Dawkins' Boot Camp

After spending Saturday afternoon at Coach Lou Dawkin's Boot Camp it became particularly obvious why the Saginaw High Trojans have ripped off two straight State Championships. You can talk all you want about talent but it is apparent that work ethic has played a key role in those titles.

Dawkins and his Trojan staff ran campers through 5 hours of drills, conditioning, and scrimmages for a mere 30 dollars- campers got more than there dollars worth!

Dawkins ran two separate sessions for boys and girls. Both groups did the same training but I don't think the ladies were expecting the training to be so intense. Campers flocked in from Saginaw, Flint, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Rockford, and even Ohio.

The campers started the day with a cross country jog and followed that up with running drills on the football field's bleachers. Campers then went back inside for drills that focused on defensive position, shooting, and ball handling.

For the last hour campers were separated into teams for games, even though they were fighting hard for that extra energy. One aspect of the games that I loved was how Dawkins plays with no out of bounds. It really made the kids hustle and fight for loose balls, and we all know those are the little things that win games.