Top of the Rockies camp in full swing

by David Mejia

The campers at the Top of the Rockies Basketball Camp took a break to pose for a group picture. The camp, which featured Global Shot Doctor Duane Lewis on Wednesday, runs through Friday.

ALAMOSA, Colo.— The bouncing of the basketballs can be heard throughout Plachy Hall on the Adams State College campus for the last two days. And it won’t stop there – not by a long shot. The rest of the month of June promises to be much of the same, as the Top of the Rockies boys individual camp concludes on Friday before Kelly Kruger’s girls individual camp will commences next Wednesday. Team camps then take over for the next three weeks.

The Top of the Rockies Basketball Camp is in full swing, as 126 young hoopsters are honing their skills on the hardwood. The four-day camp features individualized instruction by the region’s top coaches and players, as well as daily skills competition and team play.

“We cut the high school players out of the individual camp this year because so many high school players are going to team camps ,” said camp director and ASC Head Men’s Basketball Coach Larry Mortensen. “I was worried about the numbers, but actually we had 126, which is a record number for us.”

This year’s camp features future Hall of Fame prep coaches like Centauri High School’s Larry Joe Hunt and Alamosa’s Wade Mortensen. The duo are highly-regarded among their peers around the state and region, having successful programs year in and year out. Wednesday’s featured coach at the Top of the Rockies Camp was none other than former Alamosa High School boys basketball coach Duane Lewis, who enjoyed many successful years coaching the Maroons. Now known as the Global Shot Doctor, Lewis conducts numerous camps and shooting clinics around the country.

“The kids are getting more than their money’s worth this week,” Larry Mortensen said. “You have legendary coaches like Larry Joe (Hunt) and Wade (Mortensen), who have probably 800 or 900 wins between the two of them and about 50 or 60 years of experience as well.

“Then to bring in somebody like Duane Lewis, who is really responsible for starting the basketball tradition here in Alamosa. I can remember going to his camps when I was an eight-year old. And, of course, he’s internationally renowned for his shooting clinics. These kids really benefited from the fundamentals they’re learning this week.”