The Similkameen News Leader
Sports Page - May 26, 2009
ORGANIZERS EXTEND BASKETBALL CAMP REGISTRATION DEADLINE
This July, Badlands Basketball is returning to put on two basketball camps for young athletes in our area and have extended the registration deadline an extra week to ensure they can get everyone in who wants to take part.
Jesse McLean, a graduate of Princeton Secondary School, runs Badlands Basketball with long time coaching colleague Chad Pidhaichuk of Drumheller to put on camps, clinics, tournaments and special events in Alberta and B.C. and has been bringing their camp to Princeton for the past two summers.
"It is always a highlight of my summer to come home and put on a camp for the kids from my hometown. With the dedicated coaches in the area like Dean Johnston, Richard White, Rob Marshall and Kirk McConnell, the game has really taken off and it is nice to come home and see how much the kids have improved over the past year."
The Badlands Basketball camps center around developing a player's skills within a team framework.
"We try hard to instill the team concepts of the game as we work with each individual. From defense to shooting, rebounding to dribbling, we want the players thinking about how it all fits into a five-on-five game and how you can help your teammates succeed."
The camp runs from Monday July 20th to Thursday July 23rd with the Junior camp (Grades 5-8) from 8:30 AM-1:30 PM and the Elite camp (Grades 9-12) from 2:30-8:30 PM. Registration forms are available at Princeton Secondary School.
McLean knew he might need to give the people of Princeton a bit more time for those registration forms.
"I know how it is in Princeton, no one is in a hurry and everything is laid back, so I knew people would need this extra time to get those forms in. We do need to ensure that all of our supplies, shirts and insurance is in place so we do need to cut off the registrations some time, but we always prepare for a few stragglers on the first day of camp so if you want to register even after the deadline, call me and I am sure we will be able to accommodate you."
The Badlands group will also be putting on a 3-on-3 tournament for the Racing Days weekend on Sunday June 28th. There will be six divisions, Junior High Girls & Junior High Boys, Senior Girls & Senior Boys and Open Women and Open Men. Each team will be guaranteed 3 games, with many playing 4 or 5. In addition to the 3-on-3 tournament games, there will be a three-point competition and a free throw shoot-out.
Each player in the tournament will receive their own tournament t-shirt to keep and there will be prizes for the winning teams in each division.
Registrations for the 3-on-3 tournament need to be in by June 5th and can be mailed or delivered to our drop locations, Billy's Restaurant and Princeton Secondary School. Payment is due in full at the time of registration. Registration fees go towards the cost of the t-shirts, payment of court monitors, insurance and prizes. The cost of the tournament is $30 per player.
"We ran this for the first time last year and it was very successful. We had a great time playing in the sun and we had a large number of participants. It was so much fun and I hope we can have even more people involved this Racing Days."
McLean can be reached at (780) 340-5000 for more information.
