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the popular concession stand at basketball camp. photo by tammy rae scott.
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“No. 1, we’ve got to remember that they’re kids,” he said. “And the No. 1 thing that kids want to do is have fun at the basketball camp. If it’s not fun, they’re not going to come back. And they’re kids — kids like candy. For us, our No. 1 priority is safety. We want to make sure that we have the least amount of injuries as possible. The third item here, is, teaching the fundamentals and basics of basketball. In a nutshell, that’s our philosophy: safety, fun, teach the game.” Why, he wondered, hadn’t Scott talked to him? “You go to the source and try to take care of the problem,” he said. “I take care of a lot of problems during the week and I could have looked at it.” But is that sugary stuff bad, and not representative of how top athletes eat? “This is basketball camp, not nutrition camp,” Asprilla said. “It’s one week out of the whole year. To be honest with you, I didn’t even think about it; we’ve been doing camp 20 years and this is the first time that we heard a parent
complain about the candy.” His university players, on tight student budgets, probably do gobble burgers, candy and pizza on the cheap, he said. Then they burn it off in practice. “These kids are 20 years old, they’re gifted athletes, they’re in great shape,” he said. “Yes, eating healthy obviously is a big part of life. If you don’t have the vitality to function, to go to work, to play, then you’ve got a problem. We talk about that with our athletes.” The camp kids also burn a lot of calories, he said, all day long. Scott said she didn’t talk to the coaches at the time because she didn’t want to interfere with her son’s experience. “I didn’t want to single my kid out by being the wah-wah hippie mom,” she said. It’s a great camp, she said, and she wants her son to do it again. She said maybe she will send a letter to the head coach, asking him for more nutritious snacks. l
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coach steve kinder tosses gummi worms for rewards. photo by tammy rae scott.
8 North Coast Journal • Thursday, July 5, 2012 • northcoastjournal.com