Cam Riehl

I started coaching youth basketball when I was 16 years old, it was my first job.
- West Bearden Basketball League (WBBL), Staff from 2014-2020
At WBBL, I worked as a skill development coach in the off season and as a teams coach during the rec league season. As a skills coach I worked with kids in four different skill brackets: Peewee (7-10), Intermediate (ages 10-14), Advanced (ages 13-16), and JV-Varsity (13-18). We ran development clinics three nights a week in conjunction with scrimmages once a week. In the winter, I had anywhere from two to three teams in our rec league. I've coached three different championship teams in our youth league at WBBL in the 11-12 and 13-14 co-ed age groups.
- Knoxville, TN Youth Basketball City Tournament, 2014-2019
Each year in Tennessee we would take some of the best players from each age group in WBBL and compete against other rec leagues and AAU teams from around the city. I had a final four team in the 9-10 age group in 2017.
- I've gotten to work with some great athletes and trainers through their personal clinics including:
~ NBA/WNBA players: Grant Williams, CJ Watson, Alexis Hornbuckle
~ G-League and Overseas Pros: Jarnell Stokes, Wayne Chism, Kyle Alexander, Jordan Bone, Jordan Bowden, Chris Lofton
~ NBA Trainers: Gilbert Abraham (Mario Chalmers, Raymond Felton, Justin Jackson, etc.)
- I've worked along side, played, and trained with countless D-2 and D-1 athletes - I know the commitment that it takes to make it as a college basketball player.
- In college, I took an intensive class on the physics of shooting mechanics in basketball with a University of Tennessee professor who developed the class. We studied the mechanics of the best shooters in the NBA: Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Klay Thompson, and Stephen Curry. Defined what characteristics make them better shooters: consistency of mechanics, release style, ball rotation, hand placement, variety of shot angles, etc. Then, we got into the gym and learned how to replicate those mechanics.
- Colorado Swarm AAU, 2022-2023
~ I have gotten in touch with another CoachUp professional, David "Bug" Stroope, who is running the Colorado Swarm AAU team. I plan on continuing to work with Coach Bug going forward and to help build the CO Swarm team in the coming years.

- I played high school ball but struggled with ankle injuries which led me to focusing my time on coaching rather than playing.
- Through out High School, I spent my summers on the AAU circuit with the Tennessee Hustle. We got to play against some of the best competition in the country traveling between Atlanta (GA), Charlotte (NC), Indianapolis (IN), Kingsport (TN), Greenville (SC)
- I also competed as a varsity track and field/ cross country athlete - I trained with 4 runners that would go on to compete in D-1 Track and CC
- I also won a campus wide Three Point contest as well as a Free Throw shooting contest in my time at UT.

My job as a personal coach is to work with you and/or your child to create an individualized plan to develop your basketball skills. I want to build a long term relationship with you and work with you over the course of your basketball career to continue to develop your game.

MY COACHING PHILOSOPHY is three fold:
~ First, we want to work on very specific skills, starting at a basic level and adding difficulty over time. For example, we might spend a session together focused entirely on shooting a floater. When to shoot it in a game, how to shoot it - the mechanics of it. Then, in the coming sessions or through out a session add difficulty: shooting over a tall defender, different angles, shooting with the off hand, two foot - one foot - wrong foot floaters, different ranges.
~ Second, we want to develop our bodies to play the game. Every kid dreams about dunking "someday", but really that journey starts when you are in 7th grade. Conditioning is at the heart of everything in basketball as well. My workouts tend to involve a ton of running.
~ Third, shooting skills. I’ve been teaching people of all ages to shoot the basketball for over ten years, even took a class in college on Steph Curry’s shooting mechanics. I know that we can improve your shot with consistent effort.
~ Most importantly, we are going to goof off and have a lot of fun together while we are getting in some hard work. Basketball is a game that is meant to be fun and enjoyed - it is not a job for the vast majority of us.

FIRST SESSION
- In our first session, we will assess your game. We will also discuss your basketball goals, and how we can work together to achieve them. Together, we will identify areas of your game that we can improve and continue to strengthen. The training program we develop will be based on what age group, skill level, and commitment level you have for the game and what level you want to reach.

AVERAGE SESSION
~ Each session will begin with a warm up: stretching, cardio, and form shooting drills.
~ We will then focus on a combination of ball handling drills (one ball and two ball), and shooting drills that incorporate ball handling and movement off the ball.
~ After each drill, we will transition directly into cardio. Conditioning and practicing while tired is key to developing skills that you can actually utilize in a real game.
~ Once we have gotten in our prep work, we will begin to work on player specific skill development. Perhaps you are a big man who wants to work on your handle and wing skills, or you are a wing player who just can't seem to make your shots from behind the arc, maybe you are a small guard who wants to get better at finishing in traffic? This is when we will work on your individual skills.