At Central, youth sports pave the way to better programs and community

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

Central prides itself as a school that provides opportunity, and whether it’s for learning, engagement or developing skills, the motivation is always the same: to prepare each person for the future. 

“Youth engagement and learning gets students and families thinking about the future, preparing for future opportunities, identifying their own needs and wants and creates an early opportunity for kids to begin working toward goals,” said Central Principal Aaron Reinhart. 

One way Central tackles this endeavor is through its youth sports programs. Among the most successful is the basketball program, headed by varsity boys basketball coach Brady Stramer and coach Michael Beck. 

“Coach Beck has been working with our youth for over a decade. When coach Stramer was hired, they had very similar visions and a very similar understanding of what it was going to take to build a high-level basketball team. They have invested countless hours and sacrificed from their own families to create a system that has a very intentional purpose,” Reinhart said. “Right now, they are at the mercy of the highs and lows of the number of boys we have in each grade level, but the model they are using is effective in creating opportunities for our students and community to be successful.” 

The program, which serves grades 1-6, has multiple purposes, such as providing the opportunity for youth players to develop their skills, both as an individual and as a member of a team. It also gives young kids the chance to learn how to listen, how to help others, how to play as a team and, of course, how to have fun. 

But it also has another intended consequence that is part of the vision Stramer and Beck share, which is to create a more competitive and sustainable high school team. 

“One of the reasons we started it is because, as a program, we noticed we were not as competitive at the varsity level as we wanted to be, and closing that gap in the short few months during the season is difficult, if not impossible to do,” Stramer said. “So we knew we had to start building up our youth programs if we wanted to close that gap by the time players get to high school and have consistency across grade levels.”

“The goal here is to close the gap between where our program is in relation to a lot of the opponents that we face at the junior high and high school levels,” Stramer added. 

The program is broken down into three camps a year, Beck explained. That includes the November skills practices (along with the kids being able to play at halftime of high school games which will be on Dec. 3 and 10 this upcoming season.)There are also recreational league games for fourth through sixth graders during January and February, a youth March Madness skills camp on each Saturday in March and a one-week basketball camp in July. 

According to Stramer, “this timetable is so the players are working on their skills periodically throughout the year, and not taking a full nine or 10 months off.”

Stramer also noted how the camps focus on the importance of growth as individuals and players, looking for consistent improvement rather than having the kids focus on how they compare to their peers. It’s about creating a mindset that doesn’t emphasize being unable to do something. In the words of Stramer, it’s about “reframing that thought into a ‘we can’t do that yet.’”

One of the challenges is having consistency and sustainability, specifically as it relates to student and parent involvement in the camps, as well as maintaining consistent coaches for the players. Another is finding volunteers and having practice times that work for each family. 

Sometimes the challenge is getting kids involved—something Stramer believes can be overcome by creating a “great experience” for current participants so they recruit their friends. 

Beck tries to meet this challenge by “showing that we care about each participants equally and that we want to help them grow in their basketball skills and, most of all, we want them to have fun,”  he shared.

For Stramer, one of the biggest challenges is simply trying to get every student an opportunity, which he admits no single adult or coach can do for all of K-12, so volunteers are needed. 

Volunteers, or “adults who are willing to invest their time into a kid’s future” as Reinhart said, are something vital to the success of youth sports programs. Or, as his grandfather said, “things work a lot better when all the horses pull the wagon in the same direction.”

That direction is toward creating more opportunity and developing skills that will be essential to life after high school sports. This is also something that is rewarding for the coaches involved, the development of skills and as people. 

“Being able to see the improvement that takes place across months and years is the most rewarding aspect,” said Stramer. “Seeing the older elementary students take on leadership roles to help those younger students with those drills is also a very rewarding experience.” 

“I love working with the kids, as it’s exciting to see them develop in their skills from year to year. It’s amazing how much they grow physically and skill wise each year,” added Beck.

Both coaches, along with Reinhart, emphasized the importance of youth sports, not just for the competitive aspect and longevity of the basketball program, but because of its role in developing quality young men and its impact on the community, specifically in regard to the future. 

It’s a future where youth camps teach kids the skills needed in life and on the basketball court, where they develop in a program built to give them the training and knowledge to compete as varsity athletes and as high school graduates. They can refine fundamental skills that close the competitive gap from the hardwood to the boardroom. 

Youth sports at Central are as much about sports as they are about shaping the future of Central, Elkader and the student. 

“We always have room to grow. Our community wants to be successful, which is the first place to start…In short, youth engagement gives the community purpose and a future,” Reinhart said.