By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — Dozens of boys and girls spent last week improving their hoops skills by attending the annual Sullivan County Community College (SCCC) Generals Basketball Camp.
The youngsters, who ranged in age from 7 to 15 and hailed from all over Sullivan County, got to practice their basketball abilities by completing different drills and playing in games.
Camp Director Kevin DeVantier, who is also the Coach of the SCCC Men’s Basketball Team, noted that the camp ran from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, July 18 through Friday, July 22 inside SCCC’s Paul Gerry Fieldhouse. For two hours each day, the campers went to different stations to work on the various aspects of the game including dribbling, passing and shooting. They then played games to put their skills to the test.
The SCCC Generals’ top returning player for the 2011-2012 basketball season, Cleanthony Early, stopped by the camp one day. He spoke to the campers and gave them advice for working on their game. He answered questions from the youngsters and talked about the offers he is receiving from some big-time basketball schools to continue his career once he finishes his sophomore season at SCCC next March.
“That was a lot of fun for the kids,” DeVantier said.
DeVantier noted that the camp was a success.
“It was a good week of camp,” he said. “Our numbers were good. The kids played hard and they learned a lot about the game.”
As camp concluded on Friday afternoon, DeVantier addressed the dozens of campers. He congratulated them on a good week of basketball and encouraged them to keep working on their skills throughout the summer and fall.
DeVantier reminded the boys and girls that basketball is a relatively inexpensive sport as you just need a basketball and a rim.
“Play as many games as you can,” he said. “Keep playing hard and trying to improve yourselves.”
In addition to giving each of the boys and girls an official participation certificate, DeVantier presented some special awards to deserving campers.
Those awards included: Most Valuable Player of the Championship Game – Alec Tullock; MVP of the Younger Group (ages 7-11) – Andrew Ziska; Most Improved Player of the Younger Group – Alley Roth; MIP of the Older Group (ages 12 to 15) – Ashley Johnson; MVP of the Older Group – Ronj Padu; Hustle Award for the Younger Group – Jenna Jenco; Hustle Award for the Older Group – Jarred James and Camper of the Week – Lena Episalla.
Assisting Kevin DeVantier with the camp were his wife Amber DeVantier, who is the Coach of the women’s basketball team at SUNY Delhi; his sister Taylor DeVantier, who is a member of the SUNY Delhi women’s basketball team; Pete Dworetsky, who is the Coach of the Fallsburg Central School varsity boys’ basketball team; and Diana Traugot, who is the Assistant Coach of the SCCC women’s basketball team.