| Many children in Anguilla benefitted this week from the first Annual Gary Payton Basketball Camp which was held at one of the tennis courts at Viceroy Anguilla. |
Mr. Payton is a former American professional basketball point guard. He is best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle Super Sonics. He also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Seattle Super Sonics and Miami Heat, the last with whom he won the NBA championship.
He was previously in Anguilla a few months ago for the Ruben Brown Golf Classic which raised funds towards the construction of a youth centre in Anguilla. His current visit to conduct the Basketball camp, along with others, was arranged by Anguillian Thomas Kelly, one of the founders of the Anguilla Sports Foundation, the others being Courtney Morton and Brent Warner. At a press conference on Monday, Mr. Kelly said the camp was the brainchild of the Anguilla Sports Foundation. He was pleased that Gary Payton was back on the island and said that the participating children would benefit tremendously from having someone of Mr. Payton’s stature to be the main coach at the camp. He said that at first it was expected that about fifty children would be at the camp but some eighty turned up instead. There were some seven coaches including Gary Payton. The others included members of the Anguilla Basketball Association and a former player with the Milwaukee Bucks. Mr. Kelly was grateful to Viceroy Hotel for its hospitality and the arrangements it made to ensure that the children were in a good and safe environment. Gary Payton expressed pleasure in having the opportunity to coach the Anguillian children. He promised that if he saw children with very exceptional skills he would try to get them to attend a basketball camp in the United States later on. |
