Miles and Reed camp teaches basketball basics

   Classes no sooner ended than female athletes were back in the gymnasium at Caledonia-Mumford School for the weeklong Miles and Reed basketball camp. Basketball coaches Nelson Miles and Mike Reed organize and facilitate the camp.

   In its thirteenth year, the basketball camp offers a local and affordable opportunity to girls from fourth through eleventh grade to sharpen their skills. This year a total of 50 girls worked on the fundamentals of shooting, quick ball handling, defense, rebounding and overall knowledge of the game.

   Reed says the goal of the camp is to teach basketball and develop an interest in the sport among girls.

   "We like to run the camp in the first week of summer vacation so that they can take those skills and work on them all summer," Reed said.

   Skills camps are popular for athletes in every sport. Reed says they are important because it gives the coaches and athletes an opportunity to work in small groups, when they are not in season and without the stress of preparing for a game.

   "We teach them the skills and they practice them and compare themselves with the levels of other female athletes so they know what they have to spend time working on," explained Coach Reed.