Lake Country basketball players who are hoping to hone their skills prior to the start of the school season have the perfect opportunity at the end of this month.
For the fourth year in a row, Passion Sports Basketball is bringing current and former college basketball players to Lake Country for the group’s elite basketball camp.
“It’s a really skill-oriented camp,” said Greg Wallis, Passions Sports coach and coordinator and a former player at Simon Fraser University. “We like to think of it as somewhere kids who have some past experience can come and really be pushed and understand how their hard work can pay off.”
Up to 40 young basketball players between the ages of eight and 17 are expected at the camp. Most will have some previous basketball experience and will be getting ready for the next basketball season. And the key message will be about hard work.
“The whole philosophy of Passion Sports is work harder,” said Wallis, during a break from a basketball camp on Salt Spring Island. “We will do a lot of skill development but the whole underlying theme is trying to understand that the work that you put in is what builds the confidence. Everything is designed to get kids out of their comfort zone and keep pushing their boundaries.”
Having come to Lake Country for the past three years now, Wallis is pretty familiar with the area and with the level of play in the Interior. He says he has been impressed with the basketball talent in Lake Country in past years.
“I think they have some good local coaches and that really shows in the skill level,” he said. “Sometimes there isn’t a lot of opportunities in the summer so I’m glad that we are able to help out. The last week of summer is perfect timing to get everyone back in a basketball state of mind before school.”
There is still time to register for the Passion Sports camp and the number of players registered will reflect the number of instructors that are at the camp. The group likes to have one instructor for every seven or eight kids. Players will be split into two age groups: 8 to 12 and 13 to 17.
Wallis says the instructors are all young and talented basketball players who can easily relate to kids.
“All of our instructors will have played college or university basketball,” he said. “Our whole program is designed and coordinated by the instructors. We’re all young guys and girls and we like to think the kids can relate to us and will listen to what we are saying.”
You can register online at www.passionsports.ca.
