to come.

“It’s something we see as a growing sport for girls. The problem our high schools have is that no one is experienced when they get to that level. We want to give young ladies another option when it comes to sports,” said Phillip Doiron, executive director of the Vicksburg YMCA. “We’re trying to see if there’s enough interest in creating a league in the fall. If all goes well, we’ll get that started in August or September.”

The clinics are a YMCA program, but were the brainchild of volunteer coach Mike Gough. The Vicksburg resident “caught the bug” for volleyball when he served in the Air Force in the late 1960s and has been a regular player ever since.

Gough, his daughter Jessie Tate, and another volunteer, Bruce Ebersole, have been instructors for the six-week program that’s geared toward players in fifth through eighth grades. Most of the instruction involves drill work with an eye toward engaging young minds and keeping the game fun.

“You try to keep it from being a job and keep it light,” Gough said. “You have to teach one thing at a time. Right now, we’re going to work on it again and again and work on their form.”

This is the second year for the clinics. In 2015, only nine players signed up. This time around, the number swelled to 34. While Doiron and the YMCA build the foundation for the sport through less competitive recreational youth leagues, Gough has plans for taking some of the better players to the next level.

Gough is hopeful that the clinics will create enough interest to form a competitive club team, similar to a traveling all-star baseball or softball team.

“We had been thinking about growing it to the point we could become a club. That’s how you get viability, is to reach critical mass with it,” Gough said. “If half of these girls want to play, that’s 16 or 17 and I can put a team together with that.”

While their end goals differ slightly, Doiron’s and Gough’s primary mission is the same — to build from scratch a strong talent base for volleyball in Warren County. Warren Central and Vicksburg High have had high school programs since 2010, and St. Aloysius has considered adding a team. Helping young players gain fundamental skills will help those teams succeed, as well as expose them to another sport they can play for a lifetime, Gough said.

“My goal is to teach the game. If it feeds the high schools, that’s great. It’s a lifetime sport, and it’s an excellent sport for young ladies,” Gough said. “If we don’t do it, they’ll never have that opportunity. If they stay with it until high school, they’ll have beautiful hands and hits, and some high school coach will be happy to have them.”