Connect with us

Basketball

‘For the love of the game’: Local basketball coaches organize free summer clinics

Published

3 months ago

on

‘For the love of the game’: Local basketball coaches organize free summer clinics

Ryan Vandersloot
 |  For The York Dispatch

play

While the traditional basketball season may be in the winter, it has become an increasingly popular sport on the hardcourts in various parks around York County during the summer. One key reason is that it’s not expensive — all you need is some shoes and a basketball. Honing skills, however, can take some extra coaching if one desires to become successful in the sport.

Sensing a void, especially in the city of York, Kerry Glover decided to do something about it.

Glover, a York High graduate who coached the Columbia High School boys’ team before stepping down after this past season, decided to reach out to his good friend Wayne Scott about putting on a free clinic for anyone interested.

That call and discussion happened Thursday morning with the clinic — Reach One, Teach One — set to take place the following day. Despite the short turnaround time, the clinic turned out to be an unmitigated success. Nearly three dozen participants showed up at Penn Park near William Penn High School to receive individual coaching and participate in drills during the hour-long session.

“There’s still a lot of kids, even with Spooky Nook (in Lancaster) and things of that nature, that love basketball and can pay for coaching,” Glover said. “Some of them, however, still can’t afford it, and I wanted to see if I can get some extra support, some extra hands, and do a pop-up workout clinic — do it outside, free. We just told everybody to bring a bottle of water and a basketball.”

Glover was amazed by the turnout on such short notice. Participants ranged in age from as young as 6 to as old as 18.

Things went so well, in fact, that Glover agreed to do another clinic this Friday from 10 to 11 a.m. back at Penn Park. Everyone interested is welcome with the same requests — brings some water or other form of hydration and a basketball.

Glover and his brother, York High girls’ basketball coach Kevin Glover, were among the handful of coaches and trainers that helped out.

“The coaches and trainers who are seasoned, that normally (kids and families) may be paying, you know, $50, $60, $70 for a personal session … they came out and decided, ‘Let’s just do it for the love of the game,’” Kerry Glover said.

This Friday’s clinic will kick off a long weekend of basketball at Penn Park. The 14th annual Trey & Boo Classic will feature a 16-team, double-elimination adult tournament in addition to a youth version. The Trey & Boo tournament begins with contests Saturday morning and will wrap up with the championship final around 6 p.m. Sunday.

If all goes well once again, Glover expects to take the Reach One, Teach One clinic around the county this summer.

“We’ll plan to rotate it. but looking at the feedback we got (Friday), we said, ‘Hey, with the Trey & Boo being next weekend, let’s keep it here for (this) week,” Glover said. “And then from there, we’ll decide what to do after that. We talked about probably going to do it twice a month over the summer, like every other Friday.”

And if the first edition was any indication, there will be plenty of participation as the summer rolls on.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading