By Gary Curreri
For two solid weeks, the Highlands Christian Academy basketball camp attracted 40 campers to take part in not only learning how to play the sport but also learn life lessons.
“I am always grateful and excited that we are able to offer basketball camp here at HCA,” said HCA Boys basketball coach and school athletic director Jim Good, who has worked the camp personally for 21 years. “It is by far our most successful athletic camp we do in the summer.”
Reg Cook, the school’s former AD and Boys Varsity basketball coach, started the camp in 1986 with 19 campers in attendance. The first week of the camp consisted of children in the 7th-12th grades, while the second week consisted of 2nd-6th graders. Both sessions attracted approximately 40 campers each.
“I am extremely thankful for our coaches who do a tremendous job leading, working stations, sharing devotions and officiating games,” Good said.
This year’s staff included several of the HCA Basketball coaches: Luke Still (Boys JV), Josh Good (Boys JH), Jeff Sullivan (Boys 6th grade), John Wilson (Former Girls Varsity who is at Charlotte Christian now) and Kayla Lassen (HCA alumnus who is attending Liberty University).
Special guests, including Andrew Smith and Tomasz Gielo, would lead some drills in the morning. Smith graduated from HCA in 2011 and helped lead the Knights to back-to-back District Championships in his junior and senior years. The former first-team All-County selection played four years in the Big South at Liberty University and just finished up his third season playing overseas, including professional stints in Latvia, Netherlands, and just recently in Germany.
Tomasz was a teammate of Smith’s while at Liberty but transferred his senior year and finished playing his college ball at Mississippi. He has been playing professionally in Spain the last two years. Tomasz is originally from Poland and is representing his country this summer by playing for the Polish National team.
“It was great having these two young men give back to these kids,” Good said. “They were given a 45-minute time slot of leading some offensively minded drills they have incorporated while playing in college or overseas. The campers had a tremendous amount of respect and ‘awe’ in having them part of our camp this summer.”
The typical morning included a devotion from one of the coaches as they shared a spiritual truth for the day. They then focused the entire group on warm-up runs, dribbling, ball-handling and stretching.
Each morning, the campers performed several speed and agility drills led by the coaches in a station format. The group was then divided up to work on individual skill and development with lay-ups, cone drills, and shooting.
Each day, a specific skill was broken down for the campers to focus on and, every day, the campers competed in a different trophy competition which included: one on one, two on two, free throws, and hot shots.
“Lunch was off campus at Chick-Fil-A, Wendy’s, and CiCi’s Pizza and we are extremely grateful for our relationship with these organizations and the support they have for HCA Athletics,” Good said.
The afternoon consisted of full court five on five games. Hours for the camp were 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and will be offered again next June.
Other camps coming up at HCA are softball, track and field, indoor soccer, golf and volleyball. For more information, visit the website at www.highlandsknights.org.
