PIQUA – Thirty of the area’s rising middle school girls basketball players, including several from Darke County, took part in the Dabbelt Report Edison State Skills Clinic on June 26 at Edison State College in Piqua. Longtime girls basketball writer and promoter Jim Dabbelt hosted the event, and it brought together players from all across the Miami Valley and beyond with the main focus being on strengthening the skillset of the players and help prepare them for the next stage of their career, whether that be in middle school or even at the high school level.
“The event went smoothly, and I am really happy to be able to bring this kind of event to a group of young ladies who truly wanted to get better and learn about the game,” Dabbelt said, who will be entering his 41st season in the girls basketball world this winter. Dabbelt, a former Pitsburg resident, credited a former Franklin Monroe Jet along with a former high school classmate for making this event come to life.
“A friend from my Darke County days Kate (Sease) Mead and I have been talking about ways to help promote her daughters 2030 class as the talent is at a high level, so it was time for me to put together an event for the middle school players,” Dabbelt said, who had never hosted an event for players below the high school level. The two reconnected nearly 30 years after Mead played for Dabbelt’s summer team and graduated from Franklin Monroe in 1998, and the idea was born.
“Also, a high school classmate of mine from Tipp City Diahann (Hughes) Blair has a daughter in the same class so we all talked about this event for the future players of the game and it came to life,” Dabbelt said.
The camp had nearly three hours of skill development from two former college players and a recent all-Ohio player. Danie Shafer, who played six years of professional basketball overseas joined former college player/coach Bri Kreider along with recent Mississinawa Valley all-Ohio graduate Taylee Woodbury to put the players through several stations of development. Shafer is also connected to Darke County as her family owns the renovated Tin Roof Tavern in Pitsburg. She currently owns DS3 Performance, which is a basketball training business, while Kreider created Bitty Ballers, introducing basketball to kids ages 3-7. Woodbury, who earned numerous Player of the Year honors at Mississinawa Valley, heads to Georgetown College in the fall to begin her college basketball career.
“Those three were so instrumental in today’s success,” Dabbelt said. “I think it is important for the former players to give back to the next generation of talent and I think all of the girls learned about the game today.”
Six players from Darke County took part in this event including Kallie Wilcox, Katie Barger and Kruz Mead from Tri Village, Tienna Woodbury from Mississinawa Valley, Peyton Kerns of Greenville and Zoie Partin of Ansonia.
The girls also played two hours at the end of camp with several showing a lot of promise.
“It was impressive how good these kids are,” Dabbelt said. “When you think about the average middle school player, these young ladies were far from average. Doug (Martin, Edison State assistant coach) and I were talking about the high skill level in the gym.
The youngest player was in the 2032 class with the majority coming from the 2031 and 2030 classes. There were also a small number of incoming freshman 2029 players there.
“Those young players didn’t back down to the older players,” Dabbelt added. “Elise Clark is a 2032 from just south of Fort Wayne and she is not your average sixth grader. She was among the best kids there and I haven’t seen a kid that age with so much skill in a long time.”
Dabbelt’s goal was to provide an affordable, high-level camp to highlight area talent that many would pay twice as much at other camps and given the successful event he hopes to continue this in the future.
