MONTAGUE — The Montague youth basketball camp last week, which took place Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, was that rarest of kids sports opportunities - one without any cost attached.
There was, of course, a pragmatic reason Wildcats' boys coach Nick Thaler, who oversaw the camp alongside new girls coach Lauren Ross, pushed to make the camp free; it's easier to grow participation in your sport the more kids can access it. (And from that perspective, it was a roaring success, as about 80 kids turned out for the camp.)
But, Thaler also simply felt he should do it for the kids who wanted to come out.
"I made it free because I think that's the right thing to do for kids, for the school," Thaler said during Tuesday's session. "I think that if you're trying to grow the numbers in your sports, there's already a financial burden for a lot of kids because they're paying for everything. What better way to get more involvement for kids than just biting the cost of it and and making it free?
"That's the thing, it's about the kids...If you invest in the kids, your school is going to be that much better. You can see it. We've got 80 kids here. They're having fun. They're sweating. They're having a good time. That's a big thing. If you're trying to grow your numbers, I think that's the way to to do it."
There was skill work at the Montague camp, of course, but to keep the kids engaged, fun mini-games were part of the package. Last Tuesday's session ended with the group dividing into six groups and playing games of Knockout, the popular game where players try to hit a shot before the player ahead of them in line does so.
The huge turnout for the camp did create some challenges. No one who's around kids regularly needs to be told how difficult it is to corral that amount of them. Being around teenagers is both Thaler's and Ross' jobs, though, so they were able to handle it.
"It's just structure," Thaler said. "Kids nowadays, you've got to keep them moving because their attention spans are shorter. You've just got to keep them moving from task to task. Even with this many kids and the things that we're doing, it's challenging trying to talk over them and getting them to listen and engage in what you're doing. Those are things that we'll talk about to improve the flow as we develop this into bigger-picture ideas that we have for the entire basketball program."
There are plenty of summer opportunities to get better - at least, outside of MHSAA-mandated dead week, which happened to fall this week. Montague will certainly be availing itself of some of those opportunities. Thaler said, though, that as much as anything, teams can improve just by getting in the gym and being together.
"I think if you're worrying about what your record is in the summer, you're missing the boat," Thaler said. "It's more about just getting in the gym getting better, building a relationship with your kids, and going out and competing. You do those things, you're going to reap rewards come November and December, and into the later months. That's a big part of your team bonding and your team chemistry."
