MUHS basketball team, Rec Center partner for summer youth camp

Mingus Union High School’s basketball team will partner with the Cottonwood Recreation Center for the third year in a row to host a youth basketball camp from June 23 through 27. Head Coach Austin Hudson said he believed being involved with the community helped his program grow. “We have 35 boys out here for summer basketball in my third year,” Hudson said. “In my first year we had maybe 15, last year we had 25, now we have 35. I think that community work and building that Mingus brand overtime, being involved in the community has really helped us.” The week-long program will include boys and girls from the first through eighth grades; registration closed on June 1.

MUHS Grand Canyon all-region basketball players Ricky Villalobos, Ethan Baird and Cameron Muirhead will be participating in the program as instructors for the younger kids. “We work on ball handling and we teach them basic stuff that we do here, like pivots and just using the backboard, righthand, left hand layups, stuff like that,” Baird said, adding that he thought that the teaching experience was beneficial not only for the younger kids but for the older ones as well. “If you can teach it, it’s making you better as well. It’s a win-win; we’re helping them but we’re also helping ourselves get better,” Baird said.