Timmins High and Vocational School will be hosting its 11th annual high performance basketball camp July 25 to July 29 and according to THVS basketball coach Peter Graham the camp will be both instructional and fun.
"The days will be full of activities beginning at 9 a.m. in the morning when the players will be coached by two of our guest coaches," said Graham. "Then, after lunch, they will be coached by the other two coaches before we get into some games."
As in previous years there will be room for 100 basketball players at the camp and it is open to all male and female basketball players from grade 7 to grade 12 from across Ontario.
According to coach Graham cost is $225 per participant. For out of town participants a residency option is available.
“We introduce them to dryland training, running, aerobics, weight lifting,” Graham said. “And then they can do it that on their own.”
Also there will be an afternoon at the pool on Wednesday July 27, 2016.
“The sessions are open to people who want watch the workouts and games,” said Graham. “We have had other coaches come up to watch the camps in the past.”
“We run the camp to break even,” Graham explained. “We also get some tremendous sponsors to support our program like Goldcorp, Toffanello’s Fresh Pasta, Comfort Inn and Adidas.”
“Our goal is to give kids primarily from Northern Ontario the same opportunity to excel at basketball as those in Southern Ontario, although we have received applications for the program from as far away as Windsor, Ontario,” explained Graham.
“We already have kids signed up from Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and New Liskeard,” said Graham. “And we do we have a residency option for kids who live out of town. “
"Once again we are happy to be welcoming four excellent university basketball coaches," Graham added.
Instructing the young basketball players on both the offensive and defensive facets of the game are John Kreiner the Lakehead University Woman’s Basketball Coach; Thomas Cory and Ryan Vetrie the men’s and women’s coaches at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie; Jovain Wilson who is the men’s basketball coach at Fleming College in Peterborough Ontario.
Jon Kreiner of Lakehead University finished his thirteenth season as the Head Coach of the Lakehead University Women’s Basketball program. The team finished this past season with a 13-16 record with a very young and promising roster.
Thomas Cory from Algoma University has just completed his ninth season as head coach of the Algoma U Thunderbirds Men's Varsity basketball team. Under Cory's direction, the team has reached the OCAA Men’s Provincial Basketball Championships the last three seasons, capturing the Silver Medal at the OCAA Championships in 2007-08. Cory played three years of professional basketball in Portugal.
Ryan Vetrie, a graduate of Algoma University, is a former player of both the Laurentian University and Algoma University Men’s Basketball teams. As a member of Algoma, he received an OCAA Silver Medal in 2007-2008.
Jovain Wilson was an accomplished student-athlete. During his five years of post-secondary play at Fleming College and Algoma University, he had a most decorated career in the OCAA and CCAA. He is currently #3 on the all-time scoring list for Ontario colleges to go along with being a 4-time all-star.
The coaches also have an opportunity to hone in their coaching skills, the coaches come to me and tell me what they want to coach because it gives them an opportunity to work on their own coaching techniques and strengthening an area that they are weak in.
“That’s one of the reasons we are attracting coaches to participate in the camp, graham said it helps them improve as well as helping the players improve.”
“A championship game will be played at the end of the camp to further instill the lessons into the players,” said Graham.