GOODHUE — Long before the Goodhue boys basketball varsity players ever took the court at the state tournament, they were once participants in the school’s summer basketball camps.
“You want to start somewhere, and so this is where we’re starting,” said Matt Halverson, who took over as the Goodhue boys basketball head coach in 2013.
Halverson has been hosting a free “Bitty Basketball” camp for 4- and 5-year-old boys entering kindergarten for five years. “Bitty Basketball” introduces the fundamentals and basic rules of basketball. Goodhue also hosts a main basketball camp for players in grades 1-12 the first week of summer vacation.
“There’s not a lot of organized sports when they’re 3 or 4 years old,” Halverson said. “And so that’s kind of one of the reasons why we started just to have them get used to coaching, have them get used to playing with other kids and lining up, that sort of thing.”
This year’s “Bitty Basketball” camp was held July 6-7 at Goodhue Public Schools. There were 24 campers signed up and parents were invited to assist with running drills and stations.
Rising kindergarteners dribble the ball as they run through drills during a “Bitty Basketball” summer training camp on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at Goodhue Public Schools.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
Halverson introduced basic vocabulary words such as baseline and sideline before working with campers on passing, dribbling, pivoting and shooting for about 45 minutes. The final 15 minutes of camp were reserved for “open gym” to allow the boys time for free play.
“This might be the first time that they actually shoot in a gym,” Halverson said. “They’re used to shooting in a barn or at home, but it’s kind of nice to get them in the setting and just get used to being coached and going through stations and playing with someone else, maybe if they don’t have a sibling.”
Halverson’s Class of 2026 senior players attended the first camp he put on, for grades 1-12, including cousins Luke Roschen and Michael Roschen. Halverson added he remembers his current varsity players standing out as campers.
“I remember little (incoming junior) Cody Ryan in third grade had a really nice shot, and I remember (incoming junior) Alex Loos was a really good player, even in second grade,” Halverson said. “You can just see kids that can kind of develop, and then you get some surprises, too. … So that’s kind of the fun part, is to see the development over, for me, 12 years of doing this.”
Halverson’s son, Ben, 5, participated in this year’s camp with a few of his friends. Just like his dad, Ben already adores basketball and loves to play any chance he gets. He’s eager to learn too.
“We have to do crossover between the legs and aim for the magic square (on the backboard),” Ben said of what he learned during camp.
When the Wildcats played in the Class 2A state tournament and
back in March in Minneapolis, Ben was in the crowd.
Goodhue High School head basketball coach Matt Halverson coaches rising kindergarteners during a “Bitty Basketball” summer training camp on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at Goodhue Public Schools.
Maya Giron / Post Bulletin
So, who is Ben’s favorite Goodhue boys basketball player?
“Luke,” he said, naming the recent Goodhue grad who will play Division II college basketball at Southwest Minnesota State University next season.
“That’s one of the biggest compliments of last year’s team, and really a lot of teams that have come through,” Halverson said. “And that’s one of the cool things about being a K-12 school, is they will see them in the hall, and go ‘oh my goodness, that’s Alex Loos’ or ‘that’s Jackson Lodermeier,’ whoever it is, and that’s pretty special.
“You don’t get that in every school, and so when they can see some of their idols walking through the same halls as them, that’s something that definitely can help out the program.”
Fletcher Rothmeier, 5, said he goes to the varsity games with his mom and dad and older brother. The Rothmeier brothers like to play basketball together.
When asked what he loves most about the sport, Briggs Zillgitt, 5, said: “shooting.”
The three boys are good friends and will start kindergarten together this fall. Before camp on Tuesday, they were playing in the slip-and-slide at the Halverson home.
“Bitty Basketball” is held in the summer and also in the fall, in November during the high school season.
In addition to skills camps, Halverson runs a shot club for players in grades 1-12 to practice shooting and work on their form during June and July, providing an incentive “to get out and play.” Players log the number of shots they take, preferably at “game speed,” during the summer and can earn prizes. The more shots taken, the more prizes they earn.
Thanks to these camps, Halverson said the program has developed better shooters throughout his tenure.
“We also get to see the rewards of … just kind of seeing the fruits of the labor and seeing those students kind of work themselves through the program,” Halverson said. “And eventually, this little guy (Ben) is going to be hopefully a varsity player in 10 years or whatever.”