About 50 student athletes arrived at Twin Lakes Recreation Center at 6pm on Sunday evening, August 27th, to join IU Graduate Guard Sara Scalia at a shooting skills clinic.
This is not a new concept for Scalia, as she has coached a few of these workshops designed for girls aged 10-17, throughout the summer. This is the second time she has provide this particular workshop in Bloomington, with the first one taking place late April of this year.
“Teaching all of these kids at a young age is really important, especially developing their shooting,” said Scalia with a bright smile. “I’ve worked with a lot of these kids and there’s a bunch of talent across the board.”
Both Bloomington clinics have been sponsored by Worldwide Hoops Training, a Bloomington-based skills clinic operated by Coach Brandon Paquin. Paquin is the former Basketball Operations Advisor for the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels, has been the Director of Player Personnel for the Indiana Alley Cats, and spent a while as the Director of Basketball Operations for the East Kentucky Miners of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA).
World Wide Hoops Training staff has worked out NBA All-Stars, College All-Americans, High School All-Americans, as well as International Professionals. Their workouts are not limited to only elite players, but rather a ride range of athletic levels and abilities.
The larger group was broken into 3 sub-groups by school grade, and each group worked with a particular coach for about 15 minutes before rotating around. In addition to Scalia and Paquin, one of the coaches was IUWBB Freshman Guard Juliana LaMendola, the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Texas.
Some of the drills included dribbling technique, passing, and shooting from various points on the court. Some of the drills featured contests between the 3 groups in which the first age bracket to make 10 shots from a particular spot on the court would watch as the other two groups would be required to perform 10 push-ups, along with the coach of that group; and not even Sara Scalia was given a bye on the push-ups.
Scalia said she is excited for more opportunities to help shape the women’s basketball players of tomorrow.
Check out Sara Scalia’s merchandise on her Official NIL Page