(Allison Weirich/Abarw.com Photo) LHHS head girls' basketball coach Matt Kirschner stands with the 2012 Lady Panther Hoop Camp overall MVP, Kaylie Potts, at the camp-ending June 7 camp awards ceremony.
by Chuck Licata
Number 10 is the best.
So far.
The 10th Annual Lady Panthers Basketball Camp, headed up by LHHS girls’ basketball head coach Matt Kirschner, produced 131 campers, the largest turnout in the camp’s history.
Kirschner and his large camp staff – including just-graduated LHHS seniors – enjoyed a great week June 4-7 at the Liberty Hill gym.
(Allison Weirich/Abarw.com Photo) Jordan Redmond, shown here with 2 campers, was one of the many just-graduated "coaches" for last week's Lady Panther Hoop Camp.
“This was the largest camp, numbers-wise, but it was a great one for the campers – which is the most important thing,” Kirschner stated. “This may have been the smoothest-run camp in my four years here. We have such a great quality staff; a lot of the coaches have either worked it before or been through it themselves.
“We tweaked the program so there was less talking (lecturing) and more activities for the girls – more ‘stations’ work and more half-court games.”
Kirschner, who evaluates the “flow” of every camp while each camp is going on, continued.
“We wanted to cut down on the speaking time and get them more activity, with more hands-on instruction by our coaching staff,” he said. “We realize our camp is indoors, making it attainable for as many participants as possible since we’re not our in the hot sun and the fact we’re a 9-to-4 camp.”
Kirschner and the LHHS varsity Lady Panthers are coming off a phenomenal season which saw the Lady Panthers make it to the 3A state semifinals, where they lost to eventual state champion Abilene Wylie. The success of the Lady Panthers, who have established themselves as a 3A power program, always rubs off on the local community – and area.
“The success of the team certainly improves our stature in the community as well as gets the community involved,” Kirschner remarked. “Just look at the state semifinal back in March – we had a tremendous turnout at the Erwin Center and the girls got a huge send-off parade.
“All of that only rubs off and spreads word-of-mouth for both the program and the camp. We have campers from not only the Austin area but areas like San Antonio and Fort Worth.”
(Allison Weirich/Abarw.com Photo) The 10th Annual Lady Panther Hoop Camp
