MHS hosts Little Mustang Basketball Camp

The Malta Musang Basketball team held their annual basketball camp for students from third grade to eighth grade. The camp was held from Monday, June 29 through Wednesday, July 1.

The group was led by Malta High School Basketball Coaches and athletes, including Head Coach David Costin, and Assistant Coaches Travis Somerfeld and Zach Handley. The camp was also taught by Rocky Mountain College Hall of Famer Jake Stuart.

“It was nice to have Jake Stuart at camp,” Coach Somerfeld said. “Just like our Mustang athletes, Jake helped the camp be successful. Jake’s ability to teach to elementary/middle school kids makes him super valuable to our camp.”

Coach Somerfeld said that Stuart and Coach Costin took over the shooting portion of the camp and that he believed that there couldn’t be a better combination of jump shot teachers to help form Malta’s future basketball players.

The Mustangs hadn’t had a camp in several years and according to Coach Somerfeld, who is also the Malta High School Activities Director, the camp was Stuart’s idea.

“I told him I would start a camp only if he would be willing to help with the camp,” Coach Somerfeld said.

In addition to Stuart, and the Malta High School Basketball coaches, the campers also learned from Mustangs Kooper Oxarart and Connor Tuss.

“They played a huge roll in the success of the camp,” Coach Somerfeld said. “Most of our campers look up to our student-athletes and it is a big deal for them to be able to learn basketball from our Mustangs who they watch play.”

The camp focused on drills, fundamentals, and competing in games. Coach Somerfeld said that the main thing was that they wanted to give campers drills that they could practice at home.

“For example, shot form,” Coach Somerfeld said. “Coach Costin and Coach Stuart showed these kids simple shooting drills they should do every time they enter a gym or pick up a basketball. Some of those are as simple as laying down and shooting in the area.”

The group also worked on “Mustangs Ball Handling,” which is a technique that the high school team worked on every practice.

The days typically started with a 10 to 15-minute warmup that included agility drills. After warmups athletes broke up into two groups determined by age. There was a younger group and an older group.

“Coach Handley would take the younger kids while I would take the older kids,” Coach Somerfeld said. “Once we broke into groups we did some ball handling drills, shot form/footwork, and then we had 3 on 3 and 4 on 4 on 4 competition.”

Coach Somerfeld said that the younger campers participated in drills like Simon-says, sharks and minnows, and red light-green light; games to work on dribbling and agility. Camp days were ended with a game called lightning.

The camp winners included: Stockton Oxarart - Hot Shot Champion. Dawson Jones - Hot Shot Champion. 3 on 3 Champions Treyton Wilke, Laytin Erickson, Kazner Oxarart, and Michael Love. 3 on 3 (younger campers) Kolten Coil, Titus Wiederrick, and Beckett Squires. 4 on 4 on 4 Champions Treyton Wilke, Karter Jureka, Jake Brown, Sonny Gray, and Trevor Knowles. Elimination Dribble - Braelon Tatafu. Ultimate Lightning - Regan Stuart.

The Malta Mustangs have played in two tournaments this summer. The team went 2-2 at the Scobey Tournament and 4-0 at the Malta Tournament held on Saturday, June 27 through Sunday, June 28.

“We were pretty happy with our performance at the Malta Tournament,” Coach Somerfeld said.