The fifth annual Nike Boys Basketball Camp closed Friday after five days of skills training at Hot Springs World Class High School's Trojan Fieldhouse.
Previous Nike camps in Hot Springs were held at the Lakeside Athletic Complex, but Micah Marsh, Arkansas director of camps and skills training for Nike Elite Hoops Basketball, reached out to Hot Springs Athletic Director Rodney Echols this summer about changing the host site due to a scheduling conflict.
Echols became athletic director in the spring after four consecutive appearances in the Class 5A boys' state semifinals with the Trojans. He was succeeded as head coach of the boys' team at Hot Springs by assistant coach Antoni Lasker.
"Hot Springs always has good kids, and we came to Hot Springs' high school with nice facilities," Marsh said. "It was a chance for coach Echols and coach Lasker to get some of their former players in to come back and work with some of the kids here.
"And that is what it is all about. Those kids went to camps, too, and now they get to give their love of basketball to the younger generation."
Marsh said the division Most Valuable Players from the camp receive an automatic invitation to later camp to be held in Atlanta during Labor Day weekend.
The camp MVPs were Daeton Miller, Justin Carter, and Bo Batchelor and Ty Braziel, who were co-MVPs for their division.
"It's a good, organized camp," Marsh said. "Nike does everything right. It is sponsored well and everything is ran well.
"I used to love camps when I was young. I used to work on them and I used to go to any of them I could. So, now it is time for me to give back and enjoy some camps myself."
The camp focused on individual skill development with three morning stations for individual skill development, 3-on-3 Elite League and classroom/video. All participants were evaluated and split into smaller groups, according to age and ability.
Campers received shirts, prizes, a skill workbook, certificates and their handwritten evaluations from the Elite Hoops staff. Additional awards were presented on Friday.
Parker Bickerstaff and James Billingsley won the coaches' awards for their divisions. The coaches of Jonas Hernandez's division presented him with the hustle award.
Marsh said about 15-20 participants will receive invitations to the inaugural Elite Hoops Basketball Arkansas Invite Camp to be held Aug. 11-12 at Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock, where Marsh is head coach of the boys' team. He was a four-year starter at Arkansas State in Jonesboro and ranks second all-time in career 3-pointers for the Red Wolves.
The Invite Camp will include players invited from other camps held this summer in northwest Arkansas and central Arkansas.
Hernandez, Braziel and Alex Rocha won their division awards for the switch cone slides. The figure eight awards were presented to Braziel, Austin Hale and Noah Lyles.
The awards for cone layups were presented to Hernandez, Taylor Willis and Blake McLelland. Hernandez, Willy Wolcott and Billingsley received their division awards for hot shot.
Sports on 07/21/2018