15 Years Under Our Belt and No Signs of Slowing Down

One of the most prominent local basketball camps is nearing their summer sessions. Capital District Post Players Camp has instructed hundreds of players over their 15 years of operation, many of which have gone on to become successful college basketball players.

Led by coaches Brian Rubino and  Valarie O’Dell, both former women’s basketball assistants, Capital District Post Players Camp will be holding their boys week from July 23-July 27 at Mohonasen High School, with the girls week taking place August 6-August 10 at Siena College.

“We decided we wanted to address specific areas of instruction that perhaps were not covered in other camps. We felt from our research there weren’t any other camps in the area specifically working with post players and their needs”, Rubino said in a recent interview. “There are no other post camps in the area. We feel that we cover certain techniques and certain skills that may be difficult for teams to address. Many times a High School team may only have one coach, and even in post-guard breakdown drills, perhaps there isn’t the time or the ability to work extensively on these types of skills when you’re trying to emphasize team play and overall coordination and plays, and defense. So we felt the emphasis on these skills would put players further ahead.” Before Rubino decided to bring his post player camp to the Capital Region, the last camp specifically geared towards big men was Edd Pierce’s Post Skills Camp, held at the former Junior College of Albany over a decade ago.

During their 15 years in operation instructing top level high school girls basketball players, Capital District Post Players Camp has instructed 13 players who went on to play Division I basketball, as well as dozens who have played at the DII and DIII levels. Five years ago, the camp expanded to include a week of instruction for boys as well, and they also are looking into adding a camp for college players in the near future.

Rubino says that the camp emphasizes footwork, offensive skills, and special situations that post players encounter. However, Rubino says that post camp is not limited to players who exclusively play inside the paint. “It could definitely help any basketball player because of the specific emphasis on improving footwork pivoting and dribble drives into the lane, The ability to finish with something like a hook shot for a guard would be invaluable. As a matter of fact, we’ve had many post players who have actually become perimeter players, still continue to come to post players camp because the coordination and the footwork.”

The camp is open to any player from grades 7-12, and Rubino says he believes the younger you get started, the better. “I would say any post player could benefit whether they are going into their senior year, or they’re a 7th grader”, said Rubino. “However, we have found, working with the girls a little longer period of time, kids that really succeed are kids that come to the camp as early as possible. We feel that if they learn footwork and technique at an early age, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade, then its ingrained in their ability by the time they’re juniors and seniors .We’ve seen a great number of kids at young ages, that have gone on to be successful college players by having those skills imbedded over a longer period of time.”

There is still time to register for both the boys and girls camps, and which you can do from the Capital District Post Camp website, www.cdpostcamps.com. A special thanks goes out to Coach Rubino for answering our questions, and encourage all aspiring basketball players to attend.

Ross Bentley, Staff writer