The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the past 20 years, Patricia ‘Pattie’ Johnson, the country’s most outstanding female high school basketball camp, has staged her free-for-all summer basketball camp at the HO Nash Junior High School.

Designed for boys and girls of all high school ages, the camp is geared towards providing instructions for the participants.

“The passion and the results that I’ve seen from the players when they go back to school is what keeps me going,” said Johnson about her longevity of what has been one of the longest camps staged in the country.

“We’ve been having a lot of success and that’s because we have a number of campers who return every year and there are some of them who are too old, but they come back and help out as well.”

Since 1999, Johnson has staged the camp following the completion of the Basketball Smiles camp that is hosted by Sam Nichols, a Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach from McMurray University.

In a collaborated effort with Nichols following his one-week camp in June, Johnson noted that she has been able to spend the next three weeks at HO Nash with her camp where the campers are instructed in the proper way to use their feet, dribble and pass the basketball and shooting the ball.

From 10am to 2pm, the lessons take place at HO Nash. Once they’re done, they head to the Anatol Rodgers Secondary High School where they participate in a series of pick-up games to develop the skills they were taught in the camp.

“The kids, who are in grade eight, going into grade nine, have classes here at HO Nash,” Johnson pointed out. “We have a science teacher, a maths teacher, and a social studies teacher who come in and get them ready once or twice a week for their classes.

“Every year, the kids get better and better. You see the results in their grades and we have players who go on and perform in the finals of their various school leagues, so we feel it’s working.”

While there are some persons who contribute to the programme, Johnson said the participants take part in the camp free of charge. At the end of the camp, they receive a basketball and awards for their performances.

Omar Pierre, a 13-year-old preparing to enter grade nine at HO Nash in September, said he wanted to take advantage of the camp so that he could work on his game. He is a point guard for the HO Nash Lions junior boys’ basketball team.

“I learn how to dribble, especially using my left hand,” Johnson stated. “It’s been good. I enjoy it.”

Dlyso Jordon, a 14-year-old graduate of HO Nash who will be attending St John’s College in September, said for the past three years she has been attending the camp to improve her game.

“It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work,” stressed Jordon, who hopes to make her presence felt for the Giants team after holding her own for the Lions.

“But I enjoy it because I have an opportunity to improve my game and shoot the ball much better,” she said.

Although he has been done with the camp as a player, Brendan Comarcho makes it a point every year to come back and lend his assistance to Johnson, especially as a role model for the boys.

“Ms J was an inspiring coach for me and she made sure that I always did what I had to do and she helped to keep me focused,” he said.

“So I come out here to help the kids because I don’t want them to go through what I did when I was in school. I know they have the potential to be better.”

From what he has seen, Comarcho said there’s a lot of potential and he would like to encourage them to continue to come out and grasp as much information as they can so they can improve their skills on and off the basketball court.

The camp will conclude on Friday, July 26.