Final Game. What Now?

The Final Game!

The season for the 5th and 6th grade girls basketball program is over after tonight's game. It has been a learning experience for all involved. The girls learned a lot and so did the coaches. We all had to make adjustments as the season went on. Keep in mind, we are working with first and second year players who have had little if any experience playing. The goal is to keep building a foundation that will serve these girls well as they grow up through the program. Now that it is almost over what comes next?

Many of the girls will join softball programs and some are playing in a local travel volleyball league. What about the girls that are not involved in a sport or activity? This is where the schools can be actively involved with programming for kids not in a sport.

Let me introduce the Mini-Camp

The mini camp is a program that can be used in so many ways to keep kids active and involved. You as the coach can run a mini camp for just about any sport or activity you desire. Let me share some examples:

SAQ Mini-Camp

The SAQ mini-camp is designed to teach kids how to move and become a better athlete. They will develop hand eye coordination, agility and balance, and even strength and power. If organized correctly these mini camps can be a great program to keep kids active but also improve their ability to move.

Sport Specific Mini-Camp

You can run a 1-4 week mini-camp dedicated to one sport. These are fairly common, but if you design it correctly, then it can become a great after school program to keep kids learning and having fun for 1-2 hours 3 days per week. The key is to make sure their a good balance of skill learning, organized game play, and free play. This will surely be a home run with your kids.

Skill Specific Mini-Camp

You could offer periodic 1-2 week mini-camps dedicated to improving a particular skill for a sport. Maybe a passing camp for volleyball, a dribbling camp for basketball or soccer, a throwing camp for baseball, softball and football...the key to the success of these camps once again is to have teaching time, organized practice and game time, and free play.

Game Mini-Camp

A great mini-camp to run is an ultimate frisbee or football camp. I have played this with tennis balls as well. What is so great about the ultimate games is it teaches kids how to play a team game. There is no running with the ball or frisbee so they have to learn to pass and move to get open. This program should be organized with teams and specific rules. The kids will get great physical activity and learn how to throw, catch, and strategies. Fun!

OK, now it is up to you to organize mini-camps at your school or park. These are a great way to keep kids active after a season, especially if they are not involved in other sports.

Yours in Speed,

Lee

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