HARLINGEN — On Thursday, Harlingen High played host to the Ultimate Champion Nike Sports Camp for a third straight year.
The camp for children from the elementary level to the junior high level was led by Nicholas Noel the past four days. The camp provided a variety of drills from offense to defense and different techniques.
“This was a four-day camp we had with the kids,” Noel said. “We taught the kids different drills and skills, and did different team drills to help teach the kids how to work together. We also taught them some life skills as well, on how to have respect for authorities.”
This summer was the second summer Noel has made the trip to Harlingen High, and he saw a jump in attendance. He is open to returning to Harlingen next summer and also is planning on holding more camps throughout the Rio Grande Valley in the future.
“This is our third year coming to Harlingen, and we plan on coming down as many years as they will allow us,” Noel said. “Hopefully we can add more camps next year. We saw the numbers grow, not too much, but they did go up, and we are hoping to retain some kids.”
Nike runs 25 camps across Texas and Louisiana during the summer in both basketball and Volleyball. The camp’s next stop will be in Austin.
“We got across to the kids, and they enjoyed it,” Noel said. “There are a lot of kids that love the game, and they just ate up the information we gave them like a sponge,”
First-year Harlingen High boys basketball coach Clayton Cretors took part in the camp and provided campers with his knowledge of the game.
“This was my first year helping out with the camp,” Cretors said. “It was a fun time, and it was amazing to see these kids come out and improve on the different drills and skills we taught them. They did a great job on organizing the whole camp, and Nike has a great message. So this isn’t all about basketball. We also want to give the kids a life message and how they can improve outside of basketball.”
