Enthusiasm high at summer basketball camp

Enthusiasm and team spirit were high at Wednesday’s boys basketball camp. The Bonners Ferry High School gym was filled with the noise of balls hitting the floor, squeaking sneakers and kids yelling encouraging words at each other, all punctuated with the sound of athletic director Nathan Williams’ whistle.

Williams looks for improvement in the players' skills from the beginning of the week to the end, using drills, games and competitions to accomplish this. One such competition he dubbed “Camp Lightning”: kids start with a free throw and if they miss, they have to make a layup.

The 10 student coaches help keep score and tally all the numbers each day, and Williams is grateful for their help. All the student coaches are athletes from the high school.

The kids are broken up into groups based on age, grades 4 through 8. There’s talent in the group, according to Williams.

“I tell them every level that you play gets a little bit harder,” he said. “Practice and keep getting better. Put in the time.”

Girls basketball camp is running concurrently at the middle school, while first through third grade, “Little Dribblers,” are attending basketball camp at Valley View.

Williams also wanted to send out a huge thank you to Kelly and Travis Hinthorn for keeping the camp going every year. “I’ve been here seven years,” he said, and the program has been running the entire time. He couldn’t say how long it was going before that but stressed it wouldn’t happen without the Hinthorns.