Friday, April 26, 2024
TOLAR — Coach Scott Richardson's goal for the Tolar Basketball Camp was for players to leave with a greater love for the game than when they started, and that mission was accomplished June 13-15.
"We want them to leave here loving the game more than when they came in," Richardson said. "The energy and enthusiasm these kids have are just inspiring. It's been a great atmosphere, kids just having fun and getting after it."
On Wednesday, campers were busy competing in several drills as they showed the skills they had picked up during the three-day camp.
"We start every day doing mass drills, and then we do stations teaching the fundamentals of shooting, dribbling and passing," Richardson said. "Then we do competitions where they work on shooting, dribbling and layup competitions. In the end, we play basketball and do one-on-one and two-on-two. Our coaches have done a great job of promoting the game."
Hosting a basketball camp is essential for Richardson for many reasons but establishing connections with players is the mainstay.
"The biggest thing is building the relationships. We're competing against a lot of things that these kids have available to them through technology like video games, and just different things," Richardson said. "So, building a relationship when they're young gives me the opportunity to attract them into high school basketball, hopefully."
At the same time, all that technology is something coaches, parents, and players can use to improve their techniques and practices, and that's also something Richardson is seeing show up on his basketball court.
"The knowledge of basketball has grown extensively just because of the resources involved with the internet, social media, and things like that," Richardson said.
Those are the things that help with terminology, and it gives Richardson and his coaches advanced options.
"We're able to work on things with kids that are a little bit more advanced than they were 10 years ago, and that's been a lot of fun," Richardson said. "We almost have a whole high school offense installed with those kids, and we would have never done that in the past."
There may be one shortcoming to "get-it-now-technology" for coaches.
"To get any type of attention span is harder. Everything must be short, and we give players everything in short pieces," Richardson said. "They're just so used to fast and quick. Getting them to stay on task for any time is a little harder these days."
Still, Richardson's day two attendance numbers were bigger than the first day, and he reported no registered camper missed a day.
VETERAN CAMPER'S REVIEW
Two-camp veteran Stetson Allen, 7, gave Richardson's basketball camp two thumbs up and gave it his review as he munched on a snack and quenched his thirst with a drink.
"I've been to two camps, and this one is better," Allen said. "I really enjoyed the dribbling and the shooting and listening to the coaches."
A seven-year-old's endorsement doesn’t get much better than that.
Russell@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066 ext. 231
