The Fundamentals of basketball will be stressed heavily in all camps. We will emphasize these fundamentals through drills, practice time with coaches, and games every day. Our staff has an unparalleled love of this great game, and will work to help cultivate the same love for the game in each camper. Basketball is a game, and is meant to be fun. This concept will be stressed throughout camp as well.

Download Summer Camp Brochure

Register Online:

Tiger Cub Camp I (1st-3rd Grade) - 1 week camp
Event Dates: 6/11/2012 - 6/15/2012
Register Here

Tiger Cub Camp II (1st-3rd Grade) - 1 week camp
Event Dates: 6/18/2012 - 6/22/2012
Register Here

Tiger Pride Camps (4th-6th & 7th-8th Grade) - 2 week camp
Event Dates: 6/11/2012 - 6/22/2012
Register Here

Tiger Pride High School Camp
Event Dates: 6/04/2012 - 7/02/2012
Register Here

In life, if you want to be successful at anything you do, you must put in the time and effort to hone your skills and give yourself the confidence to perform when it counts. The more you push yourself to work - when no one is watching, on days you don’t really feel like doing it, and/or without someone prodding you - the more confidence you will gain, and pride you will take in your achievements.

From now, until the day our next season begins, we are asking you to commit 44 minutes a day to basketball. Why 44 minutes, you ask? There are 1,440 minutes in every day. 44 minutes represents a mere 3% of that day and is a small investment that will pay huge dividends. Even if you take into account that the average American teenager sleeps for 9.4 hours (564 minutes), there are still 876 minutes in your conscious day, and we are only asking for 5% of that day.

Ask yourself if taking 5% of your waking day in order to prepare yourself to be a better player and teammate is worth it. Envision our program competing for a State Championship every year and you being a big part of it. Take every shot in the offseason as if it were to win the State Championship. If we do the work, we will enjoy (and deserve) the success we desire.

There are many ways to free up 44 minutes in a day. Wake up 15 minutes early and watch one less TV show. Wake up 30 minutes early and play one less video game. Stay away from Angry Birds. Cut back on your Facebook time. The possibilities are endless!

You can spend the 44 minutes in a variety of ways, including working on basketball skills, becoming a better athlete (conditioning, lifting weights, playing other sports), and studying the game and our playbook. 

Your coaches will help you set goals, put together a plan, and provide you with the resources you need to improve your game. Will you commit the time necessary to achieve those goals?  Will your opponents?

-Coach Czes

Legendary basketball coach Dick Bennett gives the NIU Huskie women's basketball team a pregame talk on the importance of playing with passion and humility.

The Tigers excite the fans on both sides of the gym with this Transition Dunk in their 52-46 Overtime win at Crystal Lake South during Hoops for Heroes on 12/10/2011.

The Tigers fight for every inch against Cary-Grove in a 53-41 victory last Saturday.

"Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it is not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives."

-excerpt from Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck, PH.D.

Tigers,
Please consider the following quote from Marianne Williamson's, A Return to Love and think about its meaning as it pertains to how you behave in public settings and how the thought behind it could help our program continue to grow.
-Coach Czes

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love