Nike SPARQ Mini-Camp

Carlo Alvarez and Ethos Athletics will be hosting the Nike SPARQ Mini-Camp at Rivers Edge Sports Complex in Cleves on March 21st. Registration will begin at 9am and the camp will start at 10am. This will be a two hour camp that will focus on helping all athletes improve on their stability, mobility, speed, reaction, quickness and explosiveness.

Below are some of the most frequent Q and A's that we receive regarding the Mini-Camp. If you can't register over the internet, show up on Saturday and you can register in person. If you have any further questions, please call 513-509-9642. We look forward to seeing everyone at River Edge on Saturday.

Q: What are SPARQ Mini Camps?

SPARQ Mini Camps are a two hour dynamic training workout in which a local lead SPARQ trainer will instruct how to improve your athleticism by incorporating SPARQ Training.

Q: What are Nike Football Training Camps?

NFTC’s are invite-only specialty camps run by Nike and ESPN Rise. To be invited to an NFTC, it’s more than just a good SPARQ Rating. You should have a certified rating, should have a highlight reel in your Locker Room, and a letter of recommendation from your coach.

Q: How are the SPARQ Mini Camps different from the Nike Combines?

At the Nike Combines you will test in the four categories that make up the Football 2.0 SPARQ rating. The 40 Yard Dash (two tries, we'll take your best ones), the Agility Shuttle (two tries, we'll take your best one), the Kneeling Power Ball Toss (two tries and a warm up and we'll take the best of the two) and the Vertical Jump (jump until you decrease).

Then you'll receive an official SPARQ Rating which will go out to every college coach in country.

At the SPARQ Mini Camp there will be no testing involved, just hard dynamic training to get you ready for the off season workouts.

Q: Do you have to pay for the SPARQ Mini Camp?

All Nike Combines and SPARQ Mini Camps are free of charge.

Q: Can 8th graders attend the mini camps? Who CAN attend the mini camps?

SPARQ Mini-Camps are open to boys and girls from 8th grade to 11th grade. The skills you'll work on will be adjustable to any skill level. So grab a friend and get moving! Just sign up online before you come, grab your workout gear and bring your work hat cause you’re gonna get a good one in!

Q: How long are the mini-camps?

About 2 hours.

Q: If I was registered for a Mini-Camp and the date or location was later changed, am I still signed up?

Yes. You will also receive an email informing you of the change. Check your spam folder!

My Boy Kettler. Getting Some Press

Strength Coach Adds Muscle to WVU Hoops

By Bob Hertzel For the Times West Virginian

MORGANTOWN — A few games back, as West Virginia was defeating Notre Dame, freshman Devin Ebanks began soaring through the air as this long, lean freshman has done so many times this year. The basketball was in his hands, the basket in his sights.

The crowd gasped in anticipation of one of those thunderous dunks he has provided all so many times on a breakaway this season, but this time there was an opponent there, one who managed somehow to get a hand in there and leave the crowd wondering where this slam had gone.

Ebanks could not finish it off, a disappointing end to a moment that threatened to bring the house down.Later that day, when the play was brought up to Coach Bob Huggins, he repeated what he’s said all year.“Devin Ebanks has got to get bigger and stronger. A year from now, he’ll make that play.”

This is not news to the 6-foot, 9-inch freshman from New York.“I’ve known it my whole life,” he said. “It’s just a matter of me putting my mind to it.”When he does, he will punch his ticket to the National Basketball Association. Fortunately, it is a ride he is not taking alone.

Andy Kettler is his traveling partner. You probably don’t know who Andy Kettler is, although you’ve probably seen him around the bench at Mountaineer games. Shaved head, goatee, just about 30 years of age. Oh, yeah, he’s muscular, too. He has the kind of build NBA scouts would like to see Ebanks with and he’s in charge of getting him there.

Andy Kettler is the director of strength and conditioning for the Mountaineer basketball team. He comes from out of the large shadow Bob Huggins cast upon the city of Cincinnati, which is his hometown. His background is mostly in baseball after becoming a 2001 graduate of Ashland with a bachelor’s degree in sports industries/recreation. He worked a year with the Cleveland Indians’ Lake County Captains farm team, then spent six years as minor league strength and conditioning coordinator for the San Diego Padres before serving two years as the head strength and conditioning coordinator with the Kansas City Royals. But something was eating at him as he performed that job.“ Kim and I never saw each other,” he said, referring to his wife of three years. That made him itchy to try something new and that something new almost had to be college athletics.“

My mentality and the work ethic I want out of the kids fits better at the college level instead of with 35-year-oldathletes who have been through multiple surgeries,” he said. He left the Royals, joined Wintrhrop University as head of strength and conditioning for two years before Huggins grabbed him off for his program last July.

There can’t be too many more demanding jobs than strength and conditioning coach under the hard-driving Huggins, whose game is a physical one built on muscle and conditioning, pushing his players through three-hour practices, day after day.“ Strength and conditioning is important to him and, obviously, it’s important to me,” Kettler said. “It’s a double-edged sword. He’ll support you in every way but you’ve got to answer the bell. There are a lot of expectations.”

Kettler came into the West Virginia program at an interesting time, for there were a couple of major projects waiting for him.One was John Flowers, the other Ebanks. Flowers had been in the program for a year. He is a long, lean kid, a leaper who lacks only the strength that Huggins requires and the size to bang bodies with the bullies of the Big East.“ He’s gained 17 pounds since I’ve been here,” Kettler said. But the gem he really has to polish is Ebanks, who is listed at 6-9 and 205 and who figures to grow into someone who weighs around 230 by the end of college, maybe even bigger once he reaches the professional level.

What Kettler understands is that it can’t happen overnight, unless you apply something that no one even wants to talk about these days — steroids.“ Huggs has a two-word saying,” Kettler said. “Do right.” Steroid possession, he points out, is a felony.“ If you do drugs, you are not doing right,” he said.And so they are taking a slow approach with Ebanks, one so slow that Ebanks admits he actually has lost a couple of pounds as he’s gone through three-hour practices and played 30 to 35 minutes a game this year.“

A kid comes into college and he has lot on him. You need to understand that you have an 18-year-old kid coming to college for the first time, playing for a Hall of Fame coach in the Big East carrying an academic load,” Kettler said.“ Besides that, most 18-year-old kids are a—holes. This kid listens. This is a good kid who wants to succeed.” They’re hoping to get him to 225 by next year.“ If he doesn’t make it, say just gets to 220, fine,” said Kettler, not putting any pressure on Ebanks. The hard work will come during the offseason, when Huggins turns him over completely to Kettler.