Badger Youth Basketball Camp returns to Bonners

School is officially out for the summer, but it went a little longer for 123 students entering grades 3-8 last week.

The school of basketball that is. It has been several years since Bonners Ferry hosted its own basketball camp, but Kelly and Travis Hinthorn wanted to bring back the camp and offer basic fundamentals for the youth in Boundary County. Kelly remembers growing up and going to the local basketball camps which were then coached by her dad, Dan Meeker. Mrs. Hinthorn remembers,  “Some of my best summer memories were spent in the gym. I know our teams were successful because of the time we put in during the summer. I loved that our high school gyms were full at games. I’d love to see that tradition come back to Bonners Ferry.”

Campers were provided 20 hours of fundamentals, skill and concept development, and daily competitions. The athletes worked hard, but had a lot of fun doing it.

According to Mrs. Hinthorn, "we were hoping to get around 50 campers for this first year. When the numbers kept going up, we realized we needed to separate the boys and girls.”

Travis and Kelly Hinthorn along with Teresa Rae ran the girls’ camp at Boundary County Middle School, while Nathan Williams, Andy Rice, and Ryan Mai coached the boys’ camp at the BFHS. The Hinthorns stated, “we had tremendous help at both schools from middle school and high school coaches, as well as student athlete helpers. It was definitely teamwork to make this happen.”

The Hinthorns are hoping was the beginning of an annual camp for the youth of Boundary county.