Friday 16th August saw the close of another Basketball Camp in Anguilla which was a collaboration between Coach Joe Farroba, the Sports Department of Anguilla and the JC Recreational Centre, providing 1st class basketball coaching for over sixty 8-16 year olds.
In addition to Coach Farroba – Head Coach at Bridgewater State University, there were 3 other coaches from the USA for the 2nd year running – Dave Barrett, Brian Ferris – Assistant Coach at Bridgewater State and Don Byron – Head Coach at Oliver Ames High School. When asked about the camp Coach Ferris said “the kids were great and I am happy to be here to give back to the kids everything that was given to me when I was their age, it’s the least I could do”. Coach Byron added “we love coming down here…the kids are enthusiastic and we enjoy working with them”. Each of these coaches donated their time and paid their own fares to come to Anguilla and look forward to the opportunity of coming back next year.
The local coaches were well known faces from basketball and sport in Anguilla, Coach Ian “Tucker” Connor and Coach Delano Mussington – who is also a programme officer at the Department of Sports and Coach Simba Price. During the brief closing ceremony Coach Connor expressed his appreciation for the way the coaches taught and managed the youth and thanked Louis Price for making the JC Recreational Centre available for the camp.
Each day Coach Farroba closed the camp by giving a brief motivational talk encouraging the youth to stick to positive influences and dream big, including examples of how basketball can provide future educational and travel opportunities. On the final day of the camp over 60 youth, 11% of which were females each received a T-shirt and their own basketball! The camp closed with everyone saying The Lord’s Prayer and singing “God Bless Anguilla” before awards and acknowledgments were made by Coach Farroba, the Sports Department and the JC Recreational Centre. Omari Hamilton gave a vote of thanks to the coaches on behalf of the youth.
The JC Recreational Centre, Sports Department and Joe Farroba would like to express sincere thanks to the following sponsors who helped to make this year’s camp a success:
Mark Silva & Ben Perez for providing free accommodation for the coaches; Joe Farroba for the donation of basketballs and T-shirts; the Coaches – Don Byron, Brian Ferris, Dave Barnett, Ian Connor, Delano Mussington, Simba Price; Department of Sports; Louis Price; Tackle Box Sports Centre; Digicel; Cuisinart Golf Resort and Spa; John Donahue – Athletic Director Wheeler School, USA; Neville Gumbs; Catalina Hawley for assistance with camp registration, E’s Oven and Veya Restaurant for each generously providing a delicious meal for the coaches; Arian Freight Services; Jewel Art and several other donors.
The JC Recreational Centre is a registered Anguilla Non-profit Organisation therefore donor support is greatly appreciated because it allows the camp to run more smoothly – this year it allowed for free accommodation for the coaches – which is vital to the continuation of the programme – the provision of equipment, the free items donated to the youth, and it gave opportunities for youth who could not afford it to be able to attend. Please contact the JC Recreational Centre at www.jcrecreationalcentre.org/signup, or via email at jcrecreationalcentre@gmail.com if you or your organisation is interested in contributing to this event.
The youth were very grateful that the coaches gave their free time to come to Anguilla and teach them new basketball skills. In addition, some of the youth also expressed appreciation for the sponsorship and donations that allowed them to take part in this year’s camp. To quote one of the recipients of a donation this year “…you may not know me but I would like to say that I’m truly grateful for your kindness of your heart to sponsor me … to go to summer basketball camp… [Through] your kindness I was able to learn the basic basketball skills & drills that in the future would be helpful to making me a professional basketball player”.
Contributed by Jaine Rogers, Director JC Recreational Centre.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
