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Local Sports

Local sports in the Panhandle are not just a game, they are a lifestyle. Our community eats, sleeps and breathes cheering on our local athletes.
News13 is On Your “Sidelines” bringing you more than the score.
News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Learning from the Best!

PANAMA CITY- Everyone remembers attending some sort of summer camp growing up, well, some budding girls basketball stars are experiencing a camp to remember.

They are getting a chance to learn fundamentals from the National Champion Gulf Coast women’s basketball team.

“Well, it’s kind of surprising, because they teach differently than the little leagues do,” said camp participant Ellery Whaley.

It’s an answer you would likely expect from a ten year old attending Gulf Coast Community College’s summer girls basketball camp.

These girls are receiving tips and getting one-on-one help to improve their game from the junior college national champion Lady Commodore players and coaches.

“It’s very exciting because I get to work with the national team and they teach me a lot of stuff and it’s very helpful when I’m going to play basketball in middle school,” said camp participant Curstin Taylor.

Not only do the players enjoy the camp, but the instructors do as well.

“It’s a lot of fun. It kind of brings back memories of coaching at Laurel Hill all that time, because that was a unit school, Pre-K through 12th, so we get to put some of our teaching skills back to use on the elementary level and middle school level,” said Gulf Coast Head Coach Roonie Scovel.

These girls know that being around the national champions will help improve their skills, and they have certain areas picked out that they want to improve.

“My ball handling and defense,” said camp participant Alexis Ware.

“I want to get better at each of my lay-ups and dribbling and to better my passing and pivoting, so I can get it to the other player and score,” said Taylor.

“It will help me dribble better, shoot lay-ups and learn how to guard,” Whaley stated.

“You want them to have fun, but you want them to learn some skills and learn to compete and learn what it is to win or lose when we play those little games, but mostly to try and learn fundamentals,” said Scovel.

These camp participants will be able to brag to their friends about being taught the fundamentals of basketball from some local champions.

“They’ll probably be like, wow, that’s cool, that you will be able to do that,” said Ware.

“I think they are going to be surprised that I get to go here and have so much fun and work with the national champions,” said Taylor.

While the kids are enjoying all the camp has to offer, Coach Scovel gets to sit back and enjoy.

“You watch them do something in the little drills that they do, and by the third day, they’ll do something right and be excited and that’s rewarding to watch them learn a skill. We take for granted just how hard it is to learn this game at a young age,” said Scovel.

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