SHOTMAN Basketball Camps have had a web site for about five years now, and an there was an article in local town paper, The South Plainfield Reporter a few years ago about the growing success at the SHOTMAN Basketball Camps. This particular year, 1997, was a breakthrough year at the camp as 70 kids attended the camp, and they included youngsters from other parts of the Garden State.
Mike Lanza doesn't neccessarily have the credentials to be the basketball guru of Central Jersey but that just might be what he's becoming.
Lanza, a 1975 graduate of South Plainfield High, isn't a high school coach or a junior high coach for that matter, but he certainly knows how to shoot and to have fun of the basketball court.
Lanza or "The Shotman" as he's otherwise know, ran a basketball camp at South Plainfield high July 28 to Aug. 1. Lanza, in his fifth year of running the camp, had close to 70 children attend his basketball clinic this season from South Plainfield, North Plainfield, Bound Brook and Bridgewater.
So, why is Lanza's camp so popular? Lanza loves the game and it shows. His camp is not just about fundamentals but about being creative on the basketball court "I'd show them different ways to get their shots off," said Lanza, who's a lithographer when he's not running basketball clinics. "I told them, we're all John Travolta. I'm going to teach you dance steps. Everything's angles and footwork. That's what we try to emphasize. If you push off your left leg, you have to shoot with your left hand."
Lanza had help from South Plainfield High boys basketball Head Coach Jeff Lubreski, Princeton High Head Coach Gene Mosley, South Plainfield Assistant Coach Brian Bilal and Dunellen Coach Rich Fonti. Rider College power forward Kevin McPeek was a guest lecturer and a shotman original.
"We will always bring back players I've worked with," Lanza said.
"It costs athousand dollars to bring in an NBA player. We don't make
a ton of money. We started the camp because the South Plainfield recreation
camp only goes to theeighth grade. High school kids had nowhere to
go. A lot of camps, they just playgames. We put the rock in the hands
and they work with it."
This year's camp was broken into three age groups, 8-10, 11-13 and 14 and over. Lanza's camp featured a variety of drills including quickness, foul standing, three-point shot, buzzer beater and one-on-one.
Contests were awarded in these drills. In the 8-10 age group, T.J.
Sferra of Bridgewater won the quickness drill, Derek Smith of South
Plainfield won the three-point shooting contest and Michael Lilith
of South Plainfield won the buzzer beater.
In the 11-13 group, Aaron Parks of South Plainfield won the one-on-one
drill, Lilith won the buzzer beater and David Francis won the three-point
shot.
In the 14 and over, Vic Sierra of North Plainfield won the quickness
drill, Rich Winner of South Plainfield was the champ of one-on-one
and Billy Cwieka swept the foul shooting and three-point drill.
"We show them creative fundamentals," Lanza said. "We show them behind the backpasses, dribbling through the legs. These kids go to the PAL and don't do anythingfor three hours. They're constantly working and jumping herre. It's like we say,no drills, no skills."
An NBA ball was awarded to the best camper, not necessarily the most talented camper but the one who never stopped working and hustling. This year's best camper was Domenick Pender of South Plainfield.
"He sealed the deal with that camp," said Lanza of Pender's contributions tothe high school team next year. "He's a point guard type of guy but I try tocreate a guard. That way you get maximum playing time. When you get winded atthe point, you just move over to the two."
Six girls attended Lanza's camp, including South Plainfield natives Kaitlin Sullivan, Shannon Bishop, and Ashley Allocco. Lanza matched them up according to their size and ability.
Lanza preaches creativity which breeds a certain amount of confidence but also talked about dedication to the sport during the week-long camp.
"We emphasize mental toughness," Lanza said. "I told them complainers
get nowhere. 80 percent of the people don't care what they're complaining
about and the other 20 percent are glad that they're complaining."
For now, Lanza can sit back and think about another successful Shotman Camp. Five years ago, people told him it'd never work but Lanza's getting the last laugh.
"Guys my age told me I wouldn't go anywhere with it when I started," Lanza said. "Now,I'm teaching their kids. I'm in it for the kids. There are camps all over theplace. For some reason, they keep coming back to us. We keep getting new campers.They choose my camps because we work on individual skills. Bottom line is theysee the results through their peers."
This article was written in August, 1997
By Dan Arkans-The Reporter
South Plainfield, New Jersey
