A team of coaches with impressive resumes wants to build strong character and good habits in the Ottawa Valley’s young Indigenous athletes.
Former men’s national basketball team player Richard Stewart says he’s found a like-minded partner in local coach Gerry Benoit for a basketball skills development camp coming to Pikwakanagan’s Makwa Centre on July 6th.
Stewart says he began scouting the Ottawa Valley back in January and felt there was talent in the area that could use his expertise. It only took a brief discussion with Benoit, fellow local coach Logan Wright, and Pikwakanagan council to hit the ground running on the camp.
The camp is open to Indigenous youth aged 8 to 17, with Stewart taking the younger athletes through the basics of basketball early in the morning before drilling the older group on what they can expect at the collegiate level. The kids will then get a chance to put the practice to use with an afternoon of games to close out the day.
Benoit, a three-time head coach for Team Ontario at the Indigenous Games, calls the camp an opportunity to impart their wisdom to a younger generation of athletes and to continue building the sport in an area not too far from the birthplace of its inventor, James Naismith.
The event is free, but space is limited, and the coaches have tabbed June 28th as a soft deadline for registration. Interested players can sign up by emailing Logan Wright.
(written by Kasey Egan)