From Campers to Role Models: Moriarty Volleyball Varsity Mentors Local Youth

MORIARTY — Moriarty head volleyball coach Michael Baguskis knows that building a program starts long before high school tryouts—it begins with getting familiar faces into the gym.

That effort was on display Monday through Wednesday during the Lady Pintos Coed Volleyball Camp, which brought local youth from kindergarten through sixth grade onto the home courts for a three-day clinic focused on fundamentals and team culture.

“It’s important for me, so I get to see their faces, they get to see mine, so they kind of know who I am,” Baguskis said. “We want them to have fun, we want them to build skills that maybe they haven’t been introduced to or seen… relationships are a big one, and then fun is up there too.”

The gym was split by age and progression. The youngest campers focused on high-energy movement, while incoming Moriarty Middle School coach Hope Bennett handled the mid-level students.

“Our youngest is kindergarten,” Baguskis said. “Fifth and sixth is over here with Coach Bennett, where they are kind of doing the same thing. It’s little bit more about games with the littles and a little bit more fundamentals up here.”

To keep the multi-court operation running, Baguskis put his veteran high school players in charge of the courts. It gave his varsity and junior varsity athletes an immediate lesson in the realities of coaching.

“I think they haven’t realized that coaching isn’t what they thought it might be,” Baguskis said. “It’s a little bit more of themselves putting themselves and listening to the kids and maybe they don’t want to do something and you still got to coach them—you coach who you have.”

For the player-coaches, the challenge of capturing short attention spans was offset by the reward of building a local fanbase. Upcoming junior Kendall Carpenter took the assignment with the program’s long-term health in mind.

“I want to grow our volleyball program and it starts with little kids,” Carpenter said. “I know these kids are little, but I want them to be able think about this place and want to play when they’re older.”

Carpenter admitted that seeing that connection carry outside the gym walls makes the effort worth it.

“Just like having all the little kids just come up and talk to me, it really makes my day,” Carpenter said. “I like it when kids recognize me in public, and It’s so sweet, make my heart just all nice and warm and fuzzy.”

Peyton Butler, an upcoming senior, spent her first volleyball camp working with the kindergarten and first-grade groups. She found that keeping five-year-olds on task taught her skills she plans to bring into her own varsity season this fall.

“Paying more attention, and even just cooperation and like patience with teammates,” Butler said. “I think it’s given me a better experience with learning patience and just understanding each other.”

Asked if the experience changed her perspective on what Baguskis deals with every day, Butler laughed.

“Depends on the day, I think really most the time it’s hard unless we’re all just in the zone we do well,” Butler said. “But for the most part, I think it’s a hard job.”

That shift in perspective is exactly what assistant varsity coach Monica Lopez looks for during the summer session. For Lopez, the camp serves a dual purpose: stretching the high schoolers’ leadership capabilities while filling a recreational void for the community’s youth.

“I think they’re important for the high school girls, because it gives them that leadership role,” Lopez said. “It teaches them, you know, that they are the example they are setting those examples.”

When the three days wrapped up, Lopez summarized the ultimate baseline goal for every child who walked out of the gym.

“I hope they fall in love with volleyball,” Lopez said.

The Lady Pintos now turn their attention to a packed July schedule. Baguskis announced the team will host a tournament on July 9–10, bring in clinicians from Gold Medal Squared for a national-level team camp, and travel for competitive playdates in Mora, Tucumcari, and Cimarron before official tryouts begin.