After playing sports in the Northland just a handful of years ago, Camden Berger has taken over the reigns of Duluth Marshall boys basketball. Fast forward to present day, and not even he would believe where he’s ended up.

“If you asked me three years ago where I’d be at right now, I’d look at you all confused,” said Berger. “It’s just kind of take each day as it comes. Yeah, I’m glad I’m here.”

An Esko native, now the head coach of Duluth Marshall boys basketball, Berger has brought his love for basketball up the hill.

A young coach isn’t all that uncommon, but one with as much experience and passion for the game and his team is a bit harder to find.

“I mean I think his relatability just really helps our team a lot,” said Brooks Johnson, a senior forward for Duluth Marshall. “I mean we want to play harder for him because we just feel like he understands us better than a sixty-year-old guy would have. It just brings that young fire to our team and it really motivates us to try to be our best. In the end his style of coaching really just helps our team play that much harder to make that one extra play that helps us win games.”

“It’s amazing to have a young coach because we can relate to him really, really well,” added Josh Johnson, another senior forward. “He knows what it’s like to take a loss right now. He knows what it’s like to win a game right now. He knows a lot of the celebrations we know. He knows a lot of the slang that we know, which can be troublesome at times.”

Berger is known in the basketball community as one of the more animated coaches on the sidelines – but his team doesn’t mind it, and in fact they welcome it.

“We care that he has passion for us and we have passion for him,” said Josh Johnson. “He loves the game of basketball. It’s really great when he gets fired up because that really gets us going.”

The most important thing a coach can do it teach his players, as they’re the future of the sports. Berger has done just that.

“I’ve been very fortunate to play in a lot of big time games. I think just my experience in that kind of rubs off onto these guys a little bit,” concluded Berger.