Jun. 28—EDITOR’S NOTE — This is the first story in a series taking a look at summer basketball in South Dakota.
MITCHELL — Basketball is a year-round sport.
Coaches and players are in agreement that while the South Dakota high school season only runs from late November through mid-March, the other eight-plus months of the year are far from free of basketball-related activities, even if basketball isn’t a student-athlete’s top-choice sport.
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Especially during the summer months, it’s almost impossible to find a week that doesn’t include team camps, league nights or skills clinics coordinated by the high school basketball program. That’s not even to mention the top players, who seek out more individual skill development and play with a traveling club team on one of the many AAU circuits.
For the most dedicated and those who aspire to college basketball futures, the cycle rarely pauses.
“There really isn’t an offseason, not if you’re trying to do it right and be successful,” said MHS boys basketball coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt. “If you want to compete, then you’ve got to work harder, get in the gym more, all those things. You have to, because otherwise you’re at a disadvantage right away. … Our kids have chosen to have a chance to win.”
While the mentality Kreutzfeldt speaks of is not new in a basketball-proud community such as Mitchell, what is required of athletes to fulfill that responsibility has changed significantly.
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Barely over a decade ago, opportunities on the summer basketball calendar looked much different, according to Matt Henriksen, a former standout for the MHS boys basketball team who graduated in 2012 and has spent the past couple of seasons on the Kernels’ bench as an assistant coach.
Henriksen, who played for the late Gary Munsen in the legendary coach’s final seasons, recalled that many summer basketball activities centered around playing with his Kernel teammates in various settings. There were MHS open gyms four or five times per week. Occasionally, Henriksen and a handful of MHS teammates would enter AAU tournaments in the region, a rarity for non-club teams but one of the only options for players to participate in competitive summer games. At the time, only a few established traveling clubs existed in South Dakota, and even those were largely invite-only.
The Kernels frequented an offseason team camp at the University of Minnesota, then coached by Tubby Smith. There were occasional camps geared toward individual skill development, but they were not as frequent or accessible as those offered today.
“To be honest with you, I never really knew much about individual opportunities back when I was younger,” Henriksen said. “Basically, we went to the Rec Center or the high school, or we were just shooting hoops outside at our houses on our own time.”
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Nowadays, student-athletes must balance time not only with their high school programs but also with club teams and individual workouts. And that’s just the basketball side of things. Several student-athletes also mix in offseason activities with other sports, as well as personal responsibilities.
There is a certain unspoken tradeoff. With more opportunities to improve available, oftentimes more is expected.
“It can be really difficult at times having to go from basketball to lifting to volleyball,” said rising MHS senior Addie Siemsen, who’s a multi-sport athlete for the Kernels and committed to play college basketball at Division II Wayne State College. “It’s hard to pick and choose sometimes, but ultimately I think I have to go with what will benefit me the most. I try to make sure I’m balancing it while still putting a priority on basketball. I just wish there was more time in the day. That would make things so much easier.”
Of course, MHS coaches are familiar with such jam-packed summer schedules and do their best to accommodate the student-athletes.
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“I still worry about kids being able to have some time to be kids. Some of them have jobs, and some play two or three different sports, so there are a lot of demands on their time,” said MHS girls basketball coach Dave Brooks. “I’m kind of sensitive to that, so I’m content to work around their schedules because I know those other sports and activities are important. I don’t want to get to the point where they have to make a choice. I’d rather have them some of the time than none.”
Coaches work together to produce a schedule with as little overlap as possible. Kreutzfeldt and Brooks are especially conscious of making sure athletes have the time to get in work with their teams set to compete in the fall, such as football and volleyball. Filling in the gaps wherever they present themselves, the resulting summer basketball slate can be a patchwork of activities in the mornings, afternoons and evenings throughout any given week.
Mitchell’s current collection of summer programming has helped produce tangible results on the court, according to both Kreutzfeldt and Brooks. Stemming from a high level of participation in the programs, the Kernel basketball programs own a combined 79-17 record over the past two seasons, including the boys 23-1 Class AA state championship campaign in 2023-24.
Even down to the youth level with the Palace City Basketball Association, Mitchell is striving to provide as many opportunities as possible to get kids on the court.
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“I think if kids are playing, getting the basketball in their hands, that’s a good thing,” Brooks said.
Even so, Kreutzfeldt wouldn’t mind adding more structure to the schedule and increasing the amount of time away from the court for student-athletes.
“I might be the only coach that thinks this, but I don’t think restrictions are a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind if South Dakota tightened the rules a little bit with moratoriums and things like that,” Kreutzfeldt said. “We need to give kids more time off, especially after the state tournament, a month, or at least a few weeks to just relax a little bit.
“The problem is, if we have the ability to do something, we’re going to do it,” he added. “Because I feel, as a coach, I’m not doing my job if I’m not giving them all these opportunities and things to do.”
