Youth basketball camp kicked off for the last week of May at Bridgeport Exempted Village School District and the young Bulldogs are getting some early lessons in the game.
The atmosphere was exuberant in the facility gymnasium as groups of first-through-seventh graders took turns at various stations.
During the middle of the week, athletic director Brittany Hicks said almost 70 students have showed and the popularity was going strong.
“All of the kids plus a few more came,” she said.
“This is our third annual youth basketball camp here at Bridgeport,” she said. “We try to teach them the fundamentals of basketball.”
She pointed out students who were learning the basics of dribbling, shooting, passing, and defense. Hicks said the students also worked on their agility.
“We do some competitions where they can win some prizes,” she said.
“It has been a really good first couple days. We had a couple of kids get some free T-shirts for working hard and being good teammates. We’re excited to do the next couple of days.”
She said basketball camp finishes May 31, but there was still time for elementary and middle schoolers to get some starter experience in the Bridgeport schools’ athletic tradition.
“We are allowing kids to come every day if they want to,” she said, adding the students who pre-registered will get T-shirts.
Hicks commented on the growth she has seen since instituting the youth basketball camp.
“It’s exciting to watch our young kids come in here. We introduce the sport of basketball and then as the years progress, we had a lot of campers that started with us in the first grade and now are there for the third year as third graders, and a lot of them have progressed,” she said.
Hicks said the young players learn lessons that are useful on and off the court.
“We’re always preaching how to be a good teammate, a good friend. We’re helping each other, we’re not picking on each other. We’re being nice to each other. If somebody can’t do something, we’re going over and maybe helping,” she said.
“Being a good teammate is our most important thing. We want the kids to be respectful and work hard, and another thing is not to give up. They’re learning new skills that are challenging,” she said. “It’s going to be hard, but they have to keep practicing.”
High school basketball players joined in helping and coaching the younger students. Senior Rylee McElroy and junior Hanna Brewer were among them.
“We’re trying to bring everybody together as a community and help them train for what they want to do when they’re older, for older sports and basketball in general,” McElroy said. “Just the little skills to lead them to the big game.”
Brewer agreed.
“We want to get them ready for middle school because we have a middle school team now, and we also get to have them ready for high school,” she said. “Just teaching them the fundamentals of what they need to learn, and what they’re doing learn just to teach them how to do right.”
McElroy said the younger students were taking the camp’s lessons to heart.
“They all seem to have the energy that they need to encourage each other.”
