Mini-Mustangs

Our basketball team holds a three weekend camp for kids around the ages of 7 to 12 from the local community.  The girls team only has to attend one weekend and it is always a lot of fun to interact with the kids and see them playing the sport that we love too.

My tasks for this Sunday were to help the kids at my basket.  We are all split up before we start the camp, and there were approximately three to four kids at each basket.  We are there for three hours and cover several different things that need to be explained and then demonstrated.  We went over how to set screens, pivoting, passing, knock-out, and playing some 5-on-5.  At the end of the camp the captains stood in front of the campers and discussed the program of “Live 5”.  Live 5 is a program discussing 5 key characteristics of champions that athletes should abide by: Integrity, Responsibility, Sportsmanship, Servant Leadership, and Respect.

Our assistant coach, Jill, did really well at interacting with the campers in helping to demonstrate drills and encouraging them.  Jill also does a really well job at checking up on us college players and making sure that we were staying up-beat and encouraging also.  I noted some leadership skills lacking by the boys assistant coach, however.  He was very passive on helping and interacting with campers. Jill even asked him after she demonstrated a drill if he wanted to take the next one and he passed on it immediately.  Also even when the campers were split up and everyone was at their baskets, I noticed he wasn’t interacting with any of the campers and more or less just watching from a distance.

I engaged in a lot of leadership activities at this camp.  While at the basket, I took on the task of being the one to lead the screening drill.  This included explaining to the campers how to do the drill, demonstrating the drill, and then coaching and encouraging them through it.  I also demonstrated leadership at the end when discussing the “Live 5” model.  I presented the topic of Servant Leadership; explained to the campers with what servant leadership was and interacted with them with questions on the topic.

I felt great about the day’s experience because it was fun to share the love of playing basketball with these campers that are so young.  I was able to act as a coach for the day too which was really cool because it is always the other way around with me being the player.  The campers were full of energy and I really enjoyed helping them through drills and helping to make them better.