I’ve managed to curb my whining about the lack of prep sports activities during summer through the magic of team camps. This time, it was the Mike Jordan team camp held at the Activity Center on the NMSU campus. I get to kill two birds with one stone in that I get some much needed shooting practice in, and I get to catch up with parents and players alike, and meet some great new people.
NMSU head coach Mike Jordan addresses the campers.
I finally got to meet the new Cleveland head coach Ben Wallis (former Gadsden head coach, former Rio Rancho assistant, etc.) and was blown away by his energy–he has a great rapport with everyone he interacted with: his peers, players and parents. It’s easy to see the passion he has for the game and how that affects people around him. Now I understand why people ask if I know him. He’s a great guy.
Cleveland head coach Ben Wallis "rubs in" winning the toss to Chris Hertel, St. Pius' camp coach.
Besides the Las Cruces-area teams, I was able to get looks at Española Valley, Lovington, Hope Christian, St. Pius, a little bit of Hobbs and the new Rio Rancho school, Cleveland.
Chapin outside hitter, Alene Boozer
I liked the odd match-ups that happen when the teams are grouped for the games. My favorites: Las Cruces (5A) vs Mesilla Valley (2A) and Gadsden (5A) vs Tularosa (2A). MVCS played the ‘Dawgs tough in the match that I watched, but Cruces prevailed.
Photographically speaking (since this is a “photo blog”), shooting the Activity Center has always been a challenge with zones of hot spots and darkness, but it’s mostly darkness. Since space is limited in some courts, the 85mm f/1.8 and 135mm f/2.0 are the perfect choices for the venue.
I pump up the ISO and shoot from f/2.2 to f/1.8 depending on the court and lens I use. For prep volleyball, I like to shoot at least 1/640 of a second, but depending on who I’m trying to shoot, that changes.
A good example is Chapin outside hitter Alene Boozer, seen on the left (click on her picture for a bigger shot). Her “wind-up” and release are so fast, I had to shoot at least 1/800 of a second. The inset image of Alene was shot at 1/1000 of a second to get the motion in her arm to freeze.
I think Alene, libero Megan Dominguez and the rest of the Huskies are just a small sample of all the rich talent in El Paso. I’m thinking I’ll have a make a few trips to El Paso to check out more of Alene, the Huskies and more of the El Paso teams.
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