Marble Falls ends June with basketball camp

CAPTION: Mustangs head coach John Berkman (standing) will co-direct this year’s basketball camp with a little bit of a twist. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls Independent School District’s boys and girls basketball program is hosting the final camp this month directed by head coaches John Berkman and Adley Canales.

The camp is Monday-Thursday, June 22-25 at Marble Falls Middle School. Rising second through sixth-graders will learn from 8:30 a.m.-noon and rising seventh- through ninth-graders will take the from 1-4 p.m. Cost is $90. Register here.

“We’ve split that up this year in order to give a little bit more focus to our older campers and make it a little more competitive, a little more of a teaching camp, a little more intentional as far as treating it like we would want them to get at practice during the season with our coaching staff, so that we can teach them and have them better prepared for their actual school seasons,” said Berkman, who is the Mustangs head coach. “We’re excited to be able to do it this way for the first time and be able to really build into those older campers but also build the excitement with them and with our younger campers as well.”

Berkman pointed out many reasons why families should consider sending their children to this camp as well as the others offered through the athletic department.

“One, it is good for our community,” he said. “It builds some community relationships. It builds relationship with our coaching staff and our younger athletes, who may not be in junior high school yet. But it also gives us a chance to grow our individual sport philosophies. Every head coach in their sport has a way of how they want things done for that sport. And it helps if we can start that at an earlier age where kids begin to learn our terminology or they understand our drills a little bit better.”

“Also it helps really to create some enjoyment for the game,” he added. “A lot of times coaches with summer camp can create some excitement and some fun within the sport itself and kids can figure out if they just enjoy that sport in and of itself for what it is. Some kids are still getting a taste for those sports and they don’t know what they like or what they don’t like until they get a chance to try it and it’s the low stakes opportunity for younger kids to dip their toes into those sports if you will. But at the same time, the kids who already know they like those sports, it gives them a great opportunity to be competitive to learn a little bit more be around our high school athletes and be around some of our coaching staff and give parents a chance to see how we operate.”

The department had already offered a couple of football camps, track and field camp, soccer camp, session one of the tennis academy, baseball and softball camps that began right after the school year ended.

Berkman, who also serves as the assistant athletic director, said he spoke to some coaches whose camps have already happened. They told him they had more campers this summer than last summer. While each family’s budget will determine if and how many camps its child can attend, Berkman noted the camps that have received more campers are the ones that have enjoyed steady success.

The tennis academy and the baseball camp have varsities that have advanced to the playoffs in at least three of the last four years and were in the mix for district championships.

Though this is the final June camp, Berkman pointed out the department will conduct other camps in July: the Lady Mustang Volleyball Camp, the second session of the annual Tennis Academy, and the football camp. All three are July 27-30.

“I think it’s extremely important for us to offer camps through the school, as we’re a small community still, and we don’t have the resources of some of the bigger cities where they have athletic facilities that are outside of the school that are providing these opportunities for students,” Berkman said. “I think we are the hub for our community as far as education goes, but we’re also the hub for sporting events. The city runs youth leagues, but they run a lot of their leagues on our campuses using our facilities, whether it’s the football field or the track or the basketball gyms for basketball, volleyball for us to put out a helpful product.”

CAPTION: Lady Mustangs head coach Adley Canales (center) is the other co-director of the basketball camp. Canales served as Berkman’s top assistant when the two were coaching the Lady Mustangs before Berkman became the boys basketball coach in April 2024.