2009 Hoops On The Rez

We continue to always be amazed at the many ways in which God works through this outreach. The camp was held July 6-9 this year. This was an exceptional year! Every year we fine-tune this camp because of the experiences we have learned over the years. As we began to meet about this years camp we decided to push ourselves a little and add a camp specifically for 9-11 year olds and organized activities at The Kennel in the evening. This meant that we would be having a Jr. High camp in the morning, a Sr. High camp in the afternoon at the Chief Alchesay Activity Center, an elementary camp in the afternoon at Alchesay High School, and evening contests. None of this could have been possible without great leadership. This year Brian Bechtel (Goshen, IN) directed the elementary camp, Jake Deer (Kissimmee, FL) directed the Jr. High camp, Jon Everingham (Waterloo, IN) directed the Sr. High camp, and Kristyn Richardson (Columbus, OH) directed the nightly activities. These guys are veterans of the HOTR basketball camp, each having more than 3 years experience. And just like all of the AYM programs, our strength is our staff and their desire to build a meaningful relationship to share Christ's love with students.

This year we had over 30 staff to take care of the 120+ basketball campers. Daily activities included: station drills, shooting drills, dribbling contests, one-on-one moves, league and tournament play, and devotions. Pastor Ross Runnels, of Canoe Creek Christian Church, did an excellent job in leading the staff in devotions and preparing the daily devos for the students. Ross would also sit down the students in the evening for a brief time of teaching. Evening activities included a hot-shot contest, knock-out contest, 3 on 3 contests, etc. Every night The Kennel would be packed with students that would come back. Thursday night capped off a great week by playing the championship game, from the Sr. High basketball camp, under the lights at the Kennel!

This week of camp continues to be a meaningful part of the summer for both the Apache youth that we serve and all of the players and coaches that come in to pull it all off.