Myerscough Basketball Performance Camp

MYERSCOUGH BASKETBALL CAMP

Our 2014 Summer performance camp will run from Sunday 27th July until Friday 1st August at Myerscough College and UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire). Expert professional coaches and trainers will provide players with a week of comprehensive basketball education in a high intensity practice environment.


The philosophy of the camp is centered around individual player development; residential campers will train for around 41 hours across the five days. 35 hours will be spent practicing on court whilst 6 hours will be focused on Strength and Conditioning. Campers will make use of state of the art facilities at UCLAN's Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre and Myerscough's Sport Academy.

Ages: 14-25

Venues: Myerscough College and University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.

Residential - £279

Residential campers will stay on campus at Myerscough College and will have Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

Non-Residential - £199

Non-Residential campers will train at UCLAN during the day and will not have any meals provided. They will need to bring a packed lunch and be dropped off and picked up from the university.

(Prices include a Myerscough Basketball reversible top)

Sample day at Camp 

7:30-8:30 Strength and Conditioning

8:30-9.15 Breakfast

Minibus to UCLan

Non-Residential campers arrive

10-12:30 Practice @ UCLan

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-15:30 Practice @ UCLan

15:30-17:30 Practice @ UCLan

Non-Residential campers go home

Minibus to Myerscough

17:30-19:00 Dinner

20:00-21:00 Strength and Conditioning

21:00-22:00 Individual Practice

Coaches at last year's camp included;
-Neal Hopkins (Myerscough Head Coach),
-Tony Garbelotto (MLP Academics Heidelberg Head Coach, German ProA),
-David Aliu and James Jones (Manchester Giants professionals)
-Nick McCarthy (Head Sports Therapist, Myerscough and Manchester Giants)
-Dave Atkinson (North West England and Stockport Falcons)

CLICK HERE to download an application form 

Please note: Places on the camp are strictly limited to 50 and will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. 

For updates on the camp keep an eye on our dedicated page on the website and follow our twitter feed

For more information please contact Neal Hopkins (nhopkins@myerscough.ac.uk)

Inside MCBA: Alex Hodgson Interview

Inside MCBA (Myerscough College Basketball Academy) is a new feature which will see the coaching staff at the academy contribute regular educational blog posts to the site. We will conduct introductory interviews with each member of the coaching staff which will be published in the coming weeks.

Alex Hodgson is the lead Strength and Conditioning coach at the academy. He played professionally in his native Australia and in Europe and brings a wealth of basketball expertise to the programme. We spoke to Alex about his playing career and his role here at Myerscough..

When did you first begin playing basketball? 

I started playing when I was 9 years old in my home town in Australia. I was quite tall as a kid so it seemed a logical way to go with sport! I really enjoyed the sport so I continued to play there onward.

How did you end up playing professionally? 

I just kept playing! I played locally for my town when I was growing up and played representatively. I continued to make better teams and kept progressing until some opportunities arose which allowed me to get paid to do what I enjoyed!

Tell us about the different places you have played (and which was your favourite?)

I have played in lots of different places. My favourite place to play is at home with my friends and people I grew up with in Australia. If  c had the chance to play in Barcelona which was definitely my favourite place I have played away from home. I have also played here in the UK which was a great experience

What advice you would give to young players who aspire to play professionally?

Be obsessed with the game! If you want to be a professional you have to be dedicated and do your best. Not many people end up playing professionally just through cruising along and waiting for it to happen.

How did you end up working at MCBA?

I had played for Neal (academy head coach) for a couple of years. He knew my background and recognised that my basketball knowledge matched well with what he was trying to do here. I had finished my strength and conditioning degree locally at UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) and the opportunity came up and I thought it was a really good match.

What does your role as lead Strength and Conditioning coach encompass?

My main role is to develop the athletic side of the academy players. They're all at a developmental age so we are really looking to strengthen guys up and improve various performance aspects such as speed, agility and fitness.

How do you feel the first term at the academy has been?

It's been a learning curve but I think we've improved every week. I'm really impressed with the way the athletes have progressed so far. We're only a few months in and I think everyone has seen a marked increase in performance and strength. They are all seeing the benefits of all the training we do which is great! We're really looking forward to the future

Watch out for Alex's first blog post, due to be published in the coming weeks.