Jonathan Cole has a collection of Penticton Mini Basketball camp shirts.
It’s what kids get when they sign up for Dustin Hydes’ camps.
Cole, a Skaha Lake Middle School student, has t-shirts since 2012.
“I came to this camp and fell in love with it,” said Cole. “They are just so fun. I love basketball.”
He loves the camp drills and games campers get to play, especially the ladder competition, which involves keeping track of short games won against other players. They are encouraged to challenge each other and not back down from challengers. Cole feels he gets better each camp.
“Every year I have been working harder and harder,” he said.
“He has seen a ton of growth and development,” said Hyde. “He’s in good shape.”
Hyde has been holding camps twice a year for 10 years and Cole has been in nearly half of them. He also played on the Lake City Basketball under-13 team this past spring season.
During the week Cole worked on all his skills driven to get better.
“You need to be good at every single one of them,” said Cole, who possesses slick hands to dribble and pass.
Cole plays whenever he can, even at home as he and his grandfather built a basketball hoop. Cole is among 40 kids who honed their skills at KVR this week. The camp sold out in two weeks. Hyde said the goal is to make sure the kids make improvements. Hyde and the coaches he worked with break things down to the fundamentals of the game. About an hour each day is dedicated to dribbling, two-ball dribbling including with tennis balls and fun games. There is also shooting and passing drills. They also learn how to do layups and the footwork behind executing one.
“We don’t spend as much time on defence as we probably should, just because the kids don’t like it that much,” he said. “We want to make sure that they have fun.”
The camp does dedicate some time to learn about proper defensive shuffling, stances and more.
Hyde will hold one more summer camp Aug. 28 to 31 because there was demand for it. He currently has 31 spots filled and will cap it at 40. Anyone interested in signing up can email penticton.minihoops@gmail.com.
Those who register by July 21 pay $70, and after it increases to $90. When registering, include full name, age, grade, contact number and T-shirt size.
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