Saturday, May 2, 2009

Vegas Camp Day 1 & Day 2


Twenty Handball Campers all converged to the Paris Casino and Hotel in the heart of Las Vegas, NV for the Dave Chapman, Fred Lewis, Emmett Peixoto and Dave Fink Handball Camp (The 4 Aces) this weekend. Players from Anchorage, Alaska, Nigeria Falls, Canada, Dallas, Texas, and areas as far east as Florida and as far west to California made the trip to the strip, for a Handball camp of the ages.

Day #1 was done up in style as Fred Lewis and Dave Chapman held the floor with player and participant introductions; meanwhile, Dave Chapman handed out the handball camp souvenirs (gift bags, Owen Gloves, HB DVD's, et) as the crew enjoyed a few adult beverages and live "dueling Pianos" in the Paris Nightclub.

Matt Thorpe and The 'Z' Man enjoy the post mixer party, as the campers take on Vegas at the reception.
Chapman mingles with Todd Timboe (Montana) and Tony Whatley (Washington State), as Day #1 was a huge success.

Chapman's personal trainers; Justin & Houston G. pass out Blue Frog Energy Drink and talk nutrition with the campers on this night.


Big Bruce Anderson (Sacramento, CA), takes in the sights of our reception and survives!!!

Whatley, Chapman, and Timboe close down the house with handball banter.

Meanwhile, Courtney Peixoto's (Tucson, AZ) night was just starting. This pic happened to snap at just the right moment.
Day#2 begins early with a breakfast at the Club Sport of LV, with breakfast and a tour of the day's facilities.
The only Bagel DC will get the whole weekend!

Nick Tovar (Tucson, AZ) prepares for a full day (8am to 5pm) of handball tutorials with a light breakfast as provided by DC.

Fred Lewis and Abe Montijo (Tucon, AZ) load up on OJ and Bagels before 8 straight hours of lessons, games, and handball action.

Gary Maushardt (Santa Cruz, CA) is in a great mood and can't stop talking about his hop serve!

Matt Thorpe (Anchorage, AK) takes in a few carbs in prep for the day's events

Mike McRae (Wasilla, AK) believes that if a man has his hand on the toaster, one can eat quicker??

Andy Zywot (Alaska) is already and prepared for the day's action

Meanwhile, Ben Thum (Mountain View, CA) has his new HD Camera and is especially ready to capture brilliance.

Courtney Peixoto (Arizona) looks ready

Chapman and Lewis run down the day's events
Chapman preaches his regular warm-up to the kids of the bunch, as all groups of four rotate from court to court. Tovar and Montijo learn DC's underhand fist shots.

DC, Tovar, Montijo and Mike Linnik (San Jose, CA) practice DC's legendary pre game warm up for 45 minutes before moving along to Fred Lewis' group.

Mike Park (Arizona), Gary Maushardt, Courtney Peixoto, and Fink discuss serves in court #2.

Mike and Matt hang with Fred Lewis on Court #3 and discuss proper hitting motion.

The 'Z' Man, in the Lewis court, is taught proper swinging motion, ball placement, and court positioning on defense and offense.

McRae gets some one-on-one with Lewis

Fred Lewis works on Matt Thorpe's swinging motion. Thorpe was told to, "Let the ball drop...."

This time Matt let it drop and the ball was "smoked!"

Look at the 'Z' Man's form!

Abe Montijo and Mike Linnik work on DC's half-court drill

Courtney and Fink scrimmage at the very end of their session
Maushardt looks on as Fink and Courtney play to 3 points to close out the first round (45 minutes).

Session #2 had Courtney Peixoto rotating into DC's class. They were caught on camera working on deep back wall shots.

DC, Tovar, Montijo and Linnik

Emmett Peixoto (Berkeley, CA) performs a Q & A with his group

Bob Bardeau (Ohio) asks Emmett: "I gave trouble focusing on the match when I have the lead or when I am trailing. What do I do?" Emmett: Don't think about anything negative. Focus all of your energy on the ball. Call a time out if you need to, but certainly get your mind off of negative thoughts and channel it toward hitting the ball only. Focus on your feet or a spot on the wall. This will "snap" you out of it!"
Before the third session of the day kicked off, the group held a "who can hit the can contest?" Over 15 participants threw in $25 dollars and only one winner got the loot. The winner?

Jennifer Hinman wins over $300 in cash, as she was the only one to hit the can located dead-center on the front wall.

Jennifer Hinman (Hood River, OR) gets the dough!

Q & A with Fred Lewis

Meanwhile, Jennifer's group got a 2 hour lunch break. How did she enjoy her break? Latte and multitasking!
Whatley and Timboe step into DC's class and practice his warm-up

Whatley and Timbo throw the ball to the front wall ten times with both hands before hitting it 10 times. In the back left you see Al Stanek (Las Vegas, NV) with some personal DC time.
Whatley sends one to the camera.

DC's classes learned a lot of info on this day

Tim Murray (Florida), Bardeau, Kelleghan (serving), Hinman step into Emmett's camp.

Sky Peters and Johnny Audet step into the Fink Clinic

Lunch time for the Alaska Guys and Fred Lewis

Tovar, Peixoto and Abe grab a quick bite to eat to close out day #2!!!
Day two ended with the crew migrating back to the Paris Hotel and Casino for some grub and city lights. Most campers went to bed early, as the day's festivities were physically draining.
Day three............

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