High school stars go back to basics
They are high school basketball’s best and brightest…and all this week they are being put through their paces. This afternoon I had a front row seat on the action.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This afternoon, the screech of sneakers and the constant drum of a basketball echoed through City Centre as day two of the All High School Basketball Camp kicked off.
The camp caters to twenty-five of the country’s top high school players. Leading the coaching staff is basketball veteran Clinton “Pulu” Lightburn, flanked by semi-pro and national team players Darren Bovell and Claude “Too Tall” Jones.
But according to Lightburn, as impressive as these young athletes are, their game is nowhere ready for the real world.
Clinton Lightburn, Camp Coach
“There is over two hundred basic drills that you could do to develop a player. And right now we have only like covered like five or six…A lot of these guys are like seventeen eighteen and don’t even know how to use their left hand, so I think we have a serious problem with our development program.”
And if we don’t, Lightburn believes we will have to keep importing players to attend international tournaments.
Clinton Lightburn
“There is still hope for these kids. The thing is it’s going to be a lot more difficult than the average basketball player they are going to compete against, especially a player that’s from the States, that grew up in their system where these kids have been taught the fundamentals and the basics of basketball from third, fourth and fifth grade.”
The objective of the camp has been reformulated from polishing players, to training athletes with basketball basics…an intensive feat by any measure.
Claude Jones, Camp Coach
“They respond good, especially the district kids, they dah the one weh more respect me more than anything else right. The guys from the city, they are alright, but they believe they know a lot by TV-wise they feel that they know a lot and I tell them me right now I still the learn.”
Darren Bovell, Camp Coach
“I get them up at 5:00 in the morning, we do an hour and a half of exercise, stretch and pre-warm up drill to get them into the day. Have breakfast at 7:00, and then we take a two hour break and we over here at 9:00, so it’s a very active day for them.”
Marlon Middleton, Player, CET
“We no used to it, we noh really like it but we have to get used to get fu get through the camp you know…They teach you a lot of self pride, personal development, how fu have respect for elder people and make bigger stars you know.”
Bernard Felix, Player, Wesley College
“The guys weh I meet, I mi think it would be hard fu communicate with. All ah them alright, they straight to me. To me, they friendly and they mek friends quick with you. Dah noh like nobody argue and they thing deh.”
Great expectations are pinned on this first program; failure is not an option because the next generation of ballers are already waiting in the wings.
When the camp participants aren’t on the court or in the classroom, they are either at Neal and Gordon Gym for weight training or at the Children’s Home doing community service. The camp ends this Friday night with a special game tagged “Glimpse of the Future.” Proceeds from the game will go into a revolving fund to finance other basketball development initiatives.
