- November 25, 2024
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For five years, Flagler Palm Coast girls basketball coach Javier Bevacqua has spent a week in June to teach the basic basketball skills and fundamentals to a crop of second- through sixth-grade hoops enthusiasts.
The benefit of the camp goes way beyond helping younger players understand the basics to the game, Bevacqua said.
It’s a requirement for his high school players to help coach in the camp. It provides the high school players with a sense of responsibility. It also lets them see the other side of the coin — being coaches instead of players.
“A lot of our alumni want to be coaches,” Bevacqua said Thursday.
The camp ran 9 a.m. 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a campwide tournament on Friday to close out the week.
There were 88 campers this year, which is down a bit from last year. Still, the best part about the camp, Bevacqua said, is seeing players who participated in the camp years ago continue to get better at the game.
“I love seeing the development and improvement,” he said.
Many of the players who have come through the Flagler Palm Coast Lady Bulldogs Basketball Camp have gone on to play travel ball in middle school as well as at the high school level.
Next week, Bevacqua will hold an elite camp, which will be for sixth- through 10th-grade players. Rather than fundamentals and drills, most of the camp will be spent learning offensive and defense strategies.
Those strategies will then be implemented in several small-sided games.
So far, about 50 campers are registered for the elite camp, which will run 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday, at Flagler Palm Coast High School.
There will be registration Monday morning before camp begins. For more information, call Bevacqua at 503-9443.