by Scott Sacry
The annual McCarthy Basketball Camps completed their 2026 summer camps on July 15 in Stevensville. The McCarthy Camps, run by Frank McCarthy, are one of the most popular basketball camps in the Bitterroot Valley and were held in three locations this year: Darby and Hamilton in June, and Stevensville in July.
“We had our best camp ever this year with 265 total campers,” said McCarthy. “We’ve been doing summer basketball camps for over 40 years, and this is our sixth year of putting on basketball camps in the valley, and we’re really gaining momentum. The camps were a great success again this year.”
McCarthy has coached basketball since before the Reagan administration. He started his career coaching basketball in Australia, then in 1979 he coached at the St. Labre Indian School. Next, he went to Powell High School, then to Eastern Wyoming College, then he coached MSU-Billings, MSU Bozeman, then went to Sheridan College in Wyoming. He finally settled in the Bitterroot Valley, where he has coached 7th- and 8th-grade boys in Hamilton.
The three-day camps are for boys and girls basketball players of all skill levels who are entering kindergarten through 9th grade, with the boys going in the morning and the girls in the afternoon. “I want to give a special thanks to Dave Bradshaw, who ran a basketball camp in the Bitterroot for years,” said McCarthy. “We kind of used the blueprint he used to run his camps, and he has been very generous in giving advice to us.”
McCarthy wants to give the kids a strong foundation in basketball. They learn the fundamentals, like rebounding, shooting, defense, and passing. But McCarthy also feels it’s important to teach and highlight the life skills that sports in general and basketball specifically can teach our younger generation.
“Basketball and sports teach us valuable life skills, and I feel it’s important to teach this to the campers,” said McCarthy. “We give the campers pointers on how to be a good young man or a good young woman, like the importance of having integrity and what it takes to have a strong character. We teach the importance of a firm handshake and looking people in the eye. Parents come up and thank me for this. We tell the kids the same things as their parents, but coming from us, it helps to really drive the point home. Coaches have a big influence on the lives of kids. They have a ‘pulpit of the podium,’ and I take this role model responsibility seriously. Teaching the kids important life skills is what I enjoy the most.”
McCarthy strives to keep the camp affordable. Campers only pay $75 for the week, and besides the education, all campers get a basketball, a t-shirt and a water bottle. Compare this to similar basketball camps in Montana that cost over $200.
“We work really hard to keep the price down for the kids,” said McCarthy. “We do a lot of work getting sponsors to help with the costs, and our local community has been very generous; without their help, none of this would be possible.”
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