As summer comes to an end and the school year begins, Wrangell youth will have the opportunity to brush up on their basketball skills during the first weekend in September.
Team Wrangell of the Amateur Athletic Union is sponsoring a three-day basketball skills development clinic for grades 8 through 12, Friday through Sunday, Sept. 6-8, at the high school. Walk-in registration is set for 3:45 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 6 at the high school gym. Coaches and parents are invited to attend. Athletic clothing, water bottle and clean gym shoes are required.
There will be a $50 fee, but scholarships will be available.
Mark Cascio of SAVI Coaching will lead the sessions. Based in Chandler, Arizona, the company hosts basketball camps and clinics across the country. According to Cascio’s biography, he has 18 years of experience, including 12 consecutive winning seasons as a high school basketball coach in Louisiana. His teams made it to the state Final Four a total of five times, winning the state championship in 2012.
“We normally sponsor at least one clinic in the fall, either at the very beginning of school or right before it starts, just so we can get as many kids as we can because a lot of kids work in the summertime,” said AAU organizer and middle school basketball coach Penny Allen.
The sessions are planned for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 9 a.m. to noon Sunday, Sept. 8.
For more information, call Allen at 907-305-0910 or fellow organizer and varsity girls basketball head coach Christina Good at 707-779-9505.
Good said SAVI’s name is an acronym of its core principles: simplicity wins, adversity strengthens, victory is defined, and identity commits.
Previous such events in Wrangell, such as PGC (point guard camp) basketball, have been coached by SAVI founder Tyler Coston, but he was unavailable and endorsed Cascio to serve as coach. It will be Cascio’s first time in Wrangell.
Good said she and Allen want this clinic to be more thorough than prior ones, for the kids to focus and develop the basic concepts and skills of the game. That will include sit-down classes in addition to on-the-court drills.
Allen thinks the clinics are good for players as well as coaches. “The kids get different perspectives on things,” she said. “Your regular coach can tell you a hundred times that they want you to do things a certain way, but … sometimes it makes a difference, more of an impact when somebody else says the same thing.”
“This all would not be possible if it had not been for Penny Allen and the AAU program,” Good said, adding that Allen has come through every year that Good has requested financial support for basketball camps or clinics.
Good said all proceeds from the event will go toward AAU sports team fundraising.
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest nonprofit sporting organizations in the world.
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