Chester boys basketball holds youth camp

Posted June 01, 2017 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Editor@heraldtrib.com

The Chester High School boys basketball team kicked off its summer program in style this week, as the program's players and coaches conducted a youth camp Wednesday through Friday at Colbert Gymnasium.

"I think, just overall, we want to keep the community excited about the sport," said Chester coach Brad Norman. "And in the process, the kids can find something they truly love and hopefully it is basketball.

"But I think ultimately we're trying to continue to teach them how to have fun while you're working hard. How to be respectful to your teammates and how to encourage those, even if they don't do something right."

Norman noted that one of the goals with the third and fourth graders was organization, with more drill work with the older children.

"As we progressed into our fifth and sixth grade we started expanding a little bit and instill a little bit more drill work that included two players rather than one player," Norman said. "Again, we're building the process all the way up. As we got to the seventh and eighth graders it was more full-court stuff, but more team-oriented."

The camp also had shooting instructor and well-known motivator Jim Corrona as its featured speaker. Corrona has taught basketball across the world as part of a 40-year coaching career.

"With any camp, if you want to host it right, you need somebody special to come in," Norman said. "That's kind of the idea. Our coaches, and sometimes our players and those who are coming to our camp, don't see me or even some of our high school players as that special of a person.

"I think if you can bring in someone who is titled as having experience in something that we're doing, it only heightens the interest in our camp."

Norman also noted that Corrona's ability to bring in different lessons in a different style of presentation that helps the learning process.

"He may be able to key in on one or two kids that didn't completely get what we were trying to teach them," Norman said. "He may be able to teach them in a different manner and ultimately, that's what he's able to do."

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