ARCANUM – During the Future Stars Basketball Mini-Camps, Arcanum boys basketball coach Marcus Bixler hopes the Trojans laid the foundation for the future of their program.
Arcanum had 24 boys in the fourth through sixth grades attend the camps, which included two days of ball handling and two days of shooting.
“They did a great job,” Bixler said. “It’s amazing to see the progress. We did two days of specializing with nothing but ball handling on Monday and Tuesday and the last two days did nothing but shooting. You see a lot of kids get better, and I was real pleased. I thought our older kids, sixth grade, did some things that they need to be able to do as they get closer to junior high.”
During the four days of camp Bixler and his staff used the same techniques and terminology to teach the young boys as they do their high school players.
“We work hard,” Bixler said. “We make sure they have all the information they need in terms of what we talked about so when we talk about shooting it’s the same terminology all the way through.”
Giving the boys an opportunity to learn what Arcanum expects and how it runs its program makes the transition easier when they get into junior high and high school.
“It makes a huge difference, and it just makes it easier for us as they continue on down the path,” Bixler said. “You hope they start learning that and they can take some of those small things and progress with them as they move on.”
Along with Bixler and his assistant coaches, members of Arcanum’s high school boys basketball team also helped lead the camp.
“Our high school guys do a good job,” Bixler said. “We’ve still got weightlifting and all that stuff that goes on in the morning so they do a good job of rotating in here and making sure we have guys cover. They respond well with the kids, and it’s important for them because these kids know them by name. They’re going to recognize them Fridays and Saturdays all winter long so it’s important these guys get in here, and they do; they do a really good job of it.”
