Laettner, Mad Ants put on YM cage clinic

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

Former Duke University and NBA star Christian Laettner, now an assistant coach for the Mad Ants pro basketball team in Fort Wayne, Ind., brought some of his Ants to the YMCA Tuesday evening for a basketball clinic.

The clinic had two sessions: the first for kids in grades K-2 and the second for players in grades 3-6.

Laettner is probably best known for the last-second shot that won the Blue Devils the East Regional title over Kentucky in 1992. Duke won the NCAA championship as well that year. He also was the only college player on the “Dream Team” that won the gold medal for the United States during the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Laettner, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, averaging 13.8 points per game overall, said the aim of Tuesday’s clinic was to teach youngsters some court basics.

“The message on the court is that these kids are really young,” Laettner said, “and we’re just teaching the basics: how to skip, how to karaoke, and how to defensive slide.”

The former Duke standout noted that clinic participants also learned some passing drills “because the most important thing you can teach kids who are 5, 6, 7 and 8 is to catch the ball and not be afraid of it.”

The older participants were also taught some standstill ball-handling drills, which Laettner said he hoped they would continue to practice at home. “What did he say?” the Mad Ants assistant coach said he hoped participants ask. “He said to do some standstill ball-handling drills at home. Hopefully, they will do that.”

Laettner said he also hoped the young players would take some of what he said to heart, especially since he feels those skills would be helpful to them in the future.

“That’s the thing I hope they remember the most,” said Laettner, who added that he hoped they also remembered “that they had a really good coach come and visit and teach some stuff — a guy who had a pretty successful career playing in college and the NBA.”

The former Duke and NBA player said he also had fun working with the youngsters, although he did admit it was a change from coaching professional players, who usually get what he’s trying to teach them the first time out.

“It’s fun in a totally different way, because they (youngsters) say things and react in ways that are much more interesting,” Laettner explained, who added, You get a lot of fun (working with young players and pros) in different ways.”

Following both hour-long clinics, Laettner and his Mad Ants players signed autographs for the crowd of youngsters and their parents who packed gyms 1 and 2 at the YMCA.