Current Plymouth North basketball players help show future hoop stars how to fly like a Blue Eagle
VIDEO: Fun and games at the Blue Eagles Basketball School
The third annual Blue Eagles Basketball School took place this week at Plymouth North High School.
PLYMOUTH – The constant pounding of the basketball, the squeak of sneakers on the gym floor, and a maybe a quick yelp of delight when the ball goes through the hoop. Every bit of it is sweet music to Tim Ward’s ears.
“I love it,” the Plymouth North boys basketball head coach said Thursday morning on the final day of the third annual Blue Eagle Basketball School. “We started this youth camp with 32 kids. Last year we grew to 72 players and this year we’ve expanded to 125 campers with 21 different players from the high school team helping me out. The kids have been out of school for a week and here they are in the gym learning about basketball. We’ve got a lot of kids coming back for a third year and they had so much fun that they bring some friends with them each year.
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“It’s organized chaos. It’s awesome.”
One of the defining characteristics of this year’s state championship baseball team at Plymouth North is that many of the seniors on the team have been playing the game together since they were in youth ball. The same logic applies to basketball, explained Ward. The more you play together and get to know one another, the better you are going to be when you get to the high school level.
“We get them into the high school gym for four straight days working with some of the current high school players who’ve been nice enough to help me out this week. I couldn’t do this without the high school kids. The young kids form a connection with the older players and the other kids at the camp and maybe something clicks and they decide they like playing basketball and they keep learning and working at it” by playing in their neighborhood or putting up shots in the hoop at the end of their driveway, explained Ward. “The big thing is to get the kids playing basketball and starting to build a love of the game. Basketball’s a popular sport right now and I think the Celtics winning the NBA title might even give that a bigger bump around here. Basketball’s the easiest sport to just go outside and play.”
The Blue Eagles Basketball School is a drill and skill based camp. The skills they work on during the week are the same ones you would see if you happened to walk in on a practice at the University of Connecticut or with the Boston Celtics.
“We try to teach kids the skills that anyone from a third grader to a professional can do,” said Ward. “We have some fun and games thrown in there each day, but it’s a lot of skill-based work to start developing good habits. We trying to build off the good fundamentals of the game.”
Always learning
Incoming Plymouth North captains Troy Chase and Nelson Thevenin were among the older players at camp all week to help with the drills. It was hard to pick out who had more fun, them or the campers.
“This has been fun. Basketball is my favorite sport and I love seeing kids having so much fun with the game,” said Thevenin. “It’s great to see them pick up on different things as they improve during the week they are here.”
Chase remembered attending a similar summer camp at the West Elementary School when he was growing up. “That camp was always fun and it’s great to see the future players for Plymouth North start building their game. I’m trying to be a good mentor for all of them,” said Chase.
Lest there be any doubt, the campers are already planning their own success when they finally get to the high school team.
“It’s really fun to see the evolution of the camp from when I first came here three years ago. A lot of my friends are here now at the camp with me. We are all having fun while we learn and grow as basketball players,” said 12-year-old Anthony Gonsalves.
Mason Bell, 11, is another third year camper. He said he enjoys the interaction with the coaches, saying “it’s really cool to think about that in four or five years that could be me playing on the high school basketball court.”
Eleven-year-old Dante Frazier added that he sees himself “getting better as a basketball player” because of some of the things he learned at the camp. “It’s a super fun week.”