SPORTS SECTION E
THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2018
Buddy Hield’s 4th summer camp rocks Grand Bahama By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net uddy Hield is back in Grand Bahama to host the fourth edition of his Summer Basketball Camp. The third-year Sacramento Kings guard is hosting the three-day event simultaneously in Freeport and Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama. The camp began yesterday with the opening session for 8-12 year-olds while today will feature teenagers 13 years and older 9am to 12pm at Jack Hayward Gymnasium. Each morning session will be followed daily by an afternoon session 4pm to 7pm daily at the Pinedale Park in Eight Mile Rock. “It’s a blessing. As I plan the offseason I always plan to put this in my camp schedule. It’s always important to be back home and to give back to the kids and the community. I know what it’s like growing up here so being a role model for these kids, giving them a chance to learn something important, something they can take advantage, it’s a priority for me,” Hield said. “I thank God every day for blessing me, being able to use my platform to show these kids what it takes to get to the next level. Hopefully, I can inspire a few to be the next ambassador of the Bahamas whether it’s in basketball or some other field.” During the limited time with the camp participants, Hield stresses the importance of skill development to accompany the natural athleticism of many Bahamian athletes.
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“We are putting them through the basics, ballhandling, passing because it’s more skill work we need to work on. We’re already athletic but we need to work on skill the most. Your skill work goes further than anything. “I feel like everybody who works out kids at home, the main thing we need to focus on is not just how tall or athletic they are but to work on their skills. If you have skills, if you can pass the ball, shoot the ball, dribble I think you can do whatever you want to do in basketball and we have to get kids to play the right way. We have guys that can play athletically with the best, but it’s the skills that set us back,” Hield said. While the skills development is key for student-athletes in their respective age groups, the community atmosphere at Pinedale Park continues to be a segment of the camp Hield places a special emphasis on. “Eight Mile Rock camp is home for me, it’s where I grew up and it’s always fun to go back there. It’s like a different type of air down there. It’s good vibes, people there are always cool and I’m always excited to get back there,” he said. “There’s where I really started on this path, on the park, grinding in the hot sun...that was the life and I really appreciate my upbringing. Just trying to inspire these kids because if I can make it they can make it too, they just have to put God first, believe in themselves and anything is possible.” Luke Barnwell, coach at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas, makes another visit to the
KINGS guard Buddy Hield runs through some drills with the young campers during his fourth Summer Basketball Camp, which is being held in Freeport and Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama. Bahamas to assist Hield with the event. “This is my sixth time here in three years. This is always one of the fastest weeks of the year and one of the most enjoyable weeks of the year to be with Buddy back where he’s from, to hopefully groom a couple more kids and show them that they can do it from here and
give them some stuff that they can work on,” Barnwell said. “There’s enough ability here, we just need to create an environment where they can take some basic things and get better at those. I’ll see a kid one year and when I come back he’s better than the year before, that’s really what you want to see. The things that we can do with them
these three days hopefully they carry on for the next 51 weeks, we see them the next year and they’re better.” Members of Hield’s personal training staff, including Trey Slate, also made the trip to Grand Bahama. “It’s great to see Buddy come and give back to the community. It’s something he always talked about when we were at OU together so it’s cool to see that happening and you don’t find that in a lot of people. “A lot of these kids have spent time working and getting better and it means they have enjoyed the camp and they want to get better,” he said. “We want to show them the process. A lot of the things they are doing is what Buddy does especially in the ball-handling and shooting round so it gives them some insight into the hard work because it was never easy for Buddy. He spent a lot of time getting better working behind the scenes.”
‘Kino’ Burrows lends a hand to help develop youth basketball in Eleuthera By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net PROFESSIONAL basketball player and national team standout Jaraun “Kino” Burrows once again teamed up with Project Cay Camp and the Haynes Library to help youth basketball development in Eleuthera. Burrows, a descendant of Cupid’s Cay, Governor’s Harbour, said he was eager to embrace the opportunity to give back to the community. He led the basketball portion of Project Cay, taking the participants through drills on the fundamentals of the game. “I still have family from Governor’s Harbour on my father’s side, my aunt still lives here, I have cousins everywhere here. I always wanted to come
back and give to this area and really the entire area of Eleuthera,” he said. “I feel like this is a wonderful opportunity to come and spend time with the kids, I know exactly the situation they’re in growing up here on the cay. It’s just wonderful for me to inspire and give back to the young kids before I head back to France to prepare for next season.” Project Cay partners with the Haynes Library to bring a love for sports, art, and reading to the children of Governor’s Harbour. The camp is a one-week segment of the Haynes Library summer programme created by Daisy Crone who walked the entire length of Eleuthera in 2016 to raise funds for the camp. For Burrows, it represents yet another
PROFESSIONAL basketball player and national team standout Jaraun “Kino” Burrows talks to young, aspiring players in Eleuthera about the game of basketball. opportunity to bond with the community of his youth. “Another added benefit and just mixing and mingling with a lot of the locals. They know my family, they know me, so
being home is unbelievable and it’s always an enjoyable experience,” Burrows said. “I see a lot of opportunity for the island of Eleuthera. There are so many kids, not just here but in every settlement.
Basketball is a global sport and so many opportunities can evolve. In the camps and clinics you are going to have some that will go on to play high school or even college ball, but a lot of the other ones who will not they have great benefits too – they get the discipline, structure, the team bonding that they wouldn’t normally get in certain environments because a lot of these kids came from tough backgrounds. I could never repay the game for what it gave me, but what I can do is give these kids all I have.” Burrows will continue his career in the LNB French Pro A League for the upcoming season. He reached an agreement on a contract extension with his Fos-Sue-Mur Provence Basketball Byers earlier this month.
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CAC GAMES: BAHAMAS 9TH IN THE STANDINGS WITH SIX MEDALS By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net SWIMMERS and sailors continued the competition for Team Bahamas yesterday at the 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia. In the pool, Izaak Bastian finished seventh in the A Final of the 200m Breaststroke in 2:18.12 seconds. Mexico took the top two spots on the podium with Miguel De Lara Ojeda in 2:11.77 and Luna Castillo in 2:12.31. Carlos Claverie of Venezuela was third in 2:12.79. Bastian finished second in heat two in 2:19.46 to advance as the sixth fastest qualifier. He also returned to compete in the 50m Free and finished eighth in heat four in 24.09. He finished 31st overall in the field. N’Nyhn Fernander finished fifth in heat three in 23.95 for 29th overall. In the women’s 50m Free, Lilly Higgs finished sixth in heat three in 27.31 and did not advance. She finished 21st overall. The four-member sailing team also continued to progress through their preliminary races. In the Snipe Open Opening Series, James Lowe and Michael McSweeney finished in ninth place in race eight. Paul de Souza finished sixth in the Open Sunfish Opening series race nine. The Bahamas Olympic Committee fielded its largest team, comprising of 60 athletes - 21 coaches and three team officials in a contingent of 84 from nine disciplines. Team Bahamas will be represented in men’s basketball, men’s softball, track and field, swimming, sailing, tennis, judo, fencing and boxing at the games which conclude on August 3. Team Bahamas is currently No.9 in the standings with a total of six medals – three gold, two silvers and one bronze.
JONES: COWBOYS CAN’T STAY IN LOCKER ROOM FOR ANTHEM OXNARD, California (AP) — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doubled down yesterday on insisting that his players stand for the national anthem, declaring that he wouldn’t support anyone who chose to stay in the locker room. Speaking at his annual news conference to open training camp in California, the outspoken billionaire became the first owner to say publicly that his players would not be allowed to stay off the field during the anthem. “No,” Jones said when asked if he would support players staying in the locker room. “Our policy is that you stand at the anthem, toe on the line.”