Dakota Wesleyan University men's and women's basketball coaches Shane Murphy and Jason Christensen feel that turning basketball drills into a fun activity is the best way to teach kids the fundamentals of the game.
This week, the DWU men's and women's basketball teams have been hosting basketball camps at the Mitchell Christian School gym and the DWU Christian Family Wellness Center on campus. The camps are divided into boys' and girls' camp and started on Tuesday and end today. The camps focus on teaching kids skills and techniques and getting them better acquainted with the game of basketball.
"We stress the fundamentals, but we also stress having fun," Christensen said about the camps.
"Sometimes the basic stuff can be boring, so we try and incorporate different games or different styles into the camps while still getting the fundamentals across."
Christensen said the age groups of the camps range from kindergartners to ninth graders. Christensen and Murphy run the camps, along with assistant coaches and DWU men's and women's basketball players. For the first hour of each session they work on basic skills and then the coaching staff has the kids try to incorporate what they've learned into games and activities.
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"The goal is hopefully they've learned something and they've had fun doing it," DWU basketball player Amanda Hart said.
"There's a lot of improvement throughout the week especially with a lot of the fundamental stuff. Usually they don't know how to do a lot of stuff when they get here and by the end of the week, they know how to do it. It's great to see them actually use those (skills) when we play."
Both Hart and Christensen said the reason they try and incorporate fun into their camps is because it's a much better way of showing the kids how enjoyable the game of basketball can be.
"If you can teach it where (the kids) have fun doing it, they'll learn better and they're going to use it more often," Hart said.
"When you do some boring drill, it's going to be hard for them to use it and practice it more often."
Murphy said he definitely sees improvement in the kids over the span of the three days, and it's a really gratifying experience for him and his players to share their love of basketball.
"The key at this age is to have them enjoying their time in the gym if they do that, then they want to come back and do it again," Murphy said.
"If you can create that habit of them coming to the gym and thinking of it as a fun experience, you can make basketball players out of them."
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