Coupeville players confer during a break in the action at a summer hoops camp in Eastern Washington. (Photos by Amy King)
Lunch time, with senior Ema Smith (center) shepherding the freshmen.
Smith, fully embracing a leadership role, offers an assist to injured teammate Audrianna Shaw.
Mollie Bailey (left) and Anya Leavell work on a word search during a team bonding exercise.
Shaw, Ja’Kenya Hoskins (center) and Kylie Van Velkinburgh beat the heat with icy treats.
18 Wolves made the trip East, the biggest turnout for summer camp in many years for the CHS girls.
The wounds of war.
CHS varsity coach David King draws up a play for the Wolf JV players.
Work in the summer to prosper in the winter.
That’s the mindset for Coupeville High School girls basketball players, who spent a chunk of vacation time this past week putting in time on courts at Eastern Washington University.
The team’s annual trip to summer camp, while breaking from tradition by not being at Ocean Shores, was still a big draw.
CHS coaches David and Amy King had 18 players show up, the most in years.
Almost every returning varsity player was on hand, and the incoming freshmen came out in force like never before.
Overcoming two sprained ankles, a concussion check and “quite a few bruises,” the Wolves survived playing many of their games in a converted hockey rink, returning with knowledge, game experience and team bonding memories galore.
David King’s thoughts on the trek East:
What a trip it turned out to be.
We as coaches don’t necessarily go to camp for the wins.
We go for the team bonding and building teamwork. Stretch players into roles they may not have played before. Along with working individual skills and improving our overall game.
We also wanted to work in mental toughness.
With such a big freshman group, our goal was to learn more about each player and what skills they have. It also helped them get to know us and our way of coaching and expectations.
Overall, it was a great camp and we accomplished what we wanted.
Each day we saw improvement throughout the games, with Tuesday evening and Wednesday’s games being our best.
Lindsey (Roberts) and Ja’Kenya (Hoskins) had a block party over the three days.
Lindsey started it with a run down from behind on a fast break and spiked the ball out of bounds. Ja’Kenya, game after game, had what seems like multiple blocks.
We had Mollie (Bailey) and Lily (Leedy) dazzle us with behind-the-back dribbling.
Lily pulled hers off in the last game. The varsity team went wild.
Toughness was brought by Hannah (Davidson), Nicole (Laxton) and Ella (Colwell). All three improved their post defense and post offense.
With better understanding about positioning, Ema (Smith), Chelsea (Prescott) and Abby (Mulholland) came up big for us with hitting some outside shots, along with improved defensive play for each.
Sammi (Streitler) and Kylie (Van Velkinburgh) are both solid players that help the team in many ways.
We challenged both to look for their shots.
By day three, both started looking at the basket and knocking down some shots. They understand that being an offensive threat helps the team.
Audrianna (Shaw) and Scout (Smith) led both teams from the point guard position. Looking to set up teammates along with taking their shots when open.
Tia (Wurzrainer) played with the varsity group.
This experience really helped her and showed she can play at a higher level. She also mixed it up with grabbing rebounds against much taller opponents.
Kylie Chernikoff, with one year of basketball under her belt, played on both the JV and varsity teams.
She, along with Mollie, led the JV team and gained good experience getting into games with the varsity group.
Anya (Leavell), like many other players, is a competitor. Hates to lose and will give her all.
Something we have been working on is her shot, getting more arc. Sometime on Tuesday it clicked for her and her shot started to transform.
During camp we talked about playing with the correct energy with all of the players.
Anya corralled her energy and had her two best games of camp. Others also showed progress and their games improved as well.
Morgan (Stevens), never played before. I believe one of the first to sign up for camp.
Talk bout growth over three days.
Came in very quiet and unsure. By the end of game three, her defense had improved, she was diving on the court for loose balls and battling for rebounds.
We had great leaders in Lindsey, Ema and Scout. Varsity players that put team over individual and willing to help each and every other teammate.
To prove this point — during the last JV game, Ema came over and talked with Morgan about defense.
The next time out, Morgan was aggressive when guarding her player and channeled Kylie C. with being vocal along with aggressive.
There are things that we know we need to work on; camp helps bring this to light. But the positives far outweighed the areas to improve.
Lastly, we couldn’t have done this without the support of Sherry and Jon Roberts, who let us borrow their car.
Then two freshman moms stepped up big time. Alysabeth Leedy Bonifas and Stephanie Grimm.
Both took their time and vehicles to help get these players to camp! The support was outstanding! We can’t thank them enough.
Of course I can’t leave Amy out without thanking her.
She is the hardest-working person I know.
She does all of the behind the scenes stuff that keeps me on track and us organized. This year she even sacrificed more by having to stay in a dorm room while I took the easy route and stayed in a hotel.
I’m just very happy and proud of the players and how they represented themselves and Coupeville.
