Archive: Sports

This summer two Recreation Department camps will teach Lansing kids fundamentals of soccer and basketball.  Led by Adam Heck, the camps run for one week each, using high school athletes as coaches and mentors to 4th through 10th graders.  "We're trying to teach all fundamentals," says Heck.  "We're trying to target the kids that are still in the early development stages and teach them about the game and give them the basic skills as they advance through their own development."

Heck started teaching the soccer camp ten years ago when it attracted 30 participants.  Now the camp averages 150 kids and Heck says there is room for more.  This will be his fourth year leading the basketball camp.  "I think this is a great way to get kids together to have fun, but at the same time learn," he says.

Heck recruits High School varsity and junior varsity players to coach the younger kids.  "They enjoy being on the other side as a coach," he says.  "That's important for their development, too, as they go through the stages of life.  I think sometimes the coaches enjoy it just as much as the kids.  That's one of the best parts."  About a half dozen coaches participate in basketball camp and about 15 in soccer.


"The kids come to our games and they see them play, and they don't get to interact with them.  When they are at camp they put a face and a personality to the person they saw play.  And what the high schoolers start to realize is these younger kids look up to them.  They're role models to some of these kids and they have an opportunity to work with them and give them a good, positive experience."

The two camps are structured similarly.  The day starts with a warm up, and then the kids are taught a fundamental skill in the larger group.  Then they break up into teams and their coach works with the kids to practice the skill they just learned.  Next they do "stations" in which each coach teaches a skill and the kids rotate among them.  "That's great," says Heck, "because the kids get the opportunity to learn from different coaches.  Finally they play a morning game.

After lunch the routine is repeated, except that the afternoon starts with a guest speaker.  Speakers have included college coaches and area college players.  The day ends with another game.  "We always try to end camp with games so when parents come they can watch their kids play," Heck explains.  He says the camps are a great deal, costing about half of similar sports camps.

Heck played soccer, basketball and baseball in Hamilton High School in Hamilton, New York.  He went on to Ithaca College, where he majored in physical education and he played baseball.  "I really spent my time concentrating on my major, because I knew my future was going to be coaching and teaching.  I worked hard on my academics, and looking back at that experience it really helped me grow as a teacher.  The program there is very good for phys. ed. and coaching.

He began coaching in his senior year in college, when he led Lansing's modified basketball team.  Rob Reakes, a childhood friend, called to alert him to an opening and he got the job.  "I'm real lucky he did that, because the following year I got the varsity boys soccer position."  He coached soccer and substitute taught for a year, and was a special education aide in Lansing Middle School for a year.  The next year he got a teaching job in the Elementary School, and then the Physical Education teaching job in the Middle School three years later.  "It worked out here and I enjoy it," he says.  "The kids are great."


On top of coaching three varsity teams, the two camps and coaching the Empire State Games boys soccer this summer, Heck recently got married.  He says his wife is supportive.  "Beth is great.  She understands and supports all the teams that I coach.  I'm real lucky."  Next year will be his tenth year coaching varsity soccer, and sixth year for basketball and softball.

"A lot of our success in the soccer program in the school has filtered down into the camp," Heck says.  "If they learn the game at a young age they're going to see the benefits down the road when they get into high school."  The Recreation Department and High School programs build on each other, giving kids a unified progression as they develop as athletes.  "The first group of kids I had at camp when they were in fourth grade was the team I had last year that went to the State Finals," Heck says.  "I think it certainly shows how they understood the program.  It was neat to see how they developed and it was great to have such a great end of the line with them.  It was remarkable."

Basketball camp is for boys and runs from July 31 through August 4, from 9am to 4pm.  Kids get a t-shirt and a new basketball.  Soccer camp, for boys and girls, will  be August 7 through 11, from 8:30am to 4:30pm.

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