Varsity Basketball Coach Paul Marfia was a busy man towards the end of last year.
Between getting his team ready for the upcoming season and grading papers in his social studies classroom, he found time to put on a basketball camp for kindergarten through eighth graders on Saturdays in November and December.
Overall, he had 71 kids participate in the camps. For those who participated, they received a T-shirt and opportunities to play at halftime of home games in December.
‘I think there is a big need to get introduced to the game of basketball,? said Marfia. ‘I also think there is a big need for us to teach them the fundamentals, and you can never start early enough.?
He noted that all of the skilled players that are seen started early with the fundamentals and worked their way up from there.
‘You have to lay that foundation. In order to have a solid structure you have to have a good foundation, and that’s where we start,? he added.
For three weeks, he had the kids work on their dribbling skills and techniques, lay-ups, proper techniques for holding basketballs and shooting.
When they progressed from that, he started to incorporate some defense schemes and pick-and-rolls.
Players from the Freshman, JV, and Varsity basketball teams, as well as Freshman Coach Andrew Rowley and JV Coach Jeremy LaValley helped instruct and coach the stations that Marfia set up.
‘I look at it as a K-12 program. We’re all one Oxford and we’re all one school. We’re trying to get one program, one vision, one idea of how we want to play basketball and get that incorporated into K-12,? said Marfia.
The next camp will be held in June and will be open to anyone in grades K-12. The date and cost have yet to be determined.
Marfia hopes the number for the summer camp is doubled from the winter one.
‘We’re very optimistic that we can make it grow. It was a great start for us. It was something that the previous coach, Steve Laidlaw, put a lot of time into getting started and we’re continuing that,? he added.
For further information, please contact Coach Marfia via e-mail at paul.marfia@oxfordschools.org.