High school and junior high school girls came to Iowa State this weekend to get a head start on preparing for the upcoming fall season.

More than 50 girls, mostly from Iowa, came to the camp Thursday through Sunday at the Forker Building to develop their volleyball skills with help from ISU players and coaches.

“They help us learn to hit the ball better,” Brittney Rodriguez said. “We learned the right way to hit the ball so that we can place it where we want to.”

Rodriguez, 12, from Denison, said the camp helped her learn to play with a team.

“The coaches taught us to bump the ball to the setter,” she said. “And then the setter would pass the ball to someone to spike the ball over.”

Another camper, 16-year-old Carly Fleming of Davenport, said the camp was much better than other camps she had been to in the last few years.

“[The coaches] are really nice, and they don’t yell at you if you make a mistake. We worked a lot in small groups so when we made mistakes, they would just pull us aside and point out how to improve. They gave a lot of positive criticism rather than just yelling at us.”

Fleming’s high school teammate, 16-year-old Amy Cronkleton, said although the camp was fun, it was also hard work.

“We have three sessions each day, and each one works us really hard,” she said. “We play six-on-six and do drills at six different stations.”

Cronkleton explained that each day and each session got progressively more intense and more difficult.

“The first day we started with the basics,” she said. “Later in the day, they added more people into the drills, and everything started to turn into game situations.”

Rodriguez, Fleming and Cronkleton all agreed the camp helped them to focus on the upcoming season.

“Most girls on [my high school team] aren’t dedicated to working out in the summer,” Fleming said.

“This camp helps me to get in shape and prepare for the start of the season.”

Cronkleton agreed with Fleming and said she wanted to return to the camp next year.

“Next year, I hope we can bring more of our team,” she said. “I think we could be a lot more successful if everyone came to camp and learned basic skills.”

The girls said one of their favorite aspects of the camp were the Cy-Awards. Cy-Awards were presented to two people at the end of each session during the day.

The awards were given to campers who demonstrated all-around dedication during the session.

“The awards were for attitude, determination and leadership,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone worked harder because we all wanted to win one.”

The camp concluded with a tournament between the campers Sunday morning.