GREENVILLE – The Greenville Lady Wave Basketball program, under the direction of veteran head coach Rachael Kerns, completed its annual Lady Wave Basketball Camp.
“It’s exhausting and fun, but it’s a well-oiled machine,” said Kerns following the successful camp. “Each year gets a little bit easier. The days right before are a little stressful, but once camp starts, my high school girls take over, and it runs so well.”
The three-day camp combined offensive and defensive drills and multiple competitions, providing an opportunity to acquire knowledge of the game of basketball and develop basic skills and fundamentals.
Coach Kerns noted that the camp teaches very basic fundamentals, such as jump stops, pivots, triple thread, bounce passes, chest passes, and defense.
The three-day girls’ camp is divided into two groups: a two-hour morning session for incoming 5th—8th grade and an hour-and-a-half afternoon group of incoming K—4th-grade girls.
“The reality is, I’m a mom, I’m a wife, we’re busy, so is everybody else,” Kerns said of limiting the camp to three days. “Three days seems to be that perfect amount of time. We get them in here, we don’t drag it out too long, it keeps them excited.”
Coach Kerns was assisted by many of her junior high and high school coaching staff and the Lady Wave high school basketball players from 9th through 12th grade.
“My high school and junior high staff are incredible,” said Coach Kerns. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without their support.”
“We had between 23 and 25 different high schoolers here throughout some point this week,” Kerns said. “That’s a lot of me to ask of them, but it says many of the girls I have in my high school program are willing to spend their time here, too.”
The basketball camp closes with awards, a free T-shirt, and basketball, attracting campers from many Darke County schools.
“The biggest compliment we get is when kids come one year, and they choose to return the next year,” Coach Kerns stated. “We had kids from about every county school here this year and it’s fun to see, they get excited, they want to come back.”
“So many of our campers this year are repeat kids, and that tells us we’re doing things the right way,” Kerns concluded.
