When I was younger, I had the privilege to attend many basketball camps. Each camp had its strengths and weaknesses within the time I spent there. Now from coaching point of view, a camp is only effective if you take what you learned and put into practice. I spent a lot of my parent’s money and my own getting similar instruction all over the state of Wisconsin. What I have learned through my experience of attending, viewing, working camps, and running my own camps is that effectiveness resides with specific focus and training. Provided is my keys of picking a basketball camp for a player or players in your program.
Picking a Basketball Camp
Many camps cover a mile long of material, but it only scratches the surface. Some camps try to cram in drills for too many skills without ever allowing a player to grow in a specific area. One of the key questions to ask when picking a basketball camp is if the coaches concentrate on any specific skills. That will give you a guide to what they can offer your youth player.
Players come to youth basketball camps at a variety of different skill levels, so its important to consider how good the player actually is. You don’t want a beginner landing in a camp for AAU tested talent.
The camp’s environment should be one that provides learning opportunities for each youth player. The best camps challenge players to grow physically and mentally. Players should be constantly learning when involved in drills, practices and scrimmages. A camp that builds on basketball IQ is a major plus!
Parents often forget to ask other coaches and players for feedback on potential camps. Sometimes a coach can recommend a reliable colleague. Or a teammate can suggest a previous camp they’ve attended.
The daily camp schedule stands as another important deciding factor for many parents. How much time is dedicated to skill development? How much time is dedicated to playing games? Are there competitive practice games? If there’s too much scrimmage time, there might not be enough skill development available for your youth player.
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