By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ARCANUM — The Arcanum High School girls basketball program hosted their youth camp from June 10-13. There were over 117 campers over the four days. The camp was broken down into two sessions. One session was the first through fifth graders and the other session was for sixth through eighth graders.

Girls basketball head coach Abbey Moore said this is one of her favorite weeks and one of her favorite thing to do as a coach. It’s an opportunity to help the young talent around the area.

“We’re excited about the future. We have some girls from other schools come in too. It’s great to see all the talent in the area and just share with these girls the love of basketball. Try to teach them some things too,” Moore said.

Moore isn’t alone running the camp. She said she couldn’t do this without the help from her assistant coaches and from her high school players.

The players get into the mix and have the chance to work with the young campers. Whenever they break out into groups, the players are the ones leading the drills for each group.

Moore said it’s fun to see her players help out and interact with the young girls. No matter what is asked of them, the players always come through and help out.

“I ask a lot out of them. I tell them at the beginning of the week, I apologize because I’m going to be a little bossy this week. They respond, they do everything I ask and don’t hesitate. Couldn’t be any more proud of them than what I am,” Moore said.

Senior Brooke Anderson said it’s fun to see the kids improve as the camp goes on. Between the drills and the games, the campers work on their skills each day.

“It’s nice going in there teaching the little girls and seeing them grow over the four days. See what their potential can be and see them learn things that they will have forever in their basketball career in the future. It’s nice to see them grow,” Anderson said.

The high school players also have the chance to play along with the campers. Anderson said she loves joining in on the fun and competing with the kids.

For senior Alexis Gibbons, she enjoys being a part of the camp and paying it forward in a way. She said she remembers being at that young age and learning how to play the game.

She hopes those campers continue with their basketball careers and help out the future generations.

“I like working with the little first graders because I remember being that age and that’s when my love for basketball started to grow. If I can contribute to that, then that means a lot to me,” Gibbons said.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].