Boys in grades 4-8 attended Harker’s basketball camp the week of June 25 to learn the game’s fundamental skills. The camp was headed up by Butch Keller, upper school head, who has coached basketball at the high school and college levels for more than 25 years.

“Our goal is to hand [the students] skills and tools to make them better individually, so they understand the fundamentals of the game,” he said.

Each day of the program focused on a different skill, such as dribbling, passing and shooting. Harker varsity basketball players assisted the younger students with morning drills. “We had different stations set up and the kids went through the stations; each player was given to one of the older players, so they have a group of players that they’re responsible for and making sure they learn the fundamentals,” Keller said. “Everything we did during that day had as its emphasis the skill that we taught that morning.”

Students also played four-on-four games using the skills they learned, and also participated in schoolyard games such as Hotshot.

“The goal by the end of the week is to give the kids that are here skills that they can work on on their own,” Keller said. The program even taught the students drills that they could work on during commercial breaks while watching TV. “It’s all about things that they can do to improve their game at their age,” Keller added.

Jarrett Anderson, starting grade 6 in the fall, thought attending the basketball camp was a “great idea” because he wanted “more experience.” He believed dribbling was one of the most important things he learned.

“I like sports, and basketball’s a fun sport,” said Brandon Coulter, who starts grade 4 in the fall, of his reasons for joining the camp this year. He enjoyed the camp and said shooting was a skill he felt the camp helped him to improve.

The bottom line for Keller was to equip the students with what they need to become better individual players. “If they’re here to get better, they can take everything that we teach them, and they can do it on their own,” he said.