Students involved in the volleyball program at Wareham High are still just learning themselves, but they’re helping some younger kids get familiar with the ins and outs of the game at the same time.

Saturday morning, members of both the JV and varsity teams were at the Wareham High School gym, where about 10 other younger children were in attendance at the program’s first ever free volleyball clinic.

“As a team, we like to get involved in the community in some way,” said senior Nicole Russo, who also serves as the student representative to the School Committee. “The clinic is a way to give back.”

Not only does it help the student athletes get involved with the community, but it’s also an attempt to help build the volleyball program, which has shown major improvements this year after struggling through the past few seasons.

“Coach (Ben) Kaeterle’s goal is to turn the program around—it’s a process, but without him, we wouldn’t be where we are,” said Russo, noting that a good majority of the JV team is made up of eighth graders already.

Kaeterle, who is in his first year with the program, said that with this being the first time they held the clinic, he wasn’t sure what to expect, but he was happy with the turnout. Most of the attendees were girls, though a few boys also attended.

“We had about 10 kids with a good range of talent,” said Kaeterle, noting that he reached out to some people at Wareham Middle School to spread the word about the clinic.

He, like Russo, said that the clinic helps teach potential future players how to play while showing current members of the team how they can get involved within the community.

“It was definitely a mutual benefit,” he said.

“It was different to teach other people the things that others taught us,” said Jill Rawding, 13, an eighth grader at the middle school who currently plays on the JV team.

Layla Foote and Kiara Goldie, both 12, are a pair of friends who attended the clinic, which they enjoyed.

“We’re learning the game,” said Foote, noting that they were taught how to pass, serve, bump, and set the volleyball.

Kaeterle said it was good to see how well some of his players were able to communicate with the younger players.

“To see them teaching—some of the stuff we’ve taught them has become so engrained in them, they don’t even think about it. It’s pretty cool to be here and see they’re passionate about the game.”

Kaeterle said he’ll also be involved with the middle school program, which starts in November.

“The earlier the better to get the kids involved,” he said.