Crestwood youth basketball camp for 1st-4th grade opens Monday

The Crestwood boys basketball team will host its annual youth camp next week. The camp begins on Monday, June 1, and continues through Wednesday. Head coach Aric Samuel can't wait to have a group of first- through fourth-graders out for some basketball fun.

"We're super excited," Samuel said. "It's been a tradition for us. I saw a before and after photo from three years ago, and I see how it's evolved to this point."

While the camp has always been accessible to basketball newcomers, Samuel stressed that this year's edition will also have a major emphasis on helping further the development of more experienced hoopers. While the newer players will still be able to learn the basics, Samuel wanted to make sure that repeat campers have a fulfilling week of hoops, as well.

"Even though it's a youth camp, it's a pretty good advanced camp, too. We try to split people up based on their abilities and try to work with those kids with either beginner drills or advanced drills," Samuel said. "We really want to intensify the drills; we don't want to baby them down with basic drills and just games. We want to teach them the game of basketball and have more intense drills. We also want to have fun. We'll have music and food - we'll feed them after every session - and of course have our camp T-shirts. We want to have some intensity, not just fun, fun, fun."

Campers can be registered at the first day of the camp, which begins at 6 p.m. at Crestwood.