IPFW Basketball Camp

Cooper participated in an IPFW Basketball camp on the IPFW college campus.  The facility was really neat, and the camp was superb.  The actual IPFW basketball team were the coaches and leaders for the day camp, so the kids got instruction straight from the players.  Cooper was really excited to go each day and be a part of such a neat organization.  He did drills, scrimmages, activities, and got to experience the college campus a little bit.  His friend from school, Jackson, happened to be in the camp as well. So that was fun for him to have a friend there that he already knew. 

IPFWs mascot is the mastadon.  It's actually a meaningful mascot to the Routsong family.  Bill Routsongs relative (either a cousin or an uncle) happened to find bones in his fields.  He had the IPFW geology and archeology department come out to look at the bones to see if they were of any importance.  He thought they could be dinosaur bones.  They turned out to be the skeleton of a mastadon.  The archeology department took the bones to study, and the mascot of the college became the Mastadons.  Somewhere on campus there is a dedication to Mr. Routsong from whose lands the mastadon had been discovered.  Pretty cool story!

One of the camp days, the Fort Wayne news channel came to do a story on the IPFW basketball team and share a little bit about the camp they put on for the community.  Cooper got in the background of one of the interviews and we saw him on TV!!  He was thrilled about this of course.  It was a great experience for him and he plans to be a part of the camp again next summer.