Off-season work begins for high schoolers
Basketball, wrestling summer camps begin in June

Although it’s the off-season for high school athletes, the preparation never stops. Department of Defense Dependant Schools Europe summer sports camps kick-off this month starting with a basketball campfor girls June 19 to 21and boys June 22 through 24 at Chievres Air Base, Belgium and a wrestling camp June 27 to July 1 at Ramstein.

Both camps will be completely voluntary as DODDS-E will not take on any costs for athletes participating and will not pay for transportation to and from the camps. Three players from each DODDS-E school will be allowed in the basketball camp and four wrestlers will be permitted from each school. Additional slots are still open for basketball. Call 0654-45-715 for details.

Only athletes in grades 8 to 11 that are returning to DODDS-E schools next year will be allowed to participate.

The camps make sure athletes don’t forget fundamentals and they have a few things to practice over the summer.

“It’s good to do these camps early because the athletes then can practice what they learned for the rest of the summer,” said Len Tarnowski, Ramstein American High School Athletic Director and varsity basketball coach.

The basketball camp will focus on the players skills, strategies and tactics. It will be headed by Nate Dixon, assistant head coach to the university of Florida basketball team for the last two years. Players attending should bring sleeping bags and pillows as they will be billeted on cots in the gymnasium.

The wrestling camp will consist of three daily training sessions and will be led by some of the best wrestlers in the world. Instructors will be U.S. Open national freestyle champion Chris Bollin, Junior World Champion T.J. Hill and three-time NCAA division I All-American Gary Steffensmeier.

“I would recommend any DODDS camp because I know they are going to be good quality and worthwhile,” said Coach Tarnowski.