Coach Straker

I had the opportunity to work with Chris for four summers at Camp Kenwood. For the first of those summers, when I was 15, Chris was my basketball coach. Chris helped me develop my individual basketball skills, such as dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense. What I appreciated more, however, was the way that Chris improved my understanding of basketball. He taught everybody an offense designed around movement, flow, and spacing. This allowed me to think more deeply about the concepts that go into successful team basketball. I believe that I achieved my most rapid basketball development during those seven weeks that I worked with Chris.

The latter three years I spent as a counselor, assisting Chris with his basketball lessons for younger children, aged around 8-10. During this time, I got to see how Chris helped beginners develop basic skills and become comfortable playing basketball while at the same time providing more advanced players with appropriate challenges. I was given a window into the way the Chris planned lessons and learned that every game and every drill had a purpose. Chris came into every lesson with a plan for the session, as well as several variations or complications on that plan to allow him to adapt to the specific needs of an individual of a group. Chris also offered individualized coaching for certain players who sought him out, and the fruits of those lessons became very evident in basketball competitions later in the summer.

Overall, I can confidently say that Chris is the best basketball coach with whom I have ever worked.

Coach Straker was my sons basketball coach this Summer at camp. New to the sport and reluctant to play, my son needed the patience, high expectations, and enthusiasm Coach Straker exemplified. He incorporated age-appropriate creativity, motivation, and love for the sport of basketball into practices that fostered an ongoing passion for the game well after Summer ended. After being coached by Chris Straker, my son begged to join a team back home and is incredibly proud of all the progress he made over the Summer!

I had a great experience with Coach Straker, he pushed and challenged me in lots of areas and helped me to improve and achieve my goals.

With coach I was able to improve my jump shot and got good at shooting 3s and my understanding of the game improved a lot!

If you want to get better you should work with Coach!