Nansemond River head basketball coach Ed Young will conduct the ninth annual Youngstarz Basketball Camp on June 24-27 at Nansemond River High School.

Young, who has won coach of the year honors 10 times during his career, explained what he tries to accomplish with the camp, which is aimed at rising third- through eighth-graders, both boys and girls.

“The big thing we want to do is try to teach young kids the basic skills of the game,” he said. “It’s not an advanced, ‘elites’ camp. Some people put fancy names on camps where they don’t really want to teach the basics, they just want to get in there and let them play. I still like the idea of teaching kids some basics, but at the same time trying to keep a good degree of fun with it.”

Each morning, participants will work at different skill level stations and compete in one-on-one, two-on-two and three-on-three events during the course of the day.

Emphasis will be put on shooting and teaching team concepts like fast break basketball, the difference between man-to-man and zone defense and spacing on offense.

“And then we also do classroom sessions,” Young said. “Classroom sessions are geared towards becoming better students and hopefully becoming a better person.”

The camp will feature five-on-five play in the afternoon, but Young takes a different approach to it than many camp directors.

“(Five-on-five) is important, but we’ll switch the teams every day,” he said. “We don’t keep the kids on the same team every day like most camps.”

Kids in grades 3-5 will face one another in these games, as will those in grades 6-8.

Teams will be co-ed and the camp will be open to anyone from anywhere.

“We’ll take anybody,” Young said. “You’ve just got to get here.”

Some past campers have come from more than a few extra miles.

“Grandparents or aunts and uncles will bring relatives from another state,” Young said. “We’ve had kids from New Jersey, (North) Carolina, Georgia. We have two kids from New York City that are here for a couple weeks.”

Young will aim to keep the number of participants to a reasonable amount, however.

“We usually limit it to around 60 kids total so that we’re not crowded,” he said.

Helping Young instruct the campers will be past and current Warriors star players like Michael Copeland, Chris McMillian, Ed Drew, Kendric Washington, Cristian Alexander and Devon Oakley.

“I try to select kids to help work that I think are responsible and can teach the basics,” he said.

The cost for participation is $100 per camper, with a reduced amount for two or more from the same family.

Kids have the option to bring food for lunch or to buy food that will be for sale during the lunch hour provided.

Each day’s session will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“I think you’re not going to find a more reasonably priced camp for the amount of time that mine is,” Young said.

For further information, contact Coach Young at edwardyoung@spsk12.net or by calling 923-4101 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.