Archive: Sports

This week more than 60 campers turned out for Lansing Recreation Department's Boys Basketball Camp.  Directed by Adam Heck, the camp is for 4th through 9th grade boys.  The camp met every day this week from 9:00am-4:00pm.  "60 is the perfect amount," says Heck.  "For the facilities it gives all the kids a lot of opportunities to learn the game and a lot of time to have with the ball."


The goal of the camp is to teach the fundamentals of basketball and give each camper a positive experience.  Heck heads up a group of coaches pulled from his Varsity and JV teams.  TJ Bishop and Treyson Barresi will be in college next year, but they came back to help out by coaching.  "It's a different part of the game," Barresi  says.  "You learn to see where our coach is coming from and how we can improve."

Heck agrees.  "It's good for them to be on the other side of the ball," he says.  "They coach the kids and they're on the other side when I'm coaching them, so it's great to see them frustrated sometimes when the kids don't listen to them like they should.  I think it's a great experience for them.  And the younger guys really feed off the High School kids coaching."


The boys come in at 9 o'clock to warm up.  Heck teaches everyone a fundamental skill, after which they break into their teams to practice it.  He coaches work on drill with their teams to master the new skill.  Then everyone comes together again for either a contest or 'stations,' where they go from one to another to hone their skills.  Before lunch the teams play games against each other.  In the afternoon the routine is repeated.

Heck was pleased that the pool is available this year, especially because of the stifling heat this week.  He says that some days they have a guest speaker, but the pool is more attractive because of the weather.  

Contest finals, a three-on-three and a team tournament wrap up the week today (Friday) with an awards ceremony and trophies.  "Each camper receives a basketball and a report card," says Heck.  "The coach fills out a report card based on how they developed throughout the week.  We compare it to themselves, not to other campers.  It gives them something great to keep and gives them an idea of what to work on and things they are very strong in as well."


Heck may be looking at his future Varsity teams.  "I hope so," he says.  "They've worked hard this week.  We go all the way up through 9th grade so some of these guys at camp will be on Junior Varsity this winter.  So this is great for me to see them earlier and tell them what they need to work on between now and then."  The camp will serve them well, because Heck says that 15 of the 15 or so students who try out for the JV team make it.

He is enjoying spending the extra time with his coaches.  "You only spend a couple of months with kids during the season and I don't get an opportunity to see them all the time," says Heck.  "This week we all had lunches together and it's really a great time."  And the Varsity kids agree.  When asked if he'll come back to coach in future years, he says, "Oh yeah, any time!"

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