BASKETBALL
More Then Skills And Drills Camp
By Ellen Thompson / ethompson@longislandernews.com

“I haven’t met a coach yet who has all the answers,” Tom Fitzpatrick said, his words trailing off into a faint laugh. “But we have a lot of great coaches here with us this summer. So what we do is take a little bit from each other and get better as coaches.”

Now in it’s sixth year, the All Island Basketball Camp held at Walt Whitman High School and Stimson Middle School is bringing the skills and tactics coaches have been discussing in the locker rooms onto the courts. Boys and girls in third grade through 12th from across the island have been packing into the school gyms for the past three weeks to give these tactics and drills a shot on the shellacked wooden floor and the sun-drenched courts.

“They’re having a great time out here,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re learning and they’re improving, and that is why you go to camp to get better.”

Over the past three weeks Fitzpatrick has seen the younger players pick up on essential aspects of the game, while the older players realize the link between the court and the classroom.

“The younger ones are learning a game they’ll most likely be playing for a long time and we teach them all levels of the fundamentals,” he explained. “But they’re really in the basic basics.”

As for the older players reaching the 11th and 12th grades, Fitzpatrick and his fellow coaches try to prepare the aspiring athletes for the varsity teams at their schools and the ever-important SATs.

“We also do an SAT introductory course and we focus on the importance of having good grades in high school, letting them know that basketball is great but academics is your bread and butter,” he said.

Jason Hernandez, a basketball trainer who played at Hofstra University along with training professional NBA players and former Whitman stars, gives lectures on ball handling and other skills during the five-day camp session.

“He’s tremendous at it,” said Fitzpatrick. “He’s one of the best in the state, so we’re
very fortunate to have him speak at the camp, as well as the other coaches who are great at what they do.”

The last session of the All Island Basketball Camp takes place August 6-10 at Walt Whitman High School and Stimson Middle School in South Huntington. Camp hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 631-543-2801 or log onto wwww.allislandbasketballcamp.com.