Basketball Otago is adding some spice to its development programme this weekend.
It is holding a position-specific camp for high school-aged players today and tomorrow and will call on the experience of some different names.
Former NBL player Carlo Varrichio, current NBL player and former Otago Nugget Hayden Allen and local coach Jason Ring, who played professionally in Australia, will take groups in their area of expertise.
Varrichio will coach the point guards, Allen the wings and Ring the post players. Canterbury Wildcats player Ashley Gayle was to take part before she found the camp clashed with a trial.
Basketball Otago development officer Natalie Visger said it was a good opportunity to seek some different ideas.
"It’s nice to get opinions from different people. We could have easily run this camp here ourselves — we have quality coaches here in Otago," she said.
"But it’s for them to get development, too. So the idea is for our BBO and local coaches to come here and get development.
"It’s nice for the kids to see a Hayden Allen coming back into the community. He’s a bit famous in a way, so it’s good for them to see other role models and other players, too. So we wanted to get bigger names in, maybe some names kids haven’t really heard of before."
BBO ran various development programmes, but Visger said this would give players more of an opportunity to work on things more specific to them. He said the camp was open to all high school-aged players and cost $100, with a discount for families, while it was free for coaches.
Girls’ sessions would be run in the morning and boys would get their chance in the afternoon, with a coaches’ session scheduled for later today. Visger hopes to film the camp and make it available on BBO’s YouTube channel.
