The Tribune

THE summertime is when kids, junior and senior athletes around New Providence utilise their new found free time to pick up new sporting interests, develop new skills or improve their games. 

Coach Randy Cunningham and Kevon Spence have teamed up this summer to give boys and girls between ages 5-19 those opportunities with the Summer Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis Camp presented by the Randimac Tigers.

The two-week camp got underway at the DW Davis Gymnasium on Monday and, according to one of the camp directors, the attendance numbers are slowly climbing as 30 participants showed up on Tuesday.

“Our turnout is starting to grow. Today, we have improved in numbers and by tomorrow the numbers will grow as people now know that we are here. It is not about numbers, it is about the quality of the sessions that you give kids. We are offering basketball, tennis and volleyball and when we’re finished with the camp we will continue with a programme on Saturdays at the Tom the Bird Grant Park so it is an ongoing process,” he said.

The group was split into three sections on Tuesday as they worked on basic basketball fundamentals including conditioning, defence, offence, passing and ball-handling. 

Coach Cunningham said the goal is ultimately to get the youth to improve some of their skills within the next two weeks.

“Our goal is to get the kids to improve within the next two weeks. Basketball wise we are teaching defence, ball-handling, passing, shooting and we are working on conditioning. We also teach them focus because it is hard to get kids to focus nowadays so we try to give them a lot of breaks, short spurts, run them hard and then hopefully they will receive the message,” he said.

Another underrated aspect of the summer camp is the addition of volleyball and tennis which grants the youth an opportunity to diversify their skillset or even pick up a new interest. The camp director believes it is important to allow kids to try out new sports they usually do not have the opportunity or resources to engage in.

“Tennis is not only for the rich so what I am trying to do is get my kids here in the camp to try tennis. In the days coming, we are not gonna let them do basketball, we are gonna let everybody do a whole session of tennis. Most of the kids come from basketball but if you never try tennis it might be something that you like or you can be a natural. That is why I try to get the inner city kids to be a part of trying volleyball or learning tennis,” he said. 

Success for both coaches will be measured by witnessing the youth improve their skills from good to great over the next two weeks.

Doris Johnson student Anastacia Clarke was delighted to speak about her experience on day two of the camp.

“We are learning new drills and how to build up our endurance. It is a good camp and is very fun, entertaining and competitive,” she said.

She currently plays basketball, softball and volleyball and expects the camp to give her a new bag of tricks headed into the upcoming GSSSA sporting season.

“I think it is helping me to improve my skills. I believe it will help me to prosper more this season than I did last season,” she said.

Noble Prep graduate Jay-Onn Joseph has plans of continuing his basketball career at the collegiate level. He said the camp is helping him to work on his shooting ability and footwork.

“I have been learning how to get off my shot which is something I have been wanting to work on as well as my footwork. I think this can help me to improve my skills a lot so when I transition into college everything will come easier,” he said.

The camp continues until July 12. It runs from 9am to 1pm and is priced at $100 per week. 

Interested persons can reach out to coach Spence at 242-436-8267 or coach Cunningham at 242-429-3297.