Hi, my name is Erin Traczek and I am going to be a 7th grader at St. Dominic School in Bolingbrook, IL. This was my second year of attending the Parent/Daughter basketball camp at Purdue.

Last year, there were a lot of things at the camp I didn't know but wanted to improve my basketball skills. I learned a lot and looked forward to coming back this year.

The first thing that happens when you get to camp, you get your photo taken with the team and Coach Curry. You feel like a real member of the team.

What I like about the camp is how the staff splits the campers into different age groups. Fourth grade and under and fifth grade and up. The neat thing about that was they tried to challenge the older kids with the higher skills and the younger kids with more the basketball basics. I didn’t play in the under 5th grade level so I can’t comment but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty much the same concept just a different level of play.

I felt that splitting the campers into different age groups worked a lot better for me because of how they challenge you at your age level and there was a lot more one-on-one instruction. For instance, Katie Gearlds was helping me one-on-one with my shooting form and Lindsay Wisdom Hylton helped me on my rebounding.

I liked this year better because I had more experience to draw upon and I knew that if I challenged myself I would get better. Even if it was going to be harder, I wanted to challenge myself. And the camp was challenging. I was a little disappointed that my favorite player, Erin Lawless, wasn’t at camp this year, but I understood that she was doing her internship in Chicago this summer.

Like last year, they had us split into groups to work on different skills including dribbling, shooting, rebounding and defense. A different Purdue player was the teacher for each group. This year, the instructors for the 5-8 grade groups were Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, Katie Gearlds and Sharika Webb, while coach Kelly Curry was in charge.

And speaking of charges, Coach Kelly actually taught us how to take a charge, which also led to a few jokes about the defense that the team struggled with at times this past season.

I also liked that this year they did away with the parents playing in games. It seemed like last year some parents thought the camp was for them and not for us girls.

At the end of the day, they held the Basketball Carnival where you could go to different areas and try different skills.

The stations included free throws, speed layups, speed dribble, hot shot, bank shots, three pointers and Mikan drills. I finished second in both the Bank Shot and Speed Lay-up competitions for my age group.

I thought it was really cool when the coaches and players at this year’s camp and last year’s camp were more than happy to answer questions we may have had about the game of basketball and even some stuff about themselves. They were also available to sign our Purdue items and take pictures.

Coach Kristy Curry and all the coaching staff tried to help the campers become better basketball players, but still have fun.

I am looking for a great Boilermakers basketball season this year and you will see me again next year at camp. Hopefully, I can attend the resident camp next year. I had planned on going this year, but had practices for my traveling basketball team.

Boiler Up

Erin Traczek
Freshman class of 2011

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If you are interested in asking Erin questions about her experiences at Purdue basketball camps, send an email and Erin will try to answer them in a future article. General questions about Purdue basketball camps can be accessed at the Official Purdue Sports website.
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