Things are getting back to normal for the Solanco girls basketball program. Summer camp was canceled because of Covid in 2020 and there were 36 participants last year. The 2022 version, held at the high school last week, had 52 aspiring basketball players. "That's an exceptional number," Solanco High varsity coach Chad McDowell said. "I'm very pleased. Now that we're more back to normal, we're able to get more kids in the gym. More people are comfortable being in the gym. We were definitely hit by Covid. One year (2020) we weren't able to have it. Last year we came back and had 36 kids. Being able to get back in the gym has really helped."
As with most youth summer camps, the goals are simple. "The focus is on fundamentals, having fun, and getting better," said McDowell. The Mules coach believes the younger players' work over the summer will eventually pay dividends on the varsity level. "It's very important to develop our younger players, especially our youth players and the ones who play in Solanco Youth Basketball," McDowell said. "It's important to get them interacting and making connections with some of our high school players. So when they come to a [varsity] game they know who they're coming to see. They get to see players that they worked with and see them out there playing on the big court. It's really important for us to develop our younger players and get them doing fundamental skills. Our fundamental skills really need to improve and that's what this is about. We have our stations that we go through from dribbling to passing to shooting to conditioning. It's all being done at the eight different stations in two different gyms so we have a lot going on." Solanco's incoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors served as clinicians. "They are the ones instructing at the stations and I'm always very impressed to watch them step up and teach what they've been taught over the years," McDowell said. "It's a great feeling to see them do things they've been taught and teaching other people to do it." Comments are closed.
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