Two days of youth basketball in Mitchell to kick off the summer activities!
The Kernels held their 36th Annual Kernel Basketball Camp and Dakota Wesleyan held their Youth Camp on the 27th & 28th of May. Camps included kids K-6th grade for DWU and K-8th grade for Mitchell with quality attendance for both camps. Kids were taught a variety of skills based on their age/skill levels while following a mostly similar format the coaches and players have utilized over the years.
Mitchell
“Kernel Camp is always one of our highlights of the summer,” Head Boys Basketball Coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt said. “ESPECIALLY with our new gym in the air conditioning. At the older levels, we focus primarily on giving kids drills they can do outside of camp to continue to improve. We play a ton of small-sided games working at 1v1 and 2v2 situations.”
This is the first year of the Kernel Camp in the brand-new Mitchell high school gym in which athletic events had just begun being held in this school year. It’s notable how much the coaches and players really appreciate the new facilities and utilize them any chance they get. With this being the first year hosted in this new gym and they strong reputation the camp holds, it’s no surprise the parents got their kiddos signed up. It is the first of two of this same camp this summer.
“We had 92 total campers which is on par with what we have had in recent years,” Kreutzfeldt said. “Our all-time best since I’ve been coaching was 127 campers.”
In addition to the coaches there for camp, it also featured some Kernel varsity basketball players as well. It’s something Coach Kreutzfeldt makes sure to involve his players in every year.
“We ask our older guys to help us out, ” Kreutzfeldt said. “This year we had Collin Weier, Owen Raml, Lincoln Bottum, Kyson Herrmann, Owen Schelske, Lawson LeBrun, and Ethan Plamp. They all assist in running individual drills at separate hoops and did a great job this year!”
Dakota Wesleyan
“First session we had grades 3rd-6th and we had about 20-22 kids,” Dakota Wesleyan Head Women’s Basketball Coach Jason Christensen said. “In this (other) session we had I think 12-15 kids, and this was our K-2nd.”
Christensen has been at the helm for over 15 years at DWU and is no stranger to running these camps. Doing them aside his long-time Associate Head Coach, Celeste Beck.
The younger group at camp was primarily being introduced to the game of basketball by the coaches and learning the basics since there’s not a lot of camps for kids 2nd grade or earlier. Ever since hearing that from former Head Boys Basketball Coach in Mitchell, Gary Munsen, that “everything started in third grade” he’s taken it upon himself to change that.
“There’s not a lot of camps for K-2nd grade,” Christensen said. “So, we started a K-2nd group, and I’ve just carried it on since I’ve been at Dakota Wesleyan.”
For a look at the rest of the camps in store for the Mitchell Kernels and Dakota Wesleyan Tigers, CLICK HERE.