Archive: Sports

This Monday will begin a week of activity in the Lansing high school and middle school gymnasiums, as Lansing Recreation Department's sixth annual basketball camp begins.  The camp will teach 4th through 9th graders the fundamentals of basketball in a positive atmosphere.  "It's a great camp," says camp director Adam Heck.  "They get a shirt, they get a ball, and it's a whole week of basketball.  We're trying to get as many kids interested in basketball as possible."

Heck, who coaches Lansing's Boys Varsity Basketball, works at many basketball camps around the northeast.  He has worked for 13 years at Pensylvannia's Frostburg State University basketball camp, which typically attracts 600 campers, as well as Cortland State's camp, among others.  "I've learned from those guys how to run camps," he says.  "We're always looking for more kids.  We'll even take kids into camp who walk in.  It's not expensive, we're not about making a lot of money.  We're trying to promote basketball."

Heck's approach is to use his varsity players as coaches/counselors at the camp.  He says this not only benefits the campers, who love getting to know the older players, but also the coaches.  "It gives them another perspective, because they coach and referee at the camp," he notes.  "It helps them learn the game when they teach it.  I think it's a great opportunity for the guys to coach at camp."

This year Heck expects alumni like Sean Mix to be helping with the camp.  "Typically we get different ones every couple of days," he says.  "Zach Guarango has helped in the past.  He's also teaching swimming lessons in the morning.  He's at Cortland State.  He's a football player there.  And Treyson Barresi.  But mainly it's our high school team that coaches."

The coaches work for the love of it, and the money they earn goes into the varsity program.  The coaches compete with each other from year to year to have the most successful teams.  "They really enjoy it and you hear them come back and say, 'Last year I lost in the championship game last year as a coach, I'm going to come back,'" Heck says.  "And that's good for the young kids to see that they're really into it.  The guys have bragging rights as to which coach won it last year.  Every year they're always shooting to continue that."


Each morning starts out with campers learning a specific skill.  Then they get to use it in games.  After lunch Heck gets college players and high school coaches to talk to the kids before they repeat the routine, learning a skill, then playing a game.  Heck says that girls are welcome to participate as well as boys.  "The brochure says 'boys,' but we're going to offer it to any girl that wants to come as well," he says.

Kids are accepted to the camp even if they are not from Lansing.  Heck says this makes for a healthy mix in which friendship, respect, and competition can exist together.  "We accept kids from all over, so we get some kids from other towns and districts, which is great," he says.  "I think if the kids can go to camp together it helps down the road when they're playing against each other.  They get to know each other."

The camp will run from 9am to 4pm each day from July 30 through August 3.  The cost is $100 for the entire week, and kids get a T-shirt and basketball.

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