Young basketball players will get a chance to sharpen their hoops skills with Northern New Mexico College players and coaches at a couple of upcoming camps.
Women’s coach Mandy Montoya’s camp runs July 21-22, with younger players ages 5-11 going in the morning and older ones ages 12-17 playing in the afternoon.
The camp run by men’s coach Mike Dominguez is in the morning on July 28-30 for second through eighth graders.
Instructional settings like these are important for the community because they help encourage young players to better their games while providing a summer outlet to keep them busy, Dominguez said.
“More than anything, it gets them in our gym, gets them around our guys, our players and promoting something that’s positive,” he said. “And it gives them something for them to do in the summer.”
Both coaches will use their current players to help run the sessions, which is a win-win situation.
For the Eagles players, it’s a chance to give back, and for the younger players, it’s an opportunity to get instruction from someone who not long ago was in their position.
“I think it gives them a different perspective,” Montoya said of the youngsters. “These are people like them or who went to school with them and they’ve taken advantage of basketball. It’s kind of a ‘Hey, I can do that, too,’ thing for them.”
And for her players, “They’re being able to give back and helping build the community,” she said. “Being a leader and being a good role model. It’s one thing to watch and learn, but it’s another thing to teach. The players being able to teach the younger generation; that’s an even bigger skill.”
Both camps will focus on fundamentals, the coaches said.
“For the younger group, a lot of fundamentals,” Montoya said. “Passing, dribbling. They’re still focusing on basic, foundational skills. For the older group, 12-17, still touching on fundamentals, but more challenging like working on their finishing, one on one. A lot more competitive stuff. Really building on their foundational skills. Understanding the reads and the plays.”
Because he was just recently hired, Dominguez said he wanted to start with a basic camp.
“More than anything, working on a lot of fundamental stuff,” he said. “We’ll have games and different activities. But the fundamentals of shooting, dribbling, working on their footwork. All the things kids that age could be doing on a daily basis. We’ll provide skills and drills they can also take home with them outside of camp. It’s something where we want them to get involved with and the earlier the better. Something they can continue to pursue and hopefully fall in love with as I did and other kids have done at these camps.”
Many of the newer men’s players like recent Española Valley High School grad Josiah Fresquez, as well as New Mexico Highlands University transfers TJ Sanchez out of Capital High School and, Ja’Kwan Hill out of Volcano Vista High School, in addition to Eagles veterans Jordan Duda and Adam Montoya, will be on hand to provide some tips.
“It’s good for them and at the same time, that’s our job,” Dominguez said. “Whether they like it or not, they get looked up to as role models. Basketball puts them in the forefront. There are kids watching and mimicking them, as well. We talk about it on a daily basis about doing the right things on and off the court.”
But interactive moments like this are good for the players and the community, he said.
“It’s our way to give back,” Dominguez said. “We want and expect people to come support us. So we have to do things for the community and get them involved and get them talking about Northern New Mexico basketball and camps are a great way to do that.”
Both camps are open to both boys and girls. For information about Montoya’s camp, email mandy.montoya@nnmc.edu and for Dominguez’s camp email mrdoming34@gmail.com