Taking it to the hoop (With photo gallery)
Ten boys and girls were on hand this week for the first basketball camp hosted by the Crestview girls basketball team.
Campers ranged in age from 6 to 12 for the three-day camp that ran from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon.
Lady Bulldog coach Donald Campbell supervised the camp with assistant coach Renee Polk handling most of the instructions on the court.
“We had one 6-year old, one 7-year old and the rest were between the ages of 8 and 12,” Campbell said. “It was a good little group and I think they enjoyed themselves.”
Campbell and Polk had plenty of help from the Lady Bulldogs, with eight or nine player assisting with the efforts on the court.
“It helps them (the Crestview players) because they see what we have been trying to tell them when they are trying to tell somebody what to do and they have to do it just as well,” Campbell said. “If the kid looks at them and says, ‘You told me to do it this way, but you aren’t doing it,’ it makes them have to do it just as well.”
Polk was impressed by the campers’ physical conditioning.
“They are in pretty good shape,” she said. “I put them through a lot of drills we would put our girls through and they all stuck in there and did better than what we asked them to. And almost better than what I’ve seen some of my players do when they first started out.
“So it was a really good day and I think it opened their eyes up a lot to the game of basketball and basic fundamentals they were missing. Now they are learning it and you can see their talent develop.”
The campers were put through a variety of ball handling and shooting drills on Tuesday. Defense was scheduled to be the emphasis of the day Wednesday, and Thursday was a day to combine the aspects of the game.
Campbell and Polk hope that in the years to come the camp will grow in numbers, but 10 participants was a good starting point for the camp in the first year.
“I’m kind of glad we only had 10, because the 10 we had, they just wanted to learn,” Polk said. “That’s all we are out here to do, to teach out them how to get better.
“What we preach to our girls is you can get out here and throw the ball up to the goal all day and you have a 50-50 chance of going in, but if you take 50 shots and only make two, your percentage is low. What we try to teach is repetition and consistency. If you do it the right way more often, more often than not, you’ll make it, and that’s what we are trying to get in their heads now.”
Mixed in with the teaching points from the coaches were a variety of contests to stress the techniques that had just been emphasized.
There were layup contests, 3-point shooting competitions and team free throw drills.
“What I see in these campers is they are trying to do it right,” Polk said. “That’s what we want to teach at a young age, so when they do get to middle school and high school they will have that form down.
“If they have the fundamentals and they can work on that and they get in a game and it goes up, we have a better chance of the shot going in.”
Polk was pleasantly surprised by the way the campers soaked up everything they were being taught.
“I was really impressed with the way those kids are coachable,” she said. “That’s one thing I look for as a coach. You can be the best athlete out there, but if you aren’t coachable, I can’t do anything with you if you don’t do what I’m saying.
“They did great today. I had a blast.”
