Hodag Hoops Camp sees record turnout

There were almost more fourth, fifth and sixth graders than Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens had room for Monday morning when his annual Hodag Hoops Camp commenced. 

Bolstered by a strong local turnout, the annual camp posted record numbers this week. Lemmens estimated roughly 150 players turned out for the four-day event, which was split into sections for players in grades 7-9, grades 4-6 and grades 1-3.

There were more than 60 kids in the morning section alone, which had Lemmens looking for additional court space at James Williams Middle School to accommodate all the games that are played toward the end of each camp session.

“That’s a good problem to have, I think,” Lemmens said Monday. “Really great numbers. It’s great to see that parents are getting the kids involved. Once kids get here, I think they always have a great time. I’m hoping it just continues to grow.” 

Lemmens attributed the uptick to the overall enthusiasm surrounding Hodag basketball given some recent successes. The RHS boys won a share of the Great Northern Conference last year while the Hodag girls placed second in the conference and posted their fifth winning record in the last five seasons.

“I think we’ve got some strong classes. We also have some girls’ coming. That helps with the numbers,” Lemmens said. “We don’t have as many out-of-towners, but we’ve made up for it in Hodags. I think people in the Little Dribblers (youth) program have had a good time, we’ve been able to communicate better and people are just getting involved.”

The camp was led by Lemmens, members of his coaching staff and guest coaches. According to Lemmens, the primary focus of the camp is skill development and increased player enjoyment. 

Players in the two oldest groups spent the week participating in a variety of drills in contest designed to build skills on and off the court and competed in week-long 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 tournaments where they could put their skills to the test. 

That was followed by the session for early-elementary aged students, which involved introducing the fundamental skills of the game.

“We want to teach the basics of the game so they can walk away and they can build on those things on their own, while also getting them opportunities to play, compete and have fun and just start to love the game of basketball,” Lemmens said.

A number of current RHS boys’ basketball players assisted the coaches as instructors this week, which Lemmens said is an added bonus for the campers. 

“We’ve got some really special high school classes in terms of just wanting to be involved with the youth,” he said. “These guys do a great job. They show up and they work hard. It’s awesome because this really motivates and inspires these kids to see these high school guys and watch them, work with them. This is an exciting opportunity.”

As for Lemmens’ high school squad, the Hodags are entering the season as defending conference champions for the first time since 2018 — after splitting the GNC crown with Mosinee last winter. Though the Hodags lost a number of key pieces from that squad, including GNC first-teamer and leading scorer Will Gretzinger, the team has a number of starters and rotational players returning while much of the rest of the conference will contend with significant turnover following graduation. 

Lemmens said the key — as was evident went the team went 5-5 this summer during the Wausau League — is making sure those pieces fit together in a cohesive manner next winter.

“If I was to use an analogy, I think we have all the ingredients, we just haven’t figured out (how they go together),” he said. “Making a cake, you just can’t put the ingredients together. It’s got to bake and there’s other pieces that bring that final product together. I think, right now, we’re missing some of that. We were 5-5 in the Wausau League. We’re losing a lot of close games. We have the talent to compete, we just don’t always have the killer edge to put teams away. Those are things we’ve got to develop and perfect.

“In conference, every team’s going to be gunning for us and our non-con, I like that schedule as well. We’ve got opportunities to get better and I’m excited for the next few years and what we can do, if we put all these pieces together.”

Winning teams from this week’s tournament sessions at Hodag Hoops Camp will be published in a future edition of the River News.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].