Whew!! 49 junior athletes and 11 coaches and a few chaperones! Then add 12 coaches of local high schools..put them together and we have the Scholastic Elite Camp 2024 version!
Once a year I run a huge Elite Camp. For over 45 years that camp consisted of players of all ages. Recently we have landed in St Louis, and yours truly has never been happier running a camp! It all starts with the MOHSRA, the Missouri High School Racquetball Association. The club teams, the volunteer coaches, and people are in racquetball to give back to our great game. Thomas Carter, Dan Whitley, Stephen Deves, Shari Kopan, Tyler Breaden and former young high school players, help us coach up the kids and work with parents and coaches.
The level of play in this camp was considerably higher than last year! The coaches and kids are hungry to learn! My days started at 5am when I published the tip of the day something like I am doing now!
Then we (Instructors and I) would go over the outline for the day. It went something like this:
Monday-forehand, backhand, drive serve, footwork
Tuesday–photos, more serves, lob serves, z serves and specialty serves, forehand, backhand and footwork
Wednesday-doubles, forehand, backhand, serves, return of serve, positioning, shot selection, footwork
Thursday-sports psychology, Nutrition, strength training, footwork, forehand and backhand
Friday-tournament day–play away for the day!!!
Dan Whitley, Stephen Deves, Manny Rodriquez, Tyler Breaden, Ryan Sanner, Shai Coplen, Mark Sikorski, Edwin Miller, Jonathan Greenburg, Thomas Carter, and yours truly round out a field of coaches. We get to work with all of the kids and that is so cool!!
Special mention here goes to a talent on the rise! Ellen Williams is our camp administrator and she does an outstanding job! Look for some photo dumps coming up in the days to follow from us with Ellen’s watermark on the photos! Big thanks to Ellen and the entire Williams family!!
So we hit the trail and said goodbye on Friday and Thank the racquetball community of St Louis!
We look forward to watching the excitement of these kids in the upcoming competitions!
Big thanks to Vetta Concord club, MOHSRA, and our coaches.
Look for award photos coming-courtesy of Pro Kennex and Boyer Design! Pro Kennex is our proud sponsor and thank you Mike Martinez for your support!!
Until next year,
Onward and upward!!!
