snow808

SoCalHoops Recruiting Report

Snow Valley Basketball School Report--(Aug. 8, 1998)

Today was the final day of camp/school, and so it was time for the finals of the weeklong "league" games, a separate cutthroat competition tournament (which is a four-on-four game played with unique rules), and the final awards ceremony. And it was also time for all of us to listen with rapt attention to Herb Livesay, Snow Valley director, giving his inspirational talk about life, education, family values and communication to the assembled group of 300 players, parents and coaches. Herb's done this 37 times before, and he was just as good the 38th time. And he promised everyone that there will be a 39th Annual Snow Valley Basketball School next year.

We promised a report on the "all-star" game, but that was pretty much erroneous information, since the camp doesn't have such a game. Instead, we got to see a bunch of guys we didn't know, battling it out for the finals of the cutthroat competition. After that was finished, Herb handed out the awards, and it was no surprise that in the 15-17 year old division, Aras Baskauskas (6'-3 Sr. G) from Santa Monica High was one of the MVP's in the division, and the other MVP was Nick Booker (6'-5" Jr. G/F) from the Bishop's School in La Jolla.

In the high school freshman division, there were a number of standouts: Teddy Boxberger (6'-4" Fr. F) from Harvard-Westlake scored 40 points in one game yesterday and then 35 in another, and he was one of the highest scorers in camp for the week. Craig Weinstein (5'-10" Fr. G), also from Harvard-Westlake, hit an amazing 7 three-pointers in his team's final game today, on 7 for 10 shooting, and also demonstrated why he's so effective taking his man off the dribble in isolation situations. Matt Llewellyn (6'-0" Fr. G) from LA Loyola High won the award as "Most Improved Player," although we're not sure from when he was "improved"-- Matt has attended Snow Valley for several years, and he is a very good player with a quick high release. Charlie Kranzdorf (6'-0" Fr. F) from Montclair Prep also performed well, scoring 17 points yesterday and passing very well.

David Gale (5'-10" Fr. PG) from Sherman Oaks Buckley averaged 9 points per game, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, and displayed excellent passing. Drew Firestone (5'-10" Fr. G) also from Harvard-Westlake averaged 3 three's over five games. Brian Trump (6'-0" Fr. F) from Montclair Prep, played tough defense, averaging 3 blocks per game over the five days of play. Chris Tarn (5'-10" Fr. G) won the shooting award in the division.

There were far too many players at this camp for us to have seen all of them during the limited time we had to observe. Next year we'll make it a point to devote more time to as many individual players as we can. Snow Valley is a great learning and instructional experience for those lucky enough to benefit from the teachings and experience of Charlie Sands, Herb Livesay, Wayne Carlson, and the rest of the coaching staff. As Herb is so fond of saying "Teams are built in the winter; players are built in summer."