North Country Basketball Camp

In its third edition, the annual North Country Basketball Camp hosted plenty of talented coaches and athletes from all over Montana.

There were 78 campers present over the four day event which started on Monday, July 24 and concluded on Thursday, July 27.

"We are up about four or five kids from last year," Whitewater Schools Superintendent and Camp Counselor Darren Cummings said. "We've got kids from Turner, we have kids from Froid, kids from Belgrade, Kalispell and Harlowton. They are coming from all over Malta, Whitewater, Saco and Hinsdale."

The event featured many former local standouts as coaches including current Lady Mavericks coaches Amber Erickson and Charlene Wasson. Former Mustang standout and current Montana State University Billings guard Kendall Denham was also coaching at the event. Former M-ette and Lady Griz standout Linda (Cummings) Hudyma was also present. Former Whitewater standout and current Rocky Mountain Track athlete Kourtney Simonson was present.

Sophia Stiles, a recent Malta graduate and Lady Griz guard was present to coach alongside former Lady Maverick and recent Whitewater graduate Kayleigh Cummings.

Counselor Cummings was excited about the variety of collegiate athletes from different classifications that were coaching at camp.

"We have got two NCAA- Division II athletes coaching from MSU-B," Cummings said. "We have got NAIA. These guys are getting coached by a lot of years of college experienced players, which is pretty impressive. I have said to people all over, I would put our coaching staff up against any camp that's running in the state of Montana."

Coach Erickson was confident that camp was going good after a couple of days.

"Camp is going really good," Coach Erickson said. "We have got a lot of great kids here. We have about 34 in the morning and 34-35 in the afternoon. We have kids from all over Phillips County and kids from as far as Kalispell and Belgrade. It's fun to have them come up to Whitewater for this camp."

The camp taught the attending students drills that focused not only on the basics but ways to improve upon those basic skills.

"We are doing a lot of individual drills," Cummings said. "We are doing a lot of individual drills that work on guard and post play."

The camp featured several competitions including one on one, three on three, five on five, free throw and hot shot. The camp also had a dribbling competition that was more than simply dribbling a ball from point A to point B.

"It's a dribbling contest drill, where they will start at one end and they dribble down while knocking cones over on their way down," Cummings said. "On their way back, they have to set the cone back on the marker and they get a time at the end of it."

Upon seeing this drill at another camp and needing a ball handling drill, the coaches made a few changes and made it their own.

"It's something new that none of us has ever seen," Cummings said. "So far there has been a pretty good response with the kids. It gives that point guard, who may not be the best shooter in the world, a competition that they can be good at."

The age groups were fourth through seventh grade in the a.m. session and eighth grade through twelfth grade in the afternoon session.

"The thing that's really cool about this camp is that its three hours for each age group, so we try to get some instructional time in there, teaching basic skills but we also try to do a lot of competitions as far as games and things like that."

The young campers were separated by grade and gender, pinning fourth and fifth grade together and sixth and seventh together.

"We will start the (younger) kids at ground zero with some of this stuff," Cummings said. "Some of these kids have never really played much and others are very experienced."

There was no separation in the eighth through high school group.

"We told the eighth graders when we started that they would have to go against the older kids and that's how it is. I think it has made them better and they will continue to get better," Cummings said.

He added that another benefit of having eighth graders with the high schoolers was that many smaller schools use eighth graders on their team rosters.

Award Winners:

High School – 1 on 1: Madison Wasson, Chris DePuydt. Dribbling Cone Contest: Sarah Billmayer, Cody Welsh. Hot Shot: Madison Wasson, Trace Simonson. Free Throws: Madison Wasson, Trace Simonson. 5 on 5 (girls): Madison Wasson, Bailey Funk, Sarah Boucher, Jaydyn Erickson, Brooke Reed. 3 on 3 (boys): Trace Simonson, Connor Tuss, Dallon Messerly, Trey Johnson.

4th through 5th Grade – 1 on 1: Shelby LaBrie, Dawson Hammond. Dribbling Cone Contest: Charlotte Osler, Connor Hudyma. Hot Shot: Shelby LaBrie, Connor Hudyma. Free Throws: Shelby LaBrie, Carson Maloney.

6th through 7th Grade – 1 on 1: Teagan Erickson, Jared Eggebrecht. Dribbling Cone Contest: McKenna Morris, River Wasson. Hot Shot: Addy Anderson, River Wasson. Free Throws: Paige Wasson, Carson Ottinger.

5 on 5; 4th through 7th (Girls) – Teagan Erickson, Kendra Cummings, Baylee Brockman, McKenna Morris, Kennedy Simonson.

3 on 3; 4th through 7th (Boys) – Jared Eggebrecht, Connor Hudyma, Carson Maloney.