Coach Plants Seeds of Skill at Summer Camp : Basketball: The Cal State Long Beach program offered for high school players is a time for good players to make themselves great players.

Sneakers squeaked on the glossy refinished Cal State Long Beach gym floor and the smell of sweat filled the air as about 100 high school athletes tried to become better basketball players.

The scene on a recent Friday afternoon affirmed that basketball is a year-round sport.

“For a player to reach his potential, he must use the summer to master fundamentals and improve individual skills,” said Cal State Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg, organizer of the recent weekend camp for area prep teams. “Summer is when good players make themselves great players through hard work and dedication.”

Dedication was evident at the camp, which attracted players (accompanied by their coaches) from Glenn, Mayfair, Whitney, St. Bernard, Buena Park, Ocean View, Temecula Valley, Bel-Air Prep and San Bernardino high schools.

“Good work,” Greenberg praised from his position at mid-court.

“Stay down,” he ordered, watching a drill that demanded numerous abrupt stops, starts and pivots. Each time he yelled, the intensity in the gym increased. It was as if he controlled the campers entirely with the tone of his voice.

At the end of the drill, Greenberg said, “Give yourself a hand.” The players clapped.

The 33-year-old Greenberg, who took over in March as the Cal State Long Beach coach after three years as an assistant, conducted the camp in the same manner he does a 49ers practice.

“I like to take my philosophy and give the (high school) coaches a chance to learn it,” he explained.

And Greenberg, always looking for future 49ers, also has what he calls his Johnny Appleseed theory: “If I plant enough seeds, maybe someday it will pay off.”

Long ago, Greenberg acquired a reputation as a counselor and teacher of young players. He was involved in the prestigious Five-Star Camp in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York for 16 years. He was in charge of the Pocono Invitational Camp, one of the biggest in the East. He ran a summer camp in the early 1980s at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was an assistant coach.

Greenberg began each session of his Long Beach State Basketball Camp by telling the players that they would be treated as if they were his own.

“Give us everything you have,” he said. “Coming to camp does not make you a better player; working on what you learn makes you better.”

A sizable camp staff further populated the gym--49ers Assistant Coaches Matt Ruiz, Bob Braswell and Bob Thate; student managers Matt Hart and Tom Gorrell, and former Long Beach players John Hatten, Jeff Eastin and Andre Purry.

The redheaded Hatten, 6-feet-9 and 250 pounds, had led the campers in exercises to start the session. A feeling of anticipation had accompanied this stretching as the gym’s two main baskets were raised.

The big gym was the station for outside shooters and an auxiliary gym was for centers. “It’s hot, small and stinky--perfect for low-post work,” explained Greenberg, excited by just the thought of the place he calls a sweatbox.

A third station--where players worked on transition from offense to defense--was located outdoors. When Greenberg had informed the campers of that location, he waited for the mumbling to begin, then said sternly, “I hate people bitching about playing outside. I’m from New York and we play outside 12 months a year.”

On those asphalt courts, balls seemed to fly everywhere during passing drills involving teams from Bel-Air Prep, Whitney and Mayfair, which, like all the teams, stayed together during the sessions Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Two players would run down the court, one throwing a bounce pass, the other a chest pass. Inevitably, the players would throw the same pass and the balls would collide in midair, sail off

in opposite directions and have to be retrieved.

“Concentrate,” urged Ruiz, unfazed by the chaos.

A series of two-on-one fast breaks followed, during which Ruiz insisted, “We want a layup, not a jump shot.”

In the main gym, Greenberg, Purry and Thate oversaw the “perimeter” work. They put the players through a series of dribbling drills that emphasized changing pace and cutting. “Big steps! Cut hard! Keep the ball close to your body!” Greenberg yelled.

Meanwhile, in the sweatbox down the corridor, Hatten and Braswell led the post players in a 45-minute workout.

Hatten, the 49ers’ center two years ago and now an employee of a company that leases facsimile machines, pushed and shoved as he demonstrated how to get rebounding position. The players seemed enamored of him, enchanted by his youthful sense of humor.

“John Hatten is funny, he makes you work harder because from him it’s not an order,” said Jason Scott, a junior from Mayfair High in Lakewood.

For Hatten, it was a chance to not only teach but to once again hang around the gym and the coaches he knows so well.

“Hopefully, they’ll work on these things and become great players,” he said of the campers.

The camp impressed the high school coaches.

“(Greenberg) has a hell of a staff,” said John Souza of Glenn High in Norwalk. “Not many colleges have this many qualified guys. It’s neat that Greenberg is out with the kids at the stations. It is something about that East Coast attitude.”

John Bobich, coach of Bel-Air Prep in Los Angeles, said: “It’s a very efficient camp, no dead time for the players.” Joe Tereschuk of Mayfair added: “Long Beach State is so loyal to the community. Their coaches speak at our banquets. We like to come here, they keep the price down.”

The fee was $400 per team, collected from players or booster funds because schools are not allowed by the California Interscholastic Federation to fund summer activities. But Greenberg had to pay $3,480 for expenses, which included staff wages, insurance, printing, facilities, T-shirts and officials. “I made $120,” he said.

When all the drills and scrimmages had been concluded, the exhausted campers gathered in the main gym, where they caught their breath, drank Gatorade and were introduced to a guest speaker.

“Never quit, don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do,” Tyrone Mitchell, the most valuable player on last season’s Cal State Long Beach team, told the players. Then he touched on a subject that incensed him so much he nearly shouted, “How the hell can you win if you are on drugs?”

A silence fell over the gym as Mitchell continued: “Two things kill basketball players from achieving their goals--drugs and (inattention to) academics.”

Finally, to the players who aspire to be the college star he was, Mitchell said, “When you get higher in basketball you realize it isn’t fun, it is a business. The sooner you realize that, the better off you are.”

He apologized for preaching--”That’s not my style, it just happened that way”--but the players applauded loudly nevertheless.

The session was over.

“Good work, see you tomorrow morning at 9 sharp,” Greenberg said. “Please don’t be late.”