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Ball Mastery camps are for campers who have not been to our camps previously. Emphasis is placed on individual skill development and basic moves with the goal of developing confidence on the ball. Beginning “move sets” are taught and games are played to practice the moves in a method that starts with no pressure and slowly adds the pressure of time and/or space restrictions. Then passive defensive pressure is added and by the end of the first morning, players are performing moves under full defensive pressure to goal. First touch is a major theme in Ball Mastery sessions.

After this, all Ball Mastery groups receive training in a topic of the day that is geared toward their group’s specific level of play. Topics range from skills such as juggling, shooting, volleying and individual defending to more advanced topics such as small group defending and combination play. After the topic of the day all groups play in our “World Cup” competition with teams they stay with throughout the week. This is a round robin competition of small-sided games. They rules and restrictions of the games change depending on the topics emphasized that day. Results are recorded each day and a finals competition is held on Friday. Group champions are recognized at our award ceremony on Friday afternoon.

At all levels, games are played to encourage the use of the specific skills being taught that day. Nearly three decades of cooperative curriculum development affords us a finely tuned method for getting the skills incorporated into the competitive environment as quickly as possible while building confidence along the way. The difficulty of the moves we teach and the intensity of the competition increases at each level.