Turning hoop dreams into reality

Details

Published on Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Montana Kinzel (on left, in grey hoodie) and Justus Alleyn (centre, in black hoodie), instruct one of the classes of youngsters, which participated in the High Performance Summer Basketball Camp. 

The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner

A basketball camp teaching the fundamentals of the game, with an emphasis on the fun, was recently held in Neepawa. The High Performance Summer Program was at the NACI gymnasium Aug. 15-19.

The week’s worth of training, coordinated through the Town of Neepawa, had just over 30 boys and girls between the ages 10 to 15 taking part. The camp featured a wide variety of shooting and team building exercises and was led by University of Manitoba athletes Montana Kinzel and Justus Alleyn.

Kinzel, who is entering her third year of eligibility with the U of M Bisons ladies basketball team, the week was a very positive experience. She noted that it was wonderful to see such passion for the game on a local level.

“It’s great to see the level of popularity of the game out here. There is lots of opportunity for youngsters to develop their skills and to come out to Neepawa and assist in honing those players, has been fantastic,” said Kinzel.

Alleyn meanwhile, is entering his fourth year as a member of the men’s Bison basketball team and has participated in coaching camps like this for several years. He said many of the students at the Neepawa camp  already had a strong foundation to build off of.

“There’s a lot of really good kids in the community that you can see, really have a love for the game,” noted Alleyn. “There is definitely some potential here. As the week progressed, as well, I could see many of the players taking the advice Montana [Kinzel] and I offered and adopting it into their game. It’s gratifying, on a personal level, to watch the youngsters improve and be excited about learning the fundamentals of the game.”