Española Valley girls basketball coach Ron Drake had taken teams from Immaculatta High School in New Jersey, where he started his coaching career, and Santa Fe High School to Sylvia Hatchell’s basketball camp at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Hatchell is the women’s basketball coach at North Carolina.
“When I was at Immaculatta, I researched camps and on paper they looked like the best,” Drake said. “I found out it was the best.”
This year, he made his 14th trip July 9 to 18 to the camp. It his first with the Española Valley High School girls basketball team.
Drake took a total of 17 players, 14 from Española and three from Santa Fe High School. The three Santa Fe players were added to the roster because a coach needs to bring two teams of eight players each.
One of those players was Española junior Nisa Duran, who will be returning to the team after being suspended for the second half of last season.
“It was really fun,” Duran said. “We played a lot of tall teams and at first we were really scared, but then we started playing together, got our confidence and started winning.”
Drake reported that his team lost their first two games, but won their next eight. They played teams from New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.
“You get to see teams from all over the country,” he said.
Duran said she’d learned skills that she hadn’t at other camps.
“They taught us how to box out against taller people and move around the ball to get the open person,” she said.
Duran said the team grew closer and communicated better thanks to the camp.
“We used to be really quiet on the court,” Duran said. “Now we are talking more on the court and when we cut to the basket we tell each other about it.”
Drake, suffering from two broken bones in his right foot, had to wear a boot while attending the camp. He said the team flew into Baltimore, Md., and rented three vans for the drive to Chapel Hill.
“It was a great experience,” Drake said. “We were the only team from New Mexico there.”
The team made stops at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., and caught a major league baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers before returning to New Mexico.
“We show them different places and they get to see a lot of things,” Drake said.
Duran was impressed with what she saw.
“They have more things to do than we do here,” she said.
Drake said the trip was one of the best that he’s had to Chapel Hill.
“The girls were great,” He said.
Drake is optimistic about the upcoming season and now that he’s back in New Mexico reports he’s getting as many as 32 players attending open gym during the summer.
“I’m real happy with that,” he said.
Drake led the Sundevils to the state tournament last season, one year after the Sundevils failed to win a game in his first season.