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Hoops camps in business

Sports

Friday, 11 June 2010 10:05

News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan

Basketball camps offer local youth an opportunity to escape the summer heat and learn the game from experienced high school coaches.

Local prep coaches provide expert tips

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Perhaps it makes sense that during the summer, the hottest time of the year, many children head indoors to play basketball.
Aside from avoiding the heat, players also may benefit from expert instruction offered at several camps run by Osceola County high school basketball coaches.
St. Cloud High Coach Tim McMullen’s Top Gun basketball shooting camp, started in 1985, returns Monday at the Bulldog gym and continues through Friday after a two-year layoff.
As the title indicates, McMullen’s Top Gun camp stresses shooting skills for children, male and female, in grades 4 through 12.
“Most of the county’s top scorers came through the Top Gun camp,” McMullen said. “There’s a lot of good camps out there for kids, but most of them don’t stress the shooting skills as much as they should and that’s something that kind of separates us from the others.”
Both of the county’s all-time leading scorers went to the Top Gun camp. Tim Gatz, who scored over 2,200 points at St. Cloud High from 1988-91, is the Osceola County male scoring leader. Dana Smith, who led the state with over 3,600 career points when she graduated in 1994, led St. Cloud’s Lady Bulldogs to the Class 4A state championship and then played at the University of Florida.
McMullen said the Top Gun camp, which is open from 8 a.m. to noon, allows the students to hone their skills in all aspects of basketball. There are games and activities scattered throughout the week, McMullen said.
“You want the kids to enjoy it, so you make it fun for them,” he said. “We have kids who come just about every year and it’s fun to watch them as they grow up and develop their talent.”
Several guest speakers, including Florida Christian College Coach Jake Deer, former St. Cloud player and Embry Riddle University assistant coach Chad Keller and former Tennessee Temple University Coach Pat O’Grady will address the campers.
The fee is $75, which includes a T-shirt. Information on the Top Gun camp is available by calling McMullen at 407-892-5391.
Registration is available Monday morning at the gym.
Another county coach, New Dimensions’ Ryan Adams, will host the Shooter’s Gold summer basketball camp June 21-24 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m for students entering grades 5 through 8.
Adams said the camp includes instruction, a T-shirt, breakfast and lunch.
The fee is $80. Adams can be reached at 407-592-3028 or e-mail adams@newdimensionshs.com.
Poinciana High Coach Jay Lunce will run a camp beginning Monday through June 29 at the PHS gym that is sponsored by 21st Century, a government-funded grant.
The camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day, Lunce said.
The camp will stress academics and weight training in addition to basketball skills development.
Contact Lunce at 407-870-4860, Ext. 03751 or e-mail luncej@osceola,k12.fl.us for more information.
Celebration Coach Jeff Bean will host a basketball camp for children in first through eighth grades at Celebration High Aug. 2-4. Bean said more information will be available at the school website.
The Orlando Magic will host a camp July 5-9 at the Celebration K-8 school for children ages 6-17. The camp offers instruction by the National Basketball Academy and has a 1:8 coach to student ratio. T-shirts, a basketball and a ticket to a Magic game next season are included. For information, call 407-916-HOOP or visit orlandomagiccamps.com.