At 18, Kathryn Lovell may seem too young to have found her true love, but she believes she has — volleyball.
"This is my life," said the Woods Cross graduate and future Ute. "I just love playing."
Lovell's club volleyball team will get the chance to vie for one of the sports most prestigious honors at this year's Junior Olympic Girls Volleyball Championships hosted this year by Intermountain Volleyball Association at the Salt Palace.
The tournament begins with 12, 13 and 14-year-old teams starting play Wednesday, 15-year-olds starting Thursday, 16-year-olds starting Saturday and 17 and 18-year-old teams starting play Sunday. Each age group plays for four days with the national champs crowned on the fourth day.
The team — High Country 18s — qualified in three different regional tournaments for the country's top tournament in the toughest division the Open category. There are 27 other teams in the 18s open hoping to earn a national title, but the only Utah team in the group hopes their effort, talent and passion will be enough to win in their hometown.
"We've put so much on the line as far as effort, and we all just have a lot of desire," Lovell said. "It's really exciting."
Like most club players, Lovell plays volleyball year-round and said she isn't even close to being burned out on the sport.
"It's a total life commitment," Lovell said. "It's an achievement for all of the girls coming to the tournament. These are the best teams in the nation. It's hard to think about how big it is."
It's composed of 756 teams. That's 11,500 athletes, 500 officials, and more than 300 club and college coaches who will descend on the state's capital city to participate in or watch the tournament, which will feature 500 games each day. State officials estimate it will have a $43 million impact on the state's economy.
It is the biggest sporting event the state has hosted since the 2002 Winter Games, and it's the third time USA volleyball has chosen Utah to host the tournament.
"It's great to have the volleyball teams back," said Jeff Robbins, the president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission. "It really has grown into one of the largest youth sporting events in the country. We feel very fortunate they wanted to come back to Utah."
Part of the reason, said Intermountain Volleyball Association president and coach of the High Country 18s team Kim Norman, is Utah is the perfect place for an event like this.
"We have a tier-one convention center, but we still have a small-town community," Norman said. "It's awesome; it can't be matched."
She points out that USA volleyball officials visited Utah to check on pre-tournament preparations and couldn't say enough positive things about Utah. One example: the way Utah mobilizes volunteers.
"Sunday we had more than 200 volunteers out to help us set up courts," Norman said. "It was so amazing, and I was so impressed. We put together 50 courts in two hours. . . It was crazy; we actually had to ask people to leave because we had so many people there. We just can't thank the volunteers and the community enough for all of the support."
The players and coaches involved say hosting a tournament like this can't help but raise the profile of volleyball in Utah.
"It's huge for volleyball," said Viewmont High coach Lori Salvo, who is Norman's assistant on the 18s team. "I see volleyball taking over. I got twice as many kids signed up for my volleyball camp this summer as I did for my basketball camp, and it used to be just the opposite. It's because of all of these clubs and programs; volleyball is big."
High country setter and Alta senior Sydney Anderson said the level of competition found at this tournament may surprise some people.
"I think it will build up volleyball a lot," she said. "Maybe it will even get more people to come out and watch. . . I think people think volleyball is not a real sport. But it's intense; volleyball is a very real sport."
In addition to Norman's High Country 18s team, there are 15 other teams from the Western Region, including 11 Utah squads, qualified in three different divisions.
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com