PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Lady Jets basketball program held its Youth Lady Jets Fundamental Camp with a record 33 campers in attendance under the direction of head coach Abbey Moore.
“This is the highest number I have had since I have been coaching here,” said fifth year Lady Jets varsity coach Abbey Moore. “I am extremely excited to see these young girls come in and have fun.”
“I’ve had parents sending me pictures of their little girls going home and practicing and that’s what it’s all about, Moore continued. “It is developing the excitement so that they want to go home and play. That is how they are going to get better. That is the first step and I think we were able to accomplish that this week. We are trying to develop our program and it’s working so far.”
The camp included incoming K-6 girls with a focus on respect, trust and what does it mean to be a good teammate.
“We started out every day writing on our whiteboard a focus of the day,” Moore said. “The first day our focus was ‘respect’. Our second day was ‘trust’ and our third day was ‘what does it mean to be a good teammate.’”
“All the girls had an opportunity to come up and write on the board what their thoughts were on that word.”
Coach Moore was assisted at the three day camp by her high school basketball players and coaching staff.
“I’m so proud of my high school girls,” Moore stated. “I couldn’t have done it without them. They were in charge, they taught the girls the fundamentals.”
“I was kind of just the overseer and they did the teaching,” added Moore. “It’s a great learning opportunity for them as well.”
“This is our fourth year and just being with coach this whole time – it’s just been a blast.” said Lady Jets senior Chloe Peters. “When I was younger we used to do these camps. Now we are seniors and it’s almost over so we get to enjoy being with them and teaching them.”
“It’s so much fun – they’re a blast to be around,” said FM senior Corina Conley. “They are always playing hard and they have so much energy. It’s just great to be around them. It makes me happy and I know it makes everybody else happy too.”
“It pleasures me,” said senior Belle Cable, “just to see the little girls out here working at the young age getting themselves ready for high school.”
Coach Moore is pleased to have a large high school facility to hold the annual girls basketball camp.
“It’s great we have the facility to accommodate the young kids,” Moore noted. “We brought in a smaller hoop and we were able to lower our rims in order for them to have success and make sure they keep the right form.”
Reagan Flora received the “Lady Jet” award, Sami Stull “Miss Sportsmanship” and Charlee Nicholson was named “Miss Hustle”.
