By meadowlakeNOW

RISE basketball camp busy in fourth year

Aug 16, 2018 | 2:50 PM

Budding and seasoned young athletes alike scored some new skills at RISE Basketball camp this week in Meadow Lake.

Nearly 90 youths aged six to 17 participated in the week-long camp since Monday, Aug. 13. Navanga ‘Nav’ Burke, who was a local coach and teacher until recently organized the camp alongside his brothers Kamar Burke and Irshaad ‘Iggy’ Hunt.

Nav said the athletes who are enrolled range from newcomers right up to provincial and national calibre, but the overall focus is ultimately skill refinement and fun.

“The younger group, we’re more just introducing them to the game of basketball, but also keeping it fun and engaging,” he said. “With the older group, it’s really about them making connections with some of the friends they play on club and provincial teams with. It’s also us reminding them how to play correctly, as we don’t want them to lose any skills over the summer.”

Nav said it’s been meaningful to have his brothers help run the camp, as he gets to spend quality time with them, and each of them brings a strength forward. Hunt plays college basketball in the states and Kamar is a trainer in British Columbia and former Canadian pro basketball player.

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“It’s great to have both of them here, as they both bring two different sets of values and skills,” Nav said. “It helps me as a coach and as an instructor.”

Hunt said helping at the camp allows him to see the true joy in basketball.

“We are truly grateful for all the kids that come out,” he said. “We love to see kids grows new height, get bigger, new skill, they show us, and we give them more stuff to their arsenal.”

It’s Kamar’s third year helping with the camp, and he said he loves working with younger students as well.

“It’s good to work with younger kids,” he said. “I started my camp two years before Nav, and I’m more of a trainer, and he’s a coach. We both help each other out in that way.”

Jesse Garchinski has been taking part in the camp for three years. The 16-year-old also helped out with the younger group this week. As a club and provincial player, he said he feels he’s learned a lot.

“It helped me being more ball dominant, as I’m playing against other skilled players,” Garchinski said. “It’s fun to see little kids having fun with the game too.”

Nav is moving away to teach and coach at Athol College of Notre Dame in Wilcox in the coming weeks, but said he hopes to keep the camp running in Meadow Lake in future years.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath