DIGBY, N.S. - Acadia University is teaming up with Subway to present a basketball camp at Digby Regional High School (DRHS) on Dec. 27.
Mike Bartlett is the clinic’s presenter, a Subway franchise owner in Digby and a former DRHS basketball coach. He said several Axemen and Axewomen players will be on hand to teach skills to local high-school players.
“What we do is we bring down four to five players – a couple of women and a couple of men,” said Bartlett. “We put on a clinic for the day and with Subway we do some fun awards, a skills competition and we do the best camper of the day.
“The players love it – both Acadia and the kids…They (Acadia) like to get out too because it’s Christmas break for them but they have to stay back to Acadia to practice so they can come down to Digby for the day and it’s kind of a break for them. And the kids learn a lot so it’s nice to have a different coach’s view and player’s view of the game.”
The camp, which starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m., is for both male and female players in Grades 7 to 12. A limit of 50 players will be accepted and the first 20 registered receive a backpack and water bottle.
The cost is $45 per player with lunch provided.
Bartlett said the hoops clinic is adding to a relationship Acadia has built in Digby in the recent past.
“We try to keep our ties close to Acadia. I started a few years back when I used to coach the high school team. So we used to have basketball camps and they’d come down and we’d go up.”
Last year, the Axemen and Axewomen played a double-header game in Digby against Mount Saint Vincent University out of Halifax. Bartlett said the local group that sold the most tickets to the game were rewarded with tickets to an Acadia game and that tradition continues this year.
“The group that sold the most basketball tickets, we sent them up to Acadia so that’s sort of become a tradition now. So, on Jan. 20, the girls junior team will go up to Acadia and they’ll do a little warm-up with the women, then they go in the locker-room with them, they hear the pre-game speech and half-time speech and we send them out to Subway for lunch.”
Bartlett said the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) players will teach some basic skills such as out-letting the ball and passing. Some of the more finely tuned details such as how to play proper defence will also be put on display.
“There’s a lot of defence because obviously a good defence leads to a good offence,” said Bartlett. “So the better defensive plays they can learn like rebounding, boxing out, and stuff like that are the most important things really.”
Bartlett said of the 50 spots available, about half have already been filled. Pre registration and payment are required for the hoops camp. To register, contact Bartlett at 902-247-3966 or email: [email protected].
