POULSBO — At the base, there is nowhere to go but up; at the beginning, there is nowhere to start but square one.

The North Kitsap Lady Viking volleyball team has taken its first steps with off-season training camps and tournaments. Now with a little less than a month remaining until it hits the regular season, the Lady Vikes are looking to pick up some speed — or some height rather, said NK head coach Tim French.

“We’ve got a real good group of young girls,” the third-year head coach said, starting the next sentence with a chuckle. “I’d like to see them grow a few feet between now and Sept. 12, but we’ll take what we can get.”

Coming into the 2006-2007 season, North Kitsap’s senior class will likely be comprised of just two or three players. Though that creates a void of experience, it also opens the stage for younger girls to step up into the spotlight, French said.

Over the course of the summer, both the experienced Vikings and those fresh to the NK court, began the practice portion of their season equation. With open gym training sessions being held throughout the summer, NK should be poised into the season.

“Since mid-July (those sessions) have turned into more of practices for the upcoming season,” said junior Amy Cox. “Sometimes the players will lead it, sometimes coach will tell us what we need to do, but we just go and work on whatever we need to work on.”

In addition to the improvement of open gyms, a group of 10 Vikings also travelled to the Western Washington University team camp July 5-9 for some expert advice and appraisal. WWU Vikings coach Diane Flick and other WWU staff and players were on hand for the camp that split the days with half individual improvement and half team scrimmage.

On the final day of the tournament, NK pulled up it’s knee pads for an all-day tournament bracket. Though they did not bring home a championship, the Vikings did get the taste for competition, which will be back again once the season begins.

Unfortunately for North, none of the teams from the new Narrows League Bridge division alignment were at the WWU camp, contributing to the Vikings’ suspense for the upcoming season.

“I’m a little anxious about it, just to see how it’s going to work, but I’m the kind of coach that tries not to worry too much,” French said of the new league alignment. “If you can just put that out of your mind and just play volleyball, you’ll have a better chance of reaching our potential.”

NK’s upcoming seniors — Katie Richards and KC Fossum — loaded with blooming potential, will be joined by Jessica Oullet and Amy Cox as the core of players returning from last year’s varsity squad.

French is hoping that the four-man cell will serve as the team’s foundation at both game time and in practice.

“They have to be selfless and check their ego at the door. They have to lead by example as well as in what they say,” French noted of what it takes to be a leader on his team. “They can’t come in just talking they have to actually walk that talk.”

“We really need to just step it up and work as a team,” Cox noted. “A lot of our players played on JV last year, so we need to bring our level up to varsity. It really all depends on us and how much we are willing to dedicate ourselves.”