New kind of hoops camp

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

WASILLA - Tom Berg wanted to create a summer basketball camp. But he wanted to start something a little different.

Rather than go for a formula that involves three or four days of long, intense sessions, Berg opted for something that would more closely resemble the average high school basketball practice. Something that would focus on the skills, and give athletes more repetition.

So he created his own strategy for teaching local youth the fundamentals of basketball during the summer months. Berg, a former Colony High School standout and current member of the Knight boys' basketball coaching staff, teamed with fellow former Knight Kelly Quinn to offer 26, 90-minute practice sessions to local hoopsters.

In the average basketball camp coaches meet with players for as long as six and seven hours per day, but the clinics may last for only a few days.

"Working a little bit on the right things each day is more beneficial," Berg said.

The problem Berg sees with players just focusing on the annual camps, is the large gaps in between each clinic. The average player works hard for four or five straight days, and then does not step onto the basketball court for two weeks. Berg's method allows for daily instruction.

"I haven't seen anything like this before, and I wanted to try something new to see if kids were interested," Berg said.

Many of the skills required to make an athlete a successful basketball player, such as shooting and ball handling, Berg said, require repeated practice.

"The idea is to try to show them as many different ways to practice ball handling, so it doesn't become so redundant," Berg said. "If you don't practice every day, you'll lose a step. So let's work with them every day."

Berg used a punch card system for the camp fee. Middle school and high school aged athletes could buy punch cards with a value of either four or 10 sessions. With the cards, participants could chose which days to attend. Attendance varied throughout the sessions, Berg said. One day seven would attend, the next day 16 would be there. A priority for Berg was keeping the player-to-coach ratio low. If numbers grew to large for just Berg and Quinn, he welcomed the help of other coaches and former players in the area.

"My philosophy is no more than 10 kids per coach," Berg said.

Berg held the practices on the outdoor courts of Teeland Middle School, and by the final sessions of the summer he was able to attract kids from all around the Valley. Berg didn't advertise and the first sessions were comprised mainly of kids from the Colony schools, but word traveled and eventually kids from the Palmer and Wasilla programs were buying punch cards.

Berg has already made plans to do host this style of basketball camp again next year. He said he would like to incorporate the other basketball programs from the Valley, into the

camp.

"I would love to be talking to other people in the Valley - I need your help because the numbers are getting to big," Berg said.