PLEASANT HILL – The Newton Indians boys’ basketball program held its 2025 Newton Boys’ Basketball Skills Camp, with more than 75 campers attending, under the direction of Coach Michael Cantrell and assisted by the Newton High School boys’ basketball players.
“It was a great week for Newton Indians Basketball,” said Coach Cantrell. “This camp was a huge success. We had a lot of buy-in from our community, school, and staff.”
“It is great to see when our elementary kids see the high school players in the hallways at school, and they remember them from camp, because of the relationships built during the week of camp,” Cantrell added. “That, in my mind, is what it is all about.”
The three-day camp included boys entering second through eighth grade, comprising two sessions: a morning session for 2nd-4th grade and an afternoon session for boys in 5th–8th grade, with a camp motto: “HUSTLE.” SCRAP. FIGHT. WIN!
“We really do have something special going on over here,” Cantrell stated. “I am very proud of our high school kids and our staff for doing such a phenomenal job with our camp. They have done some impressive teaching and had great interaction with our campers. This is three years in a row where our program has grown as a whole from Kindergarten all the way through the senior group.”
All players had the opportunity to engage in competitive drills/games and improve their skills, with each participant receiving a t-shirt and a basketball.
“We worked on all aspects in the game, shooting, passing, ball handling, defending, decision making, etc,” Cantrell noted. “We try not to run ‘drills to run drills’.”
“We want kids to learn how to react, make decisions, all through different methods and styles of play,” Cantrell continued. “We want to put constraints in our drills and activities, make players think the game and react, rather than being told what to do and where to go. It is all about building the desired skills and IQ of the game. We do a lot of Small Sided Games with 1v1, 1v2, 2v2, 2v3 to put kids in situations where they must react on what the “other team gives you”. We give different instructions and constraints/limitations based upon what our desired outcomes are for the ‘game’.”
Coach Cantrell took time to thank the camp sponsor, Paul Sherry Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.
“I would like to thank our camp sponsor, Paul Sherry Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram,” said Coach Cantrell. “Mr. Jim Sherry has sponsored our camps for two years in a row, and we are very thankful.”
