Joe Haefner’s Response:

Great question, Jon

First, it really depends on the age level, skill level, and what you are looking for. If the player is entering 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, your best bets are the Essential Youth Skills & Decision Making Camps and the Shooting, Ball Handling & Finishing Camps. You can send to one or both. They complement each other.

If they are older in the 7th grade to 12th grade range, the Shooting, Ball Handling & Finishing Camps and Elite Guard Camps are two great options.

Here’s why...

Essential Youth Skills & Decision Making Camps
If you want to develop the essential dribble moves and skills while developing your overall game, this is a great camp for you. It’s everything you would want a youth player to practice to become a well-rounded basketball player. Some parents will send their players to this camp for three or four years in a row. It’s for athletes entering 4th to 9th grades.

Shooting, Ball Handling & Finishing Camps
This camp covers foundational to advanced dribbling moves and skills. So it spends more time on dribbling and ball handling than the Essential Youth Skills camp. Additionally, this is mostly 1v1 ball handling, shooting, and scoring skills. So if you need to focus on developing better dribbling skills, dribble moves, and 1v1 attack skills, this is ideal for you.

Since this camp is focused on 1v1 skills, a wide range of ages can benefit from this camp. That’s because you only need one other person to compete against in the 1v1 drills. Skill levels & age levels are broken up into separate baskets.

Elite Guard Camps (Not just for Guards!)
This is definitely not for beginners. This is for someone who wants to develop elite level ball handling skills and playmaking ability. In addition to improving your ball skills, you also spend a lot of time learning how to play in a team setting. There are a lot of 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 drills. You learn how to pass, play in the pick and roll, handle the fast break, play lockdown defense, and much more.

You also learn essential leadership qualities and other intangibles that will set you apart. This is for 7th to 12th graders. And it’s NOT just for guards. It’s for every position of player as the skills that you learn are universally beneficial to all players.